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Jan Queijo /"Cat in the Evening Garden"

Known as The Crazy Dog Lady, Jan’s custom pet portrait quilts are created entirely in fabric and thread. There is no photo transfer or painting involved. Each piece of thread and fabric is carefully and lovingly placed, artistically capturing the personalities and moods of the animals she portrays. Jan is a self-taught quilt artist and animal activist involved with many rescue and shelter organizations throughout Massachusetts. She is a member of the Central MA Women’s Caucus for Art and the Material Girls Quilt Guild of Leominster, MA. Her work is shown in several exhibits annually where she has won numerous awards. Because Jan is so devoted to helping rescue organizations, much of her quilt work is donated to fundraising efforts.
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Pat Littlefield/
Paper Pulp Collage

Pat grew up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in South Carolina. She attended Florida State University where she studied music and art. After two years, she transferred to the University of South Carolina from which she graduated with a B.A. in Art, cum.laude, Phi Beta Kappa. While attending graduate school at East Carolina University she began to study weaving. This was the beginning of her interest in fiber. Fiber

In 1975, she turned her efforts entirely to her fiber work and developed a line of fantasy soft sculpture. Further study and experimenting led to papermaking. The result has been the intricate collage/constructions which reflect both her painting and fiber background.

Papermaking is an art that traces its roots to China. Any type of vegetable matter can be used to make paper. Pat's work is made primarily from abaca, a plant similar to the banana plant. The abaca is purchased as semi-processed linters. These are hydrated and beaten into a pulp. The pulp is dyed and placed into small containers. Each paper piece is formed by placing layers of the colored pulp over each other until the piece is finished. Flax is also used in the process. Twigs, reeds, tampico grass, muslin and other materials are sandwiched between the layers of pulp.

Most of the colors and compositions in the work are derived from observation of the immediate environment - mountains and sky, buttes and adobe architecture, flowers of the garden and field, forests in shadow and light. Pat's hope is that each piece gives a lifetime of pleasure and thought provoking observation.


Julia Berkley 		arrow

Julia Berkley / "Through the Gate"

Julia’s fabric collages are created out of her love of color, texture, and the rich possibilities fabric brings to design. In celebration of the beauty around us, she chooses forms that refer to nature, and plays with their shapes and colors until something new emerges. People don’t generally expect to find textiles framed in glass – and while these works are untouchable, Julia enjoys how they highlight the painterly quality of fabric. Fabric collage allows surface decoration to inspire vision, and texture to define details. Julia hopes to make art that brings a rush of familiarity and pleasure at the same time to evoke something unexpected and unique in the viewer’s mind.
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Barbara Willis/woven scarves

Barbara is a favorite local weaver. The inspiration for her one-of-a-kind pieces comes from art that excites her -- the impressionists or contemporary artists, or things that she sees in nature. She works with the "feel" of the art or image, sometimes dyeing her yarns and winding color after color on her warping mill, composing each warp, thread by thread. Somewhere in the process the luminous colors and textures take over, and the work comes to life.

Fiber
Barbara loves to see people wear and enjoy her work. She believes that one of our earliest experiences in life was finding warmth and comfort in soft cottons and blankets. She hopes that her work brings that feeling back for wearers of her work -- of being wrapped in something soft, colorful, and comforting.
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Glenn Johnson/Yarrow & Delphinia

"After painting and sculpting for several years, I started weaving in the seventies, creating mostly primitive off-loom three dimensional pieces, with names like Raku and Gizelle. It was all about the contrast and textures. Then I built a tapestry loom, for somebody else, but by the time I was finished, it was mine. Two floor looms later, I still like combining different disciplines. I have woven pieces that I have painted over, and I have stuffed and stretched and assembled woven components. I still paint and sculpt, but I love weaving. I love fiber and I love that it exists in 3D.
To produce the weaving that's shown, I started by painting the warp. Then I wove the piece and stretched it on a frame. To add the finishing touch I did crude embroidery over parts of it. I am very fortunate that I don't have to support myself with my artwork. And I don't have to produce a consistent collection of pieces to present to gallery directors or show producers. I have my own gallery. I can experiment all I want and I can chose to show anything I wish to share with my customers."
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