Interview with Lisa Ellis

Karen Musgrave (KM): This is Karen Musgrave and I'm doing a Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories interview with Lisa Ellis. Lisa is in Fairfax, Virginia and I'm in Naperville, Illinois, so we are conducting this interview over the telephone. Today is March 20, 2009. It is now 9:23 in the morning. Lisa, thank you so much for taking time out of your day to do this interview with me.

Lisa Ellis (LE): It is a privilege and honor.

KM: Please tell me about your quilt "Miriam's Dance."

LE: "Miriam's Dance" is one of my very early quilts. It was the second quilt that I made that I would characterize as a Praise Quilt. I'm pretty new at quilting. I started in [the summer of.] 2003. I left the corporate world and I bought a sewing machine. Then in the fall of 2004, I took an art quilt class and started to really explore more artistic expression in quiltmaking. Because my faith is really important to me it was very natural for me to move into wanting to make pieces as an expression of my faith. "Miriam's Dance" is very representational of the images I enjoy in faith-based quilts. I just love images of people worshipping. "Miriam's Dance" is from Exodus when Miriam, Moses' and Aaron's sister, led the Hebrew women in a dance following the miracle of the Red Sea. It is a very special story of how they were just so joyful about how God had delivered them. I also have found over the years that "Miriam's Dance" sort of stays around. People have found it on my website and I find it on people's blogs. It was exhibited at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival and somebody took a picture of it and shared it with their friends. There is something about "Miriam's Dance" that other people relate to as well, even if they don't know the story of Miriam. Just seeing women dancing is an image that brings people joy. I submitted it to the Sacred Threads show in 2007. Sacred Threads is the first juried show that I ever entered, so that also makes "Miriam's Dance" very special to me.

KM: What are your plans for this quilt?

LE: "Miriam's Dance" at this point, particularly since it was one of my early pieces, stays rolled up in my home. I have a praise quilt lecture that I do and "Miriam's Dance" comes with me. Because it is one of my early quilts, it helps tell the story of my faith journey and how my quiltmaking has progressed.

KM: How often do you lecture?

LE: I am lecturing now probably once a month. The word is getting out about this particular talk. I find myself being invited to bible studies and women's church or mission groups. People invite me to come and I bring all my praise quilts and I share my testimony. I am really blessed to have this venue for sharing my artwork. I do have a few pieces that hang at my church. So I will go borrow those pieces and I will share those quilts as well. People generally love to see "Miriam's Dance". I get a pretty positive response when I show it.

KM: Tell me a little bit more about Sacred Threads.

LE: Sacred Threads, what an amazing vision Vikki Pignatelli had when she came up with the desire to put on Sacred Threads [biennial exhibit held in Reynoldsburg, Ohio that explores the subject themes of spirituality, joy, inspiration, peace/brotherhood, grief and healing.] . I first learned about it in the fall of 2006. The call for entries was out and a good friend of mine, Cyndi Souder, brought it to my attention. She said, 'Hey, this is a show just for you because of the faith-based quilts that you make.' I had not submitted work before. I had only been quilting for a couple of years but I had made "Miriam's Dance". I went to their website and read about it being a safe venue for quilts that explore these different categories of, you know, faith, spirituality, and joy. It just resonated with me because the quiltmaking that I have done has been in this area of spirituality. And I also do quilts in the healing area. I just felt immediate connection with this show. I hadn't submitted work before so I decided to jump in and I entered "Miriam's Dance." I also made a quilt especially for Sacred Threads and it also got accepted. It is called "Follow Me." Both of those quilts went to Sacred Threads in 2007. When I got the acceptance letters it was such a big deal for me that I immediately wanted to go see the show and so Cyndi and I went to the show in June of 2007. I got to meet Vikki Pignatelli at the artist reception and also her co-chair Wendy Bynner. What an inspiring group of people. I just loved what they had to say. It was wonderful to be there in person and then of course to see my two quilts, but also to see all of the quilts there. I just knew that Sacred Threads was where I belonged, that this was a great venue. When I got back in June after seeing the show, I wanted to get more involved. I wanted to be a part of the Sacred Threads sort of family and help with what I consider a real ministry. So I contacted Vikki and Wendy and asked them if I could provide any support. I'm an engineer by trade and I do a lot of website work for people and so I volunteered my technical services. Almost immediately they took me up on my offer and over time I started to take over more and more of the technical responsibilities. Initially I took over the maintenance of the website and then we started to have hosting issues and domain issues, so I eventually took over all of those as well. Over the last couple of years, I've developed a very strong relationship with Vikki and Wendy and I'm totally inspired by them. I appreciate the opportunity to provide technical support which relieves them from things that they are less comfortable with, so they can really carry on and do the ministry of the show.

