Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Sunnyvale-based artist, Joan Schulze, will be exhibiting her mixed media quilts in Beijing at the end of October. Joan has exhibited her artwork around the world and has a book of her quilt-work titled The Art of Joan Schulze.
The Fabric of Photos
Local artist creates quilts with vivid visual imagery
By Melissa Matchak
Five years after opening her studio in San Francisco, Sunnyvale artist Joan Schulze has learned art is a matter of perception. With the release of her new book, "The Art of Joan Schulze," she is now being recognized for work that few people appreciated or even viewed as art when she first presented it in her garage.
Schulze is a quilt maker, but her quilts aren't of the traditional variety. Her interest in quilts began in 1970 after moving to California. She was part of a newcomer's club, doing embroidery when she decided to make this hobby her vocation.
In 1974, Schulze was teaching classes in embroidery and other sewing techniques when she was asked if she was going to make a bicentennial quilt. Although she had never made a quilt in her life, Schulze said she set to work creating one for her 11 year old son.
"I used fabrics that I had; it was pretty funky, very sculptural," Schulze said. "It was huge, and weighed nine pounds. It kept my son from falling out of bed."
Although her first quilt may not be included in her gallery, it was the beginning of a career in quilting. Schulze said she started teaching herself how to make quilts, and made a second one for her daughter, as well as a bicentennial quilt.
"After the bicentennial quilt, I started really looking at what people were doing, and integrated other techniques into my own work." Schulze said. "I've experimented all along, and I still experiment today."
Schulze's quilts use photographs on fabric to create pieces of art to invoke different feelings in each person that sees them. She said she is inspired by everything, but often other people's input will be a starting point.
Schulze is also commissioned to create quilts, and has done work for almost every hospital in the Bay Area. A recent creation, made for Santa Clara Hospital's radiation department, incorporated photos of flowers, both in full bloom and the early stages of life. Schulze said she often uses the words "beauty" and "power" for these hospital quilts.
For her most recent series of quilts, called "Objects of Desire," Schulze started with the idea of how women are seen as objects for the almost 35 piece series. One, titled "Speak No Evil, See No Evil," is a presentation of photographs of women's eyes and women's lips on a white background. Schulze said she had a collection of photographs of women's eyes and lips, and the white spaces in between the vertical columns of various eyes and lips appeared to her like pedestals.
In making her unusual quilts, Schulze said there is always a risk that people won't like what she's doing.
"I'm considered someone who's pushing the boundaries, but I'm not leaving traditional ways behind," Schulze said. "It's not my job to make people comfortable."
However, Schulze said her style of quilting is becoming more mainstream for many reasons.
"Quilting is part of women's culture, it was a way for women to get together in the early 1900s," Schulze said. "This type of quilting has a tactile quality to it, and people really respond to tactiles faster than to paintings."
Creating art that people respond to is an elaborate process. To make one of her quilts, Schulze first puts her photos together in a collage, then makes photocopies of the collage. Once the photo image is ready, she then applies book binder's glue to the photo side of the paper and places it face down onto silk or cotton fabric. After drying for at least 24 hours, she begins the painstaking process of peeling the paper off the fabric, leaving the images behind. Once she has the images on the fabric, Schulze said she can then being to collage again to compose the final quilt design.
Schulze's quilts are well known worldwide. She has been invited to countries such as Germany, Holland, and Australia to display her work and teach her method of quilt making. In 1984, Schulze went on a three-month non-stop teaching tour of Australia, and teaching from the universities to the outback.
"I had the time of my life, but it took me months to recover," Schulze said.
In 1989, Schulze was part of an exhibition on the East Coast when the show was granted government funding to travel abroad. Schulze traveled with the quilting exhibition to places like Sarajevo, where she said tanks were rolling in as their show was packing up.
In 1992, she was hired by the U.S. government as a cultural specialist, and traveled around the world teaching her craft. During this time, she spent three weeks in Holland teaching, and said she had the opportunity to meet many interesting people, including Gore Vidal.
Most recently, Schulze has been invited on a trip to Beijing, China to display her quilts.
During the trip this October, Schulze and other artists will have their artwork displayed at the Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University, in Beijing. During the eight-day visit they will also see such places as the Great Wall and the Forbidden City during the eight-day visit.
"When I got the invitation, I replied, asking, 'why am I invited?'" Schulze said in disbelief. "And the reply back was that two of the most famous Chinese artists wanted me to be a part of the show."
Regardless, she is thrilled to have the opportunity to go and display her work.
Schulze's recently-published first book, "The Art of Joan Schulze" presents her work as well as essays people have written about it. She had never wanted to do a book, and it took her a while to accept that quilting is an art form. However, Schulze is very happy with the final product.
"It makes a statement about quilts, my artwork, and about 'why should we settle for things that disintegrate?'" she said. "It's a book that the Museum of Modern Art and other museums will have."
Schulze said her next series might be based on the many photos she has taken of people looking at art in museums.
Schulze's book can be found locally at Heinzlemann's Bookstore in Los Altos, Kepler's in Menlo Park, Oakland Museum bookstore, or from the artist by calling 408.736.7833. Custom and limited editions can be purchased by calling 800.762.0177. Schulze's book can also be found on the Internet at her Web site, www.joan-of-arts.com, or at www.amazon.com, www.BN.com or www.guild.com. She will be signing books after an all-day workshop at New Pieces in Berkeley on Nov. 19.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
