Featured Artist Profile: New co-Rep Cherrie Hampton

Update:  You guys!  I'm so thrilled to let you know that Cherrie's beautiful quilt Oklahoma Windsong (first one below), just won The Future Of Quilting Award at IQF Houston.  So fabulous!

Hi All,  today I'm super excited to share with you a little bit about our new co-Rep Cherrie Hampton.   Her work is just gorgeous, and has won many many awards. I had the pleasure of meeting with her recently and was thrilled and encouraged by her great ideas and enthusiasm.  I'm sharing her profile today and then later this month I think we'll have a post about our other co-rep, Ada Niedenthal.

Please remember to send me an e-mail if you're interested in being a featured artist on the blog.  It's not a complicated process and I'd love to see more participants share their work!

1. Who are you and where do you live?

My name is Cherrie Hampton and I am a native of Oklahoma City, OK.

Oklahoma Windsong

2. Tell us a little bit about your artistic journey and how you got started?

Although I have been sewing and quilting for many years, art quilting is a new phase of my creative journey.  My formal career was as a college professor teaching singing, specializing in opera and musical theater.  I have designed and made numerous costumes and sets as well as training singers as actors.  These experiences formed the artistic eye that now guides my art quilting.

3. How do you describe your work?

I produce mostly small wall art quilts with construction techniques which are appropriate to the image concept.  I like for my work to be realistic and easily self-descriptive.  My theatrical training leads me to consider the impact of the quilt from a distance as well as the nuances of detail.

4. Do you have any favorite techniques or approaches?

Since taking up watercolor painting 4 years ago, I have found that painting on fabric has opened a new avenue for realistic expression.  I have used inks, pencils, fabric pens, crayons, acrylic paints, pretty much anything that allows me to apply color to fabric.  I also use commercial fabrics in my applique process.

5. What do you want to communicate with your work?

I am daily renewed by the beauty of creation around me.  I strive for realism in my work because I want to share the colors, textures movement and images as I see them.  I am particularly interested in portraiture and some of my first efforts in art quilting have involved human images.

6. What methods, or lifestyle tips, or time management tips do you find helpful to producing work?

In my studio I have music playing most of the time.  My favorite "creative" music is gentle music with no words but with nature sounds laced throughout the melodies.  I find this type of music acts as an eraser of other thoughts and concerns and helps me enter into a peaceful mindset.

7.  What kind of studio/workspace do you have and what features of your surroundings are most helpful for your productivity/work?

My studio has a large north window and is arranged with two work spaces, one for sewing and cutting and the other for painting.  I view my work much as one would a stage setting, and for that reason my design wall is my most important creative tool.  I tis located across one entire wall of my stuido directly across from the sewing machine. I also draw inspiration and energy from my wall of threads which is arranged in color families and my wall of fabric held in open baskets.  I am surrounded by rainbows of color.

8.  Which artist, other individuals, or subjects currently inspire you?

I am constantly searching blogs to understand other artists' methods and works.  These research soirees have helped me to begin to develop my own voice and preferences as an artist.  It is also interesting to find other artists with similar voices and  inspirations.  I have learned so much about how to create my own art and how to be an artist by observing Velda Newman, Patt Blair, and Maria Elkins.  I am also challenged by BOB, a small group of quilt artist who meet monthly.

Thanks so much to Cherrie for sharing and for stepping up as our co-rep.  Please feel free to e-mail her or Ada with ideas about what you'd like to see our SAQA region do.  You can e-mail Cherrie (her info is on the left sidebar) or check out her blog, http://windsongquilts.blogspot.com/