KM: Tell me about your interest in quiltmaking.

LE: It started back in 1995. I was on a Sunday school committee and the head of the committee [Gwen Emmett.] was a quiltmaker. We would go to her home for meetings and I would see all of these quilts around her home. They were just beautiful and I was totally inspired by them. When I had my third child and took a four month maternity leave. I went to her house [once a week.], brought the baby with me, and she taught me to hand quilt. She taught me all the basics of quiltmaking: appliqu and piecing and how to do the hand quilting and all of the language to understand all of the terms. Over the next few years, because I was working full time and I had three young children, I really didn't get to do much. I did make a few things. I would make a quilt every couple of years. But I did everything by hand because that is all that I knew. And so when I retired in 2003 I decided that this was something that I really wanted to pursue. I went out and bought a sewing machine, not knowing really anything about what I needed. I just went to my local shop and I bought a machine and basically watching Simply Quilts taught myself to do everything by machine. How to piece and how to machine quilt and I really got bit by the bug. Over the next year, that first year, I made primarily traditional things, although I immediately wanted to start drafting my own blocks. I never really got into looking at patterns. I would see a block and draft it. But then I started to see more of the art quilts and wanted to move in that direction. [In the fall of 2004.] I took an art quilt class and have really never looked back. Now it is really a calling of making faith-based quilts for institutions and also working in the healing quilts area where I've got a number of projects where we are making art quilts for healing institutions. We are providing a more pleasing environment for places where people are healing.

KM: How many hours a week do you quilt?

LE: I am probably in my studio about ten, but a large part of what I'm doing is related because I do so many websites. For example, The Healing Quilts in Medicine website [www.healingquiltsinmedicine.org.] and the Sacred Threads website [www.sacredthreadsquilts.com.]. And I built an online registration and jurying system for Sacred Threads. Quiltmaking, as an area, is a full time endeavor. For me personally, actually in my studio creating, is probably oly ten hours a week. I would like it to be more but I'm very blessed that I have the opportunity to be in the quilt world and doing related things to try to help promote the healing quilts and the Sacred Threads areas.

KM: Tell me about your creative process.

LE: My creative process is pretty much inspired by God. Something will be on my heart and all of a sudden I will get this idea and it becomes something where, I become a bit obsessed. I have to get the design out, maybe even complete the top. I can't do anything else. I can't do laundry. I can't work on websites. I really need to get this idea out. It doesn't happen that often. It is wonderful when I get such an inspiration that I have to make the piece. I have had some really amazing experiences. Like with one of my quilts called "Praise Him." I was coming home from a Bible study and I suddenly had this amazing need to make a quilt for my church. It just hit me, 'Oh, you should make a quilt for your church. You know you make all these quilts and you haven't made anything for your own place of worship.' Just like other times, I became quite focused, putting other deadlines aside; I started working on this quilt. The church recently built a new building and it is in very warm colors, terracotta and sort of gold and sage green and I had used some teal and a crimson red fabrics. I had made the top and I was going to quilt words using thread play. I was thinking about what would be good thread colors. I heard this very clear voice, 'You need to add blue and purple.' Blue and purple? I don't know. I don't think that would really work, these cold colors against this really warm background. But it was so clear, it needs blue and purple. The next morning in my Bible study I was reading the story in Exodus about the building of the Tabernacle and the thread color, it says right in Scripture, the thread colors will be red, blue and purple and I thought, oh my goodness this is direct from God that this quilt is to be a reflection of the Tabernacle, the threads need to be red, blue and purple. It was also amazing in that same Scripture it talks about the three metals that will be in the Tabernacle would be bronze, silver and gold. I had chosen all metallic fabrics for this piece. All of the fabrics have gold running throughout them. I had used silver to outline the words and I put bronze piping all the way around the inner border. I mean I was just blown away. Two days later a friend called me from church and says, 'Hey how is it going?' I told her the story about how I'm working on this quilt for Epiphany and the connection to the bible study. She says, 'A week ago Jan and I were in the sanctuary praying that you would make a quilt for Epiphany and here it is a week later and you are working on it.' That is typical of my creative process. I will get an idea and it comes fast and furious. I have to work on it and will put all other things aside. After that, it may be a while before I get another idea. I work on challenge projects or my healing quilts, but occasionally I get these sparks where I know it is a gift that God intended to make this piece for a purpose. It is a real blessing when that happens. Those are my best pieces actually, the ones that come that way. I know it is really a gift.

