Ohio Star: RPAC

Ohio Star RPAC Photoquilt

72″ x 48″
2012
$500

RPAC stands for Recreation and Physical Activity Center, a gleaming glass building housing gymnasia, a track, swimming pools, and other recreational facilities on the campus of The Ohio State University. The red bridge connecting the RPAC to its neighbor is officially called the Scarlet Skyway. The photos are sewn into a traditional Ohio star quilt pattern.

This photoquilt was accepted to The Inaugural Juried Exhibition at the Riffe Gallery in Columbus, Ohio from November 5, 2015 through January 9, 2016.

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Ohio Star: Mirror Lake

Ohio Star Mirror Lake Photoquilt

48″ x 72″
2012
$500

This quilt incorporates an image of a tree root twisting between rocks at the edge of the path around Mirror Lake on the campus of The Ohio State University. The photos are sewn into a traditional Ohio star quilt pattern.

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Wheels

Wheels Photoquilt

48″ x 72″
2011
$750

The Wheels quilts emerged out of my interest in cars in general and hot rods in particular. In order to complete this quilt, I took pictures of different wheels for over three years. Not just any wheels could be used. Only wheels on cars that were cool, at least to me. The first complete quilt incorporated 4″ pictures of individual wheels. By collecting them en masse, their variations become more obvious. Some are chrome, some are painted, some are polished. Some tires are tall, some are low, some have whitewalls, some have black. By lining up scores of wheels (almost 200 different wheels are included) the pattern repeats but differences become more obvious.

The second Wheels quilt (pictured above) incorporates a snowball quilt pattern which injects a square of color where the corners of four wheels meet. This color is taken from the roofs, hoods, and fenders of the hot rods whose wheels are pictured. The largest quilt uses red squares, but several others have also been completed, including blue, green, and orange as seen in the smaller examples below.

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Orange Wheels 12 x 16 Photoquilt

12 Wheels
16″ x 12″
2011
$150

Green Wheels 12 x 12 Photoquilt

9 Wheels
12″ x 12″
2011
$100

Pickles Are Gross

Pickles Are Gross Photoquilt

48″ x 72″
2009
$500

This quilt was inspired by my friend Marcie, who died of cancer in 2009. Her passing helped me realize the importance of living in the moment and not taking time for granted. Consequently, I shook myself out of a photoquilting hiatus and took the 36 pictures used in this quilt in a single evening. Because the subject (actually a cucumber, not a pickle) is rotated in intervals along two axes, it is difficult to determine just how many different pickles there are. By sewing the prints together in order, patterns are created over the quilt as the pickles fall in and out of alignment with each other. Although these photos are not in a quilt pattern — all 144 4″ x 6″ prints are sewn together without being cut — a very clear pattern emerges. I don’t actually know if Marcie hated pickles, but “Pickles are gross!” sounds like something she would have said with great enthusiasm.

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Treetops / Snowflakes

Treetops / Snowflakes Photoquilt

48″ x 72″
2005
Not for sale

Treetops / Snowflakes explores rotational symmetry in an eight-pointed star that incorporates eight identical prints of treetops taken against a late-winter Illinois sky. By rotating each print 45 degrees, patterns emerge within each block and various circles and spheres emerge as the dominant overall shape. A wide range of treetops are included, creating a variety of patterns across this photoquilt.

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Fall Colours

Fall Colours Photoquilt

72″ x 36″
2005
Not for sale

Fall Colours is a tesselating maple leaf pattern. Each leaf is made up of pictures of trees in the neighborhood around the first house my wife and I bought together in Bloomington, Illinois. This photoquilt received the Merwin Medal as Best in Show at the McLean County Arts Center’s Amateur Show.

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Our First House

"Our First House" Photoquilt

48″ x 72″
2004
Not for sale

Our First House uses a simple four-patch quilt pattern to create house shapes. The pictures are of the various projects that my wife and I took on with our first house: painting, laying hardwood floors, tiling, landscaping, etc. I gave this photoquilt to my wife for her birthday. It is a wonderful memory of our first house.

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