Chien Blond

by Christina Blais

Stratford, Connecticut
USA

Techniques:

Free-motion quilted, raw-edge appliquéd

Materials:

Fiber, cotton, burlap

Chien Blond was inspired by posters for Le Chat Noir cabaret, made by 19th century French artist Theophile Steinlen. Minimal colors and shading represent the cat and his message. In this poster, I used my dog as the model, giving his body a similar definition to Steinlen’s cats. “Tu vas manger ça?" means “Are you going to eat that?”- something on the mind of my dog all the time.

I Will Not Be Silenced

by Betty Busby

Albuquerque, New Mexico
USA

Techniques:

Digitally printed, machine stitched

Materials:

Paper, felt

The fury of the current political climate was the inspiration for this piece. The visceral impact of being told to shut up is the first visual impact. On closer examination, resist is built into the fabric of the work through stitching.

Mammals of Oklahoma

by Shannon Conley

Moore, Oklahoma
USA

Techniques:

Digitally printed, free-motion quilted,
hand-beaded

Materials:

Suede, microfiber, fabric, beads

This piece is my interpretation of the natural history poster, those beautifully illustrated examples that detail different types of moths, or peppers, or flower life cycles. It’s part of an ongoing series to understand my home state of Oklahoma, featuring mammals from each native order/superorder, spiraling in overlapping rings. My goal is to highlight the interconnected nature of our ecosystems and the urgent need to preserve natural diversity.

Reach for the Sky

by Vicki Conley

Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico
USA

Techniques:

Machine pieced, appliquéd, and quilted,
silk-screened

Materials:

Commercial cotton, gloss medium, stabilizer, ink

During the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) commissioned 35,000 posters encompassing wide fields of interest, including our national parks. They had a distinctive style and were designed to entice Americans to travel to our National Parks. I am grateful to John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt, whose wisdom and persistence led to the preservation of these areas. An image of my husband and his friend at Zion National Park pays tribute to this historic era.

Shadow #1

by Jayne Gaskins

Reston, Virginia
USA

Techniques:

Photography, digital art, machine quilted

Materials:

Cotton sateen, inkjet ink, thread, batting

For many years, I have turned to John Hartmann’s writings as catalyst for introspective thoughts and a stimulant for creativity. I am honored that he has given me permission to add a visual to his words. The text is a poem from his book, A Collection of Poems Vol. II by John Hartmann.

Pardon Snowden

by Louise Hall

Port Saint Lucie, Florida
USA

Techniques:

Machine pieced, appliquéd, and quilted, fused

Materials:

Cotton, fusible interfacing

While working as a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA), Edward Snowden became aware of several secret mass surveillance programs that violated the Constitution. At great personal risk, he exposed them. Edward Snowden is a whistle blower and a hero who stood up for our rights. Exiled to Moscow, he potentially faces decades in prison under World War I era laws that treat him as a spy. We owe it to Snowden, and our belief in the Constitution, to stand by him.

Elements #12: Blue River

by Michele Hardy

Silverthorne, Colorado
USA

Techniques:

Hand-dyed, screen-printed, fused, machine appliquéd, and stitched

Materials:

Cotton, metallic foil

Snow—river—life. Elements #12 depicts the colorful annual cycle of snowfall in the mountains, spring melt, runoff that replenishes the rivers, and water that gives life.

Je Suis ma Soeur

by Anne Hiemstra

Farmington Hills, Michigan
USA

Techniques:

Photo transferred, fused, free-motion quilted, hand-appliquéd

Materials:

Commercial cotton, inkjet printer, prepared silk, fusible web

After the Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris in 2015, “je suis Charlie” became a slogan of solidarity with the victims, and support for the values of freedom of speech and of the press. Inspired by women I met during the 2016 political campaigns, I’ve adopted the slogan to signify the bonds between women of different faiths, backgrounds, and status throughout the world.