KM: You mentioned your studio. Can you describe it for me?

LE: I am [laughs.] very lucky, I have a very accommodating husband. My studio is our living room. When I started to get this bug and my stash was getting bigger and I had more books and all the things that we collect. I have a lot of thread because I love doing thread play. I needed more space. I was just bursting out of the little study where the computer is. We have this formal living room in Virginia and it was wasted space. We live in a Colonial. We used this room like twice a year. Mostly when we have people over, we are in our large family room where we have a nice sectional couch that seats lots of people. Our living room was never used and so I have now taken it over. It is wonderful. We got rid of all the formal living room furniture and we had semi-custom cabinets put in. So now I have this wonderful space, great lighting, a large design wall, lots of cabinets for all my fabric, and a really nice sewing table. And I have a cutting area. I'm very tall so it is at my height so it is really comfortable, I can stand for long periods of time and cut. And then I have an ironing surface as well. I'm very blessed that I have a large studio that accommodates all of my materials.

KM: What does your family think of your quiltmaking?

LE: They love it. In fact they are my greatest fans and I love getting their ideas. I always have a lot of projects up on my design wall. I tend to work on multiple projects at the same time and they love to give me their advice. I will call a family meeting 'okay everybody, I'm debating this or that' and everybody loves to give me their thoughts. They also are very supportive when I travel, if I teach or lecture or sometimes I will go to Asilomar [Empty Spools Seminar.]. They are very supportive of that. They know that it is important to me to fill my well to get inspiration and to have the opportunity to learn new things. They are very supportive and they love to coming to shows. We have had local shows and they love coming to that and seeing my quilting friends. It is good. They are very, very supportive.

KM: Do you belong to any art or quilt groups?

LE: I do, I belong to a few. Probably the one that I'm the most active is called Fiber Artists at Loose Ends. We are a group of art quilters from the Northern Virginia, Maryland, [Washington.] D.C. area. We were all involved in a project called Healing Quilts in Medicine. It was a group of quilters that came together under the direction of Judy House to make art quilts based on the plants and animals used in chemotherapies for the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Judy died in the summer of 2005. Following her death, one of the gals, Judy Busby wanted to keep this group together, at least the local quilters, and so she formed a new group and we are still together today. Our membership has changed maybe a little bit. Not everybody now participated in that first project, but we all share the same love of art quilting, but also for healing quilts. So we are involved in a number of healing quilt projects. That probably is the group that I am the most connected with. I do belong to our local guild, but I've actually never been to a guild meeting. I love the idea but it is very hard with all the commitments I have to be active in the local guild. I do love to go to the show and I pay my dues but I haven't yet found in my schedule to be really active in that. I'm also a member of SAQA. I love what SAQA is doing in promoting art quilting in our community and within the art world. I'm a member, and becoming a more active member of SAQA. In fact, through SAQA I gave a lecture at Houston [International Quilt Festival.] last year on the topic of healing quilts. So that was a great opportunity through SAQA to try to reach a broader audience in Houston and to talk about the importance and what we can do as quilters to improve the lives of patients by healing quilt projects.

KM: Tell me a little bit more about healing quilt projects.

