Kathryn Markel with pieced vintage silk textile artwork by Debra Smith.
I am so happy to have these new works by Debra Smith in the gallery. Debra is an artist and quilter from Kansas City, Missouri. She comes from a long line of quilters - her grandmother was a quilter, and her mother was a quilter. With her work, Debra is taking the idea of quilting textiles into a 21st-century realm.
Debra typically uses the linings of antique kimonos, which have a patina. She puts one layer over the other, and often there are transparencies. The black is also from kimonos, and occasionally she uses men's silk tie lining material. Her materials tend to be vintage, and the work tends to have a vintage modernist contemporary composition and feeling.
