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Sneak Peak
at an Interview with South African Artist Rosalie Dace
with Patricia Bolton
South African studio quilter Rosalie Dace has enjoyed a lifelong passion
for fabric that began when she was a small child and a favorite pastime
was to dump her entire family's clothing in the bathtub to see how they
moved and changed color in the water. Since then, she has become a bit
more respectable by completing a B.A. with majors in fine art and English,
and teaching both before becoming a full-time studio quilt maker and
teacher in the 1970s.
This past June I had the opportunity to take a weekend course with
Rosalie at the 17th annual Quilt Surface Design Symposium held in Columbus,
Ohio. In Rosalie's two-day course we studied African cloths, colors,
and quilts. During a lunch break one day, we grabbed a quiet table in
the corner of the hotel restaurant and had a chance to talk about her
fiber art and teaching.
Rosalie has always loved textiles since she was a small child. "Fabric
is so much a part of the human condition. From the time you're born
and they clean you up, you're wrapped in fabric. Fabric is protective,
comforting, denotes social status...we celebrate with it by wearing
it on special occasion throughout our lives," she says.
Rosalie began teaching textile arts quite by accident. "I was
teaching art method at university when the librarian noticed I was checking
out art books. She said to me, 'Won't you join the Embroiderer's Guild?'
I told her no, as I hadn't any interest in embroidery. She then said,
'Well, we need help with design. You show us design methods and we'll
teach you to stitch."
Rosalie quickly befriended members of the Embroiderer's Guild and taught
herself to quilt. Soon after, she entered her first art quilt in a national
art show and won first place.
Currently Rosalie teaches around the world, including Germany, New
Zealand, and the United States. She'll be teaching this fall at The
Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara, October 12 - 15,
and next June at Quilt Surface Design Symposium.
To read more of her interview check out the Fall 2006 issue of QUILTING
ARTS MAGAZINE®.
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"Almost Forgotten, Never
Told"
34" x 47"
Hand-dyed, hand-screened and commercial cottons, silk, linen,
velvet, organza, taffetta, lurex, lame and satin. Hand and machine
pieced, hand and machine appliqued, machine quilted hand and machine
embroidered. |
This quilt is the second in my "Secret Garden" series in
which I take as a starting point, old memories of gardens of my childhood
with their combination of water paths and foliage. This also becomes
a metaphor for deeply embedded old memories that rise unbidden in our
consciousness; sometimes clear and structured, sometimes vague and formless.
Quilt-making with its multiple layers seems an ideal medium for exploring
these ideas.
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