LE: Healing quilt projects, there is a wide range of what this means to different people. There is making a quilt for somebody who is special to you that is going through a tough time. Or guilds getting together or small groups of friends making a quilt. That certainly is a healing quilt project. There are projects that are about awareness or fundraising. I think about Ami Simms' [Alzheimer's.] Art Quilts Initiative, where she has the online auction and ["Alzheimer's:"] "Forgetting Piece by Piece" exhibit that traveled. My thoughts on healing quilts is a little bit different, but all of these are related. What I'm working is actually bringing artwork to institutions where patients are healing. We are trying to bring beauty and art into an environment that tends to be pretty sterile. We partner with a hospital and we give these quilts to be hung on the walls. So that patients and their families, that have these long waits where they are waiting for blood work or waiting for chemotherapy or waiting for results, rather than just looking at pharmaceutical posters or blank walls, they actually see beautiful artwork. When they go up and look at the piece and they read the artist's statement, they realize that what they are seeing is a plant that is actually used in chemotherapy to treat Leukemia or to treat prostrate cancer or breast cancer. So they see this beautiful piece like a beautiful flower and then they learn about it. Hopefully it makes their difficult time better. It helps to create a better environment, which we know promotes healing. We are working on a number of projects right now through the University of Michigan and also through the Society for the Arts and Health Care. I'm a big believer that all these types of healing quilt projects are important. I mean the more personal ones or for fundraising and awareness. And trying to improve the lives of patients through improving the places where they are healing. It is just a great opportunity for quiltmakers to give back in that way.

KM: Very good. What advice would you offer someone starting out?

LE: That is a great question. I think to find your passion. I think there are so many ways. We can make quilts for our family members. To put a quilt on our child's bed, something that is really personal, something they will take with them that will be meaningful. Like for me making quilts that are an expression of my faith and then sharing my faith with other people, or in the healing quilts. I have so appreciated the opportunity to try to improve the lives of patients. I think for quiltmakers to ask themselves? Why do you want to make a quilt? Whose lives do you want to touch? Is it your family members? Is it your friends? Is it people you've never met, but you know are suffering? Is it to give God thanks, an expression of worship or praise? I think to really kind of explore what is meaningful to you and then to incorporate that into quiltmaking. I think it is just finding what you're passionate about and using the time that you have in your studio to explore that and to give back.

KM: What do you think is the biggest challenge confronting quiltmakers today?

LE: I think for me and my group of friends, it is hard when we judge one another. And in judged shows where the judge's comments are so negative and very discouraging. We need to do the things that make our hearts sing and not be critical of one another but to be encouraging of one another. Certainly there are art quilt groups that get together to critique one another and they do so out of affection for one another and to help each other grow. What is hard for me is when I see quiltmakers being put down because their technique wasn't as good or that their style of quiltmaking doesn't appeal. It is too abstract. It is too traditional. It's too this, it's too that. I think that is a challenge. I think we need to find our common ground and find our common passions and work together and be supportive of one another.

KM: How did you work through the negative comments from the judge?

LE: I basically just had to put it aside and just say I'm not going to let this discourage me. I will say that I haven't submitted work to that show again. It didn't motivate me to want to participate again. I had to just move on and I did. It was a couple of years ago, but I know I went to my friends and said, 'Okay, this is what this judge said, is this true? Is it overall horrible?' And of course my friends, being my friends, pointed out the positives. Maybe there were some negatives but they pointed out the positives and gave me encouragement. So I did move on. I was able to move on. We can all learn from judge's comments but this was a good quilt. It got into the juried show. I mean it was good enough to get into the juried show so you just have to put it aside and you just have to have faith in yourself that you can learn and you can do good things.

KM: Judging is subjective.

LE: Yes.

KM: In my opinion. [laughs.]

LE: It is. It is. I mean the comment was in the area of "needs improvement". She wrote, I think I recall it was a she, 'overall technique'. That is sort of a broad negative. Technique of what? Technique of design, technique of fabric choice, technique of machine quilting, technique of appliqu, technique of piecing, technique of the binding, technique of the border? I mean 'overall technique.' What does that mean? That is a pretty broad negative. I did move on.

KM: What are your favorite techniques and materials?

