Leamington Arts Centre

This months feature in "Signature Gifts" is Fabric and Fiber artist Michelle Dobin.

Michelle is an imaginative self-taugt quilter who has been making one of a kind, quilted art since 1997. Born in Romania, she immigrated to Canada with her family at the age of 14. Her professional background is in biology and she pursued a career as an ecologist for over 10 years, until 2006 when she turned to fine craft as a vocation.

Michelle has been making her own unique designs from the very beginning, picking up tips on art quilting methods and techniques from books and magazines and from snippets of conversation with other quilters. Her early art quilts all featured appliquéd images of insects (her specialty in biology), But her range of subjects has changed and broadened since, and will continue to do so.

The fascination with art quilting for Michelle is due to a blend of interests in nature and traditional quilt-making and to an innate sense and love of colour and texture. Her curvy lines and shapes are inspired by flowing forms in nature and her stitch work enhances what she likes about commercial printing fabrics or her own photo-transferred, computer-enhanced digital images. Michelle is a very tactile person and has always loved the feel and warmth of traditional quilts, and in her work she adds layers of different fibers to the quilts (such as painted cheesecloth, dryer sheets or frilly yarns), to add interest and both visual and real texture to the traditional soft, smooth broadcloth surface. Michelle's work is purely ornamental. Her quilts, whether hard-backed or soft, are designed to hang on the wall. By continually exploring the potential of new forms and textures and constantly experimenting with a variety of new textiles and creative stitch work, her work is always evolving. You can take a sneak peak of Michelle's works on her website www.michelledobin.com or you can currently see original works of quilted art for sale in Signature Gifts in the Leamington Arts Centre.