I have had the opportunity to live in several different states across the U.S. and in Puerto Rico. I am amazed by the different landscapes that characterize each place I have been. I love and am inspired by the beauty in nature. I have always been an avid amateur photographer. These things coupled with my love of fabric and color have lead me to my passion for creating landscape and pictorial art quilts from personally taken photographs. Occasionally I will draw up something totally original, but I usually work from photos.

I most often construct the surface of my quilts with raw-edged fused applique, but will occasionally do machine and hand applique. By machine I do piecing, free motion embroidery, beading, and quilting. I use commercial, hand-dyed, and hand painted fabrics. I will often paint on the surface of my quilts to add detail, texture, and depth with shadow elements. Emphasis is placed on quality workmanship.

Much of my current inspiration comes from hikes in the Rocky Mountain National Park with my husband, Rick. I also enjoy working with architectural and still life subjects.


Annette grew up in Kettering, Ohio. As a young girl she learned to sew, crochet, knit, embroider, and do needlepoint from her mother and grandmother. Drawing and experimenting with watercolors and pastels was a much-loved pastime, although she never had any formal instruction, except for a few folk art painting classes as an adult. Annette has always loved to create. Even in cooking she can’t resist changing a recipe or making something totally new and original.

As a young adult Annette worked in the dental laboratory field fabricating crown and bridgework. After marrying her husband, who was on a military career path, she had the opportunity to live in several locations on the east and west coasts of the United States and in Puerto Rico. During those years she worked as a cosmetologist and later as a retail merchandiser for Hallmark Greeting Cards.

Annette learned to quilt as an adult from her mother and grandmother who had been quilting for years, doing everything by hand. Annette got hooked on quilting when her mother started piecing quilts by machine and the process no longer seemed so time- consuming. After making several traditional bed quilts over several years, in the summer of 2003 Annette then moved on to creating her own original landscape and pictorial art quilts.

After her husband Rick's retirement from military service in 2001, they have settled in Longmont, Colorado with their kitties. They have one son Nathan who is currently working on his law degree at Ohio State University and will be entering the Army soon after.


2006 RECENT AND UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

Annette's work is regularly exhibited at the Muse Gallery in Longmont, CO, and The Art Center of Estes Park in Estes Park, CO. Special recent and upcoming exhibits include:

  • Denver National Quilt Festival, Denver, CO
  • Colorado Quilting Council's Quilt Colorado 2006 in Estes Park, CO
  • 25th Annual Fabric of Legacies National Art Quilt Exhibit at the Lincoln Center in Ft. Collins, CO
  • In Full Bloom III: Floral Quilts in Memory of Helen Pearch O'Bryant, premiering at the Houston International Quilt Festival in November and traveling to other venues through August, 2007

OTHER SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2005

  • Quilted Cuisine exhibit at the Museum of the American Quilter’s Society, Paducah, KY
  • Language of Color and Design Fiber Arts Display at The Presser Foot in Ft. Collins, CO
  • Solo trunk show, at The Presser Foot in Longmont, CO
  • American Quilter’s Society 2005 Quilt Show & Contest, Paducah, KY
  • Solo Fiber Earthspaces show at The Centerville Police Department Gallery, Centerville, OH
  • Berthoud Outdoor Quilt Show 2005, at Fickel Park in Berthoud, CO
  • 24th Annual Fabric of Legacies National Quilt Exhibit at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins, CO
  • Quilt Odyssey 2005 exhibit in Hershey, PA
  • 2005 Tactile Architecture exhibit, premiering at the Houston International Quilt Festival in October and traveling to other venues through July 2006

2004

  • Colorado Quilting Council’s Piece in the Rockies exhibit is Estes Park, CO
  • 23rd Annual Fabric of Legacies National Quilt Exhibit at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins, CO
  • Language of Color and Design Fiber Arts Display at The Presser Foot in Longmont, CO
  • Quilted Cuisine exhibit at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, MA
  • Autumn in America exhibit at the State of the Art Gallery in Ithaca, NY
  • International Quilt Association, Quilt’s: A World of Beauty exhibit in Houston, TX
  • The Celestial Seasonings Tour Shop in Boulder, CO

AWARDS

  • 1st Place in Small Applique, Colorado Quilting Council’s Peace in the Rockies 2004, Quilt: Tea For Panda
  • Viewer’s Choice Award, Language of Color and Design Fiber Arts Display, 2005, Quilt: Aspen Splendor
  • People’s Choice Award, Berthoud Outdoor Quilt Show 2005, Quilt: Summer Lake at Treeline

TEACHING AND SPEAKING

Annette teaches classes on her techniques of turning a photo into an art quilt and painting on a quilt to add detail, shadow, and depth. She presents a program on the effects achieved by controlled hand painting on pictorial quilts. Click HERE for more teaching and lecture information.

ORGANIZATIONS AND AFFILIATIONS

Estes Valley Quilt Guild, Estes Park, CO
Front Range Contemporary Quilters, West Minster, CO
Artistic Alchemy, Fort Collins, CO
Muse Gallery and Longmont Council for the Arts, Longmont, CO
Art Center of Estes Park, Estes Park, CO

MEDIA COVERAGE

Steamboat Pilot, Steamboat Springs, CO, 4 Points Insert, July 21, 2006, "Paint to Fabric"
Daily Times-Call, Longmont, CO, April 16, 2005, “In Stitches”
Trail Gazette, Estes Park, CO, Trail Plus Insert, January 20, 2006, "Collaborative Expressions"