Cindy Grisdela
About the Artist
I love fabric and color. I enjoy using fabric the way a painter might use paint to explore different combinations of color and the emotions they might awaken in the viewer. Why use one red when five or even ten reds would create a more interesting visual design? Even after 20 years, the possibilities of fabric and thread still seem limitless to me; there is always some new avenue to explore. Fiber art is exciting because it offers a tactile quality beyond the color and line of a design. The process of quilting the layers together allows me to draw with a needle and thread and add another dimension to the piece. As an art quilter, I seek to be true to the past while creating contemporary quilted designs that have a strong visual impact.
I come from a long line of women who have expressed themselves using a needle and thread. Creating with various forms of fabric and thread has been a part of my life since I was a child and my mother and my great aunt taught me to sew and embroider. Once I discovered quilting in the early 1980’s, it became my passion. My early work explored traditional patterns and methods and this experience cemented the vocabulary I would later use to make nontraditional art quilts. Making art quilts is thrilling because I never know what the design is going to look like until the piece is finished. Typically I start with a fabric I love or a design idea, like free form circles or diagonal bands of color. Then I decide on a color scheme and pull many different fabrics together to begin cutting and auditioning pieces on the design wall in my studio. Usually I put all of the pieces up on the wall and rearrange them until I’m satisfied before I start sewing. Very often the initial design idea is only faintly recognizable at the end because the choices of fabric, color and design interact in unexpected ways as the piece emerges.
My formal education includes a BA in Fine Arts and an MBA. I used quiltmaking as a creative outlet on a part time basis for a number of years as I pursued a career in financial journalism. Initially self taught, I have studied with a number of nationally recognized quilting teachers over the past decade. My education as a quilt artist is ongoing as I seek to create original designs that are interesting to the eye, pleasing to the touch and soothing to the soul. My work is represented in several private collections, as well as on permanent display at Reston Art Gallery and Studios in Reston, VA, where I have a studio. I live in Great Falls, Virginia with my husband and two sons.
Medium:
Fiber Art
To view more information about the artist click on the following links:
- Web Site: www.cindygrisdela.com
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For hours and directions to the Reston Art Gallery and Studio please click on the link here...
For more information about RAGS, visit or call the gallery:
Reston Art Gallery & Studios
11400 Washington Plaza
Reston, VA 20190
Phone: (703) 481-8156
Contact: Pat Macintyre (703) 471-1445
EMAIL: pckmacintyre@restonartgallery.com
We hope you will come see us at the Gallery soon!