Lenore Crawford won $3,000 from SewBatik, sponsor of the Outstanding Art Quilt Entry
Lenore Crawford began using fabric as an art medium around 1995. She loved the warmth, texture, and value that fabric offers as compared to other media. It was fun for Lenore to create art quilts with fabric and see how far she could take the medium.
Lenore’s winning entry, Capturing Brittany was inspired by her many visits to France. She loved France’s ancient architecture ever since her first visit when she was 16 years old. To be able to create art with fabric that resembled it was very intriguing to Lenore. Being able to achieve a very realistic design that truly looked like the real thing in fabric was so exciting. This particular piece was inspired by photos taken in a village in northern France. A class of art students was sketching that day.
Capturing Brittany was mostly created during the winter over several months. While making the quilt, Lenore learned that she loved to add fine detail to her designs, making them seem even more realistic. She fuses tiny pieces to add some of the detail where it’s still feasible, and when the pieces get to be too small, she uses a little bit of fabric paint instead of fabric. Shading and detail is what made the design look more realistic.
What was Lenore’s reaction when she won? “I was very excited to win. This means to me that I am accepted by my peers in my field. It is also a very great way to advertise my work especially for teaching.”
Did she do anything special with her prize money? “I spent a good chunk of the money on a good quality espresso machine. I love good coffee and especially missed it after getting home from our trip to New Zealand last year where you can even find a fabulous latte at McDonald’s!”
What is next for Lenore and her quilting? “That is the question of the hour! I feel at this point I want to do something different. I like change. We grow when we change. I don’t know what it will be, but I will always keep creating more art because that is my passion. I would love to learn to use Photoshop to manipulate my photos I use to create my art quilts, but we will see. Running a business keeps me very busy with teaching all over the world, maintaining my stock, doing paperwork, coming up with new patterns and classes. Life is so busy and sometimes gets in the way of the creative process. I will take some time this fall to see where I want to go now.”
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