ABOUT the ARTIST
I embarked on what I thought would be a casual hobby ten years ago. Quilting. So often this is passed from mother to daughter; for me, it was my older daughter who inspired me. She does exceptional work, and after her current life phase of mom/wife/professional writer/bill-payer/cook/yogi…, I hope she will want to delve more deeply into her quilting. I owe my spark of interest to her. Thank you so much, Leslie.
Prior to quilting…yes, there was a “before”…I worked with children with multiple challenges and their families. Later, I opened a natural foods grocery & deli in Maine. When we moved to Arizona, I sold it to the best manager anyone could wish for! Thank you, Victoria.
I have always had a love affair with nature – from the beaches in RI/MA to mountains and woodland trails in ME/NH to the Red Rocks of Sedona, AZ & magnificent saguaro cacti in Tucson. Hiking and photography have been interests since childhood. My Dad was a writer, Mom a painter, and both were professional photographers.
After nearly ten years in Arizona, I spent two years in the Hudson River Valley, just north of NYC. It was in NY that I first became interested in energy healing. I investigated many aspects of this fascinating field while becoming a Reiki Master and achieving Advanced Level Certification in Intuition Development. I read voraciously about Feng Shui, and was already into Meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi.
I believe that all of this – from hiking/yoga to photography to Reiki/intuition development to nature/desert – has influenced the quilting I do today.
Having moved back to the Southwest (Tucson, AZ) and retiring, I am able to devote significantly more time to quilting. Even when I first began, I concentrated on art quilts. They were filled with energy symbolism, but that wasn’t conscious at the time – just sort of the way things worked out each time I started a quilt. Quilted Energy, as I refer to my style of art quilting, evolved more consciously after my healing energy studies in NY.
Now I do art quilts incorporating many sources of energy symbols, personalized art quilts and my “Who You Are” quilts. Primarily, my quilts are custom, sold directly by me to the recipient. However, I also show and sell bed and other functional quilts through Gallerie Quilts, just west of Denver, CO. Even my bed quilts are like large art canvases. I am honored to be considered by the gallery as their “quilt artist.” I also show and sell my quilts in Quilts, Ltd. in Tubac, AZ, noted as an artist community and resort destination.
To learn more specifics about the types of quilting I enjoy, please check out my Gallery, About the Process, and especially the section on Getting Ideas for Custom Quilts from quilts in private collections. And if you’re a quilter who’s checking out this page, I also have a Longarm Quilting business – Desert Sky Quilting at www.DesertSkyQuilting.com.
Namaste. Dale