LE: I'm very drawn to metallics. I love the glitz. I love the texture that they provide so I do tend to have in my stash a lot of Asian inspired fabrics. Not so much Asian motifs. But the blenders that go with some of the Asian motif fabrics. There are some designers like Loni Rossi that I just love. I love her textured fabrics. Technique wise, I tend to do raw edge appliqu. I do like to work quickly. I find when I have an idea I like to get it down in the fabric quickly and so I'm drawn to using raw edge appliqu. Sometimes with fusibles, sometimes with glue, sometimes machine appliqu. I actually love the texture that raw edge provides so while some find raw edge appliqu to be kind of the lazy way to go, I see it as adding texture. I love the way that raw edge looks. Also, because I'm a computer geek I do a lot of design on the computer. In fact, I did a whole [computer design.] series last year. I have a Hoffman Challenge piece that is traveling right now that was done this way. I took the traditional Drunkard's Path block and turned the blocks to make it a geometric style of circles and squares. I took a line drawing of this pattern and went into PhotoShop and I warped it in different ways. In one piece, I sphereized it with one of the PhotoShop filters. It created this really cool geometric design. Then I printed that and made a pattern. I love using PhotoShop. I also like to do a lot with digital photography where again I will take a photograph and then in PhotoShop, I'll completely change it. Then I will either print that directly on fabric, or I will make a pattern and recreate it in fabric. I tend to use the computer a lot and explore ways of doing things.

KM: What are the aspects of quiltmaking that you don't enjoy?

LE: Binding, although lately I've been finishing fewer quilts that way. Those last steps of the binding, the sleeve and the label [laughs.]. Those three things. I have a lot of quilts that get that far and then somehow they never get those last finishing steps. Maybe that is because I'm enthusiastic about the next project so it is hard to finish those last steps. That is about it. I pretty much enjoy all of the other aspects. I love coming up with a design and sketching it out. I love choosing all the fabrics and laying it out. I love the piecing or the appliqu and I enjoy machine quilting. I do a lot of thread play and I do that usually through the machine quilting process rather than using a stabilizer and doing it on the top. I generally love all of the stages up until that last sleeve and label.

KM: Do you think of yourself more as an artist or a quiltmaker or do you even make the distinction?

LE: That is a good question. I call myself an art quilter. I use the word art in the title because I make more art quilts than traditional quilts. But I admit that it is hard for me to personally call myself an artist. I think part of that comes from being more of an engineer and not having ever studied art. I haven't had an art class since the 8th grade when it was mandatory in middle school and I never explored artistic things when I was in high school and college and beyond. So it is an interesting question because I do use the title "art quilter" or "quilt artist," but I probably do struggle a bit with the title of "artist." I aspire to that. Some day when somebody calls me an artist I think I would be thrilled.

KM: How do you want to be remembered?

LE: I want to be rememberd as somebody that made a difference. That I made a difference in even one person's life. That they found God or they found healing. That there was something going on in their life and some aspect of what I have done made a big difference.

KM: Why is quiltmaking important to you?

LE: Quiltmaking has really become a calling for me. When I left the corporate world in 2003, I really didn't know what was next for me. I initially saw retirement as an opportunity to follow quiltmaking as a hobby. I thought, oh good, now I'm going to have more time. My kids are all in school now; I'm going to have more time to explore this hobby. I had no idea that it was going to become a full time calling and a real passion. Quiltmaking is now my life. I mean obviously my family, my children and God, are my life too. But quiltmaking has become my identity in terms of what I do. What a blessing that I have had this opportunity to leave the corporate world and to have this time. I mean it is a huge part of my life and it is very important to me.

KM: Whose works are you drawn to and why?

LE: Vikki Pignatelli because there are several aspects of her work that I'm drawn to. One is just from an artistic point of view. I love her use of color and the free form curves and her improvisational approach. I think her work is phenomenal. More than that, I love her inspiration. I love her artist statements. I love how she just expresses her feelings and her faith in her art work. So it is really a combination of her expression and how that comes out in her art work that is just amazing to me. There are a few other artists that have been important to me in terms of me finding techniques. Robbi Joy Eklow and Katie Pasquini-- [pause.].

KM: Masapust.

LE: Yes, her work also. I've bought their books and read what they do and while I've never met them, I really appreciate their technique for design. So I have learned a lot from them. In fact the piece that I made for Sacred Threads for the 2007 show called "Follow Me" is based on Katie's technique for using light or value, and ghost layers. I bought her book and followed the technique for how to do that. Both of them have greatly influenced me. "Miriam's Dance" was inspired by Robbi Joy Eklow and how she does overlapping images. Both of those quilts are relatively early in my quiltmaking. Those are a direct reflection of the way those artists work. I love to study artists and see how they work, try some of their techniques and then find my own voice.

