A Few Words
I began to sew when I was six. With a thick needle and thread, I laboriously sewed my first project to the living room carpet. Later, I used scraps of fabric my mother discarded to make ill-fitting garments for my dolls. My first "adult" project was a bright red apron—there were tiny flowers on it—for my Ukrainian grandmother who lived in Canada. I think the pattern or the way of putting the apron together came from a Girl Scout merit badge workshop. Of course, my mother tutored my overall sewing attempts. There were classes in Home Economics both in high school and college. I made garments for myself, and later (by request) "Hawaiian" dress shirts—short-sleeved, 5-button wonders—for my husband.
I discovered quilting in 1983. By then, the quilt Renaissance was a fait accompli. What did I know? Nothing. My monastic life in grad school only allowed for books, not textiles. But there I was, Curator of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art in Iowa and asked to write about "Quilters' Choice," an exhibition of 19th century quilts from the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. The show opened my eyes to the possibilities of quilts and color. I did not come from a family of quilters; Ukrainian women—my grandmother, for example—were and are demon embroiderers.
Like other quilt aspirants, I began to purchase magazines, catalogs, fabric and to sign up for workshops. As a curator (next) in Austin, Texas, I was privy to museum quilt exhibitions and quilts in art galleries. When I moved to San Francisco in 1988, I had the good fortune to walk into New Pieces Quilt Shop in Berkeley. It became a locus and inspiration for my education. There were workshops by Roberta Horton, Mary Mashuta, Kitty Pippin, Angie Woolman, Freddie Moran, Diana Leone; exhibitions and programs by a Who's Who of the contemporary quilt world. I worked to take it all in.
I entered my quilts into "New Pieces" and East Bay exhibitions. When I moved to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada for my PhD, I became part of the "Earthly Goods" quilt community, with its workshops and annual exhibition. Now that I live in Indiana, I regularly show my quilts at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show in Bloomington and at the shows hosted by the Bloomington Quilt Guild. Recently (2021), I have had a quilt accepted to a juried show— "Fabulous Fibers IV," a Studio Art Quilt Associates regional exhibition—at The John James Audubon State Park Museum in Henderson, Kentucky.
My trajectory has been from traditional to art quilts. I continue to learn and to extend my box of technical tools. At present, I am exploring silk screening and quilting. I am delighted to have found SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates), for its myriad programs, exhibitions and challenges are exactly what keeps the sparkle in my eyes.
I prefer not to provide my phone number, or hot-link to mail (to frustrate "bots"), but interested folks may contact me at any of these three e-mail addresses:
mkindrak@indiana.edu or jensenmonica878@gmail.com or monica@monicaoriginals.com
I'll do my best to get back to you promptly!