Shawn Towey

I discovered that I enjoyed graphic arts almost accidentally, after learning to make leaflets and newsletters for feminist and social justice causes I was involved with. I started quilting when graphic arts moved to computers and I missed making things with my hands. At first it felt like a mismatch: I never had the patience for traditional quilting. I wanted to work small, explore a new idea, and move on. Then I discovered a whole community of quilt artists who were already doing that!

Working with the ArtQuilts at the Sedgwick organizing committee has given me a chance to contribute to a dynamic institution in my own community, while having the pleasure of working with a group of creative, inspiring artists. I started volunteering for the 2001 show.

I am currently creating quilts that marry my various passions: nature, maps, and birdwatching. I continue to explore the continuum from realistic to more abstract representations of nature, places and memories.

2006 quilt:
Wissahickon Valley III: Her Dual Nature
23w x 38h




Artist Statement

Brilliant fall colors and autumn light always inspire me to use silk because of its reflectiveness. Spring and fall are mirror images in their own riotous palettes. The sky and creek are constants, yet are ever-changing and impossible to render in a static form. I wanted them to be viewable from both sides. Their transparency provides the unity of the two sides.

With fusible appliqué, I enjoyed the freedom to cut freehand shapes and to layer and move them around. There is a formal design, but there is also a lot of improvisation in this quilt.

Fuseappliqué, machine quilting, hand appliqué; hand beading. Commercial (new) silk and antique kimonos, ribbon, various threads, organza, tulle, beads.


2004 quilt:
Wissahickon Valley II: Spring Birdwalk
21"w x 24"h



Artist Statement

This map-quilt of the lower Wissahickon creek in Philadelphia is the fourth in a series that explores places and the memories they evoke. I use maps as one type of representation of "reality" and juxtapose them with satellite photos and more abstract ways of evoking a sense of place—color, texture, pattern, light. The map's topographical lines are quilted to portray depth; out-of-scale bird photos memorialize memories of sightings in those locations. An independent, partly transparent layer—depicting human-made elements imposed on the natural environment—floats above the quilt, held by the frame.

Techniques/Materials: commercial and hand-painted silk, cotton, ribbons, various threads. Top layer: Solvy (dissolved), tulle, hand-painted photo-transfer on silk, and silk threads. Plexiglass frame holding two layers apart.


WOOLPACK is our fiber way of saying THE COMPLETE PACKAGE