KM: How do you feel your work has changed over the years?

LE: I think, a lot of the work that I'm doing now, especially with PhotoShop, are more uniquely mine. I also created a technique I call the "Lazy Landscape". Lazy does not mean that it is not work, but lazy in that it is more improvisational. Now I'm really finding my own voice and I'm finding that, people will see a quilt, and they will say 'oh you took a class from Lisa Ellis'. I'm starting to get to that point where I have recognizable work. That's the biggest change and it's just in the last couple of years where I have developed my own style.

KM: Tell me about your teaching.

LE: Teaching is something that I love to do. I'm finding it a little bit challenging with my schedule. I still have kids at home so teaching is harder to do. The occasional lecture is a little bit easier for me right now. I love teaching and I have taught several different classes. I'm hoping that eventually when I'm an empty-nester teaching is something that I can really get back to. A local quilt shop invited me to teach and I taught for a year and I loved it, but I'm just finding that I really can't commit right now because I need to be available to my kids at this stage. They are all teenagers now and I need to be home in the afternoons and be available. Teaching is something that I love and I'm passionate about and I look forward to the day when I can make the commitment to teach on a regular basis and maybe even start traveling. As to what I teach. I have a couple of different things. Some technique oriented things and then also I do a Praise Quilt workshop. I've done the Praise Quilt Workshop class a few times where I have women that want to learn more about making quilts that are an expression of faith. So we do the anatomy of what makes a Praise Quilt and then I teach techniques. But it is also an opportunity for women to explore how they would like to incorporate what they do into making pieces for their places of worship. I look forward to the day when I can really pursue that and do a lot more teaching.

KM: You mentioned artist statements and I know that artist statements are very important to Sacred Threads. How do you feel about artist statements?

LE: I do think that artist statements are very important. They are very important to Sacred Threads, they are also very important in the healing quilt projects that we do, because the artist statement goes along with the piece of work. It is how the patient or their families receive education and better understanding. I think there are times that artist statements maybe are not necessary. In SAQA [Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. Journal.] there was an article recently talking about this very issue of shouldn't art stand on its own? When you go to the Smithsonian, the National Art Gallery, you don't see an artist statement. The piece stands on its own and it is up to the viewer to really interpret. There is even a question of does an artist statement detract because now you are giving the viewer your idea or ideas and it perhaps it robs the viewer of seeing the piece and interpreting the piece for themselves. I can see both sides of that. I think for what I do, for praise quilts, for healing quilts, and for Sacred Threads, I think artist statements are incredibly important. But I think there are venues where that is not necessarily the case and it actually can be more powerful to allow the reader or the viewer to interpret the piece for themselves.

KM: Is there anything that you would like to share that we haven't touched upon before we conclude?

LE: I think we've covered it. I feel really honored that I've had an opportunity to talk about Sacred Threads and also healing quilts. I really believe in these. I think they are powerful opportunities for quiltmakers to share their passion and to make a difference.

KM: Let me ask you one more question before we conclude. What makes a quilt artistically powerful for you?

LE: That is a great question. I think when it moves me, when it changes me, it gives me a new idea, it touches me in someway, it heals me, it helps me identify with somebody, provides an empathetic moment. Sometimes that can be just for a laugh. Fiber Artists at Loose Ends just did an exhibit at Mid-Atlantic called "The Punch Line" and there was only one goal and it was to make people laugh. I was at the exhibit and I was watching people look at our exhibit and I managed to catch people belly laughing. I mean that was so rewarding, that is all we wanted. It wasn't meant to be serious. The healing quilts tend to be pretty serious. It was awesome to see people just laughing. So that was great to have accomplished that. Even that [laughter.] is touching. Today in our environment with our economy, what better thing to provide a piece of work that makes somebody laugh. Really just touching in any way is, I think, what makes a quilt artistically powerful.

KM: I think that is a great way to conclude our time together. Lisa, I want to thank you again for taking time out of your day to do this interview with me.

LE: I appreciate the opportunity.

KM: You are more than welcome. We are going to conclude our interview at 10:08.