Clarissa Cox (CC): Judy, can