Women’s March on Washington

by Trish Hodge

Osprey, Florida
USA

Techniques:

Machine pieced and quilted, printed, block dyed

Materials:

Batik, vintage sarong fabric, commercial cotton and linen

This poster is dedicated to my 15-year-old granddaughter, Adessa. She insisted on going to the Women’s March on Washington, offering to pay her own way if needed. She comes from a long line of independent women, symbolized by the faces in the batik panel. It gives me great joy to see the next generation of young women moving forward with strength and pride.

One Pulse

by Susanna Hotchkiss

Lake Helen, Florida
USA

Techniques:

Raw-edge machine appliquéd, machine quilted

Materials:

Cotton batik, muslin stabilizer, copper washers

One Pulse communicates hope and healing in
the wake of the Pulse nightclub tragedy in Orlando, Florida. No matter what color, creed, gender, or sexual identity, we are all interconnected in this ocean of life. We possess the same inner qualities. While social awareness helps to bring forth understanding and acceptance, symbols can prompt transformation and move us beyond the limitation of what is, to the potential of what can be.

I am the Face of Rescue

by Michelle Jackson

Sandia Park, New Mexico
USA

Techniques:

Raw-edge fused with a partial tulle overlay, machine quilted

Materials:

Cotton fabrics, organza, tulle

All across America, tens of thousands of dogs per year are found neglected as strays or are surrendered to animal shelters. Because of overcrowding, many of them are doomed to be put to death. Rescuers provide safe homes with loving volunteer foster families. They take care of these animals, giving them vet care which includes microchipping, vaccinations, and sterilization, until they can find their forever homes.

This Land Was My Land

by Patricia Kennedy-Zafred

Murrysville, Pennsylvania
USA

Techniques:

Hand-silk-screened, transferred, machine
pieced, quilted

Materials:

Dyes, cotton, textile inks

The striking image of a young Navajo man in 1906 speaks not only to the forced migration of Native Americans during that historical period, but also to the battle being fought today by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. Have they stopped the building of a pipeline across their sacred lands? Their stories are an essential part of our diverse American fabric. (Original images courtesy Library of Congress.)

American Portraits:  Living on
the Edge

by Patricia Kennedy-Zafred

Murrysville, Pennsylvania
USA

Techniques:

Hand-silk-screened, transferred, machine
pieced, quilted

Materials:

Dyes, cotton, textile inks

America’s rural landscape has changed dramatically since 1900, when nearly half of the U.S. population lived and worked on farms. That number now rests at just two percent. The independent family farm is an essential part of our diverse American fabric, representing strength, tenacity, patience, and perseverance. Inspired by photographs taken during the 1930s, this piece is a tribute to the American farm family. (Original images courtesy Library of Congress.)

Mend the Gap

by Jill Kerttula

Charlottesville, Virginia
USA

Techniques:

Pieced, machine quilted, raw-edge appliquéd, woven, hand-stitched

Materials:

Commercial fabrics, yarn

I was in Washington D.C. for the 2017 inauguration. I rode the Metro on Friday with the crowd headed to Trump’s celebrations, and then again for the Women’s March the following day. The division between the two groups was both evident and deep. The London Underground’s iconic “Mind the Gap” signs came to mind. By changing one letter, this concept includes nods to the history of posters, the history of “women’s work,” and to this moment in political history.

Shiprock

by Cat Larrea

Anchorage, Alaska
USA

Techniques:

Hand-dyed, dye painted, fused, appliquéd, quilted

Materials:

Cotton

Named Shiprock on United States Geological Survey (USGS) maps from the late 1800s, this geologic feature is the remnant of a volcano located in northwest New Mexico. It carries historical and religious significance to the Navajo people and is currently protected by the local Navajo community.  My interpretation of this natural phenomenon aims to simplify its structural elements while intensifying, through color and lighting, its dramatic contrast with the open desert landscape.

Travel Muse: Endurance

by Mary-Ellen Latino

Northborough, Massachusetts
USA

Techniques:

Digitally developed photo and text, printed, machine quilted

Materials:

Cotton, damask, photographs

Trees are a metaphor for life: endurance, strength, survival, solidarity, propagation, hardship, and change. Majestic sequoia trees inspire me as miracles of nature with the ability to endure fires, floods, and windstorms while they reach for the sky as the tallest living things on earth!

Travel Muse: Wanderlust

by Mary-Ellen Latino

Northborough, Massachusetts
USA

Techniques:

Digitally developed photo and text, printed, machine quilted

Materials:

Cotton, damask, photographs

Wanderlust is an incessant desire to travel, roam, and explore the world—a joie de vivre fueled by worldly and unknown adventure. While wandering around this great earth, I have repeatedly adored the beauty, colors, and sway of palm leaves that lure and intoxicate the soul. Are you ready for your next global escape?

ReUSe/REFuse

by Eleanor Levie

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
USA

Techniques:

Pieced, machine appliquéd, quilted,
painted, couched

Materials:

Foil-lined packaging, plastic woven horse-feed bag, mesh citrus bags, eco-felt, fabric, ribbon, cord, acrylic paints

Reuse, recycle, reinvent, repurpose, re: use, re: us, re: U.S., reduce REFuse, reFUSE, resist. A trash-stash quilt, the latest in a long series of work composed of packaging from consumer products that would ordinarily go into landfills. My piece has also become a silent expression, protesting the recent federal activity to undermine the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Art is Confession

by Jeanelle McCall

Lufkin, Texas
USA

Techniques:

Raw-edge appliquéd, hand-embroidered and quilted, machine quilted, woven, painted

Materials:

Cotton, organza, silk

Simple flat shapes, with a limited color palette, marry the history of posters with the nuances of modern quilting. My poster illustrates a very personal belief: that you have to be brave to share your art with the public. In so doing you expose your secret self, your visual interpretation of life, and your profession of faith while being vulnerable to rejection.

3 Wise Words

by Claire Passmore

Trowbridge,
United Kingdom

Techniques:

Sun-printed, lino block printed, stenciled, raw-edge appliquéd, free-motion quilted, hand-quilted

Materials:

Cotton, acrylic paint, fiber reactive dye, soy milk, soluble stabilizer

My aim is to remind people of the vast amount of unnecessary plastic material which is rapidly taking up space in our landfills and oceans. The poster does not nag, lecture, threaten, or rely on complicated graphics to deliver its message. It illustrates instead a single positive action that can be easily fulfilled by anyone.

No More Labels: A Plea for
Civil Discourse

by Margaret Phillips

Cos Cob, Connecticut
USA

Techniques:

Hand-appliquéd, machine quilted

Materials:

Cotton, felt, fabric labels

Labeling people or groups to degrade, disenfranchise, vilify, or marginalize them in order to promote one’s own agenda is just wrong.  Encountering people as they truly are, unlabeled, can bring us to a deeper understanding of both their realities and our own.

VOLCANO!

by Heather Pregger

Fort Worth, Texas
USA

Techniques:

Pieced, digitally printed text

Materials:

Cotton

Science posters have always intrigued me. The ones dealing with geology, my chosen field of study, absolutely fascinate me. In VOLCANO!, I have created my own cross section of a volcano, complete with a lava dome and a pyroclastic blast.

Elliptigo

by Daren Redman

Nashville, Tennessee
USA

Techniques:

Threadpainted, photo inkjet printed, machine stitched and quilted

Materials:

Belgian linen, hand-dyed cotton, flannel

I love bikes. I used to cycle 100 miles a week, until I ruptured a disk. I can no longer ride the miles I once did. My stepdaughter works for Elliptigo, a company that makes an elliptical cycle, where you stand up instead of sitting on a seat. My poster is an advertisement for their bike, which I dream of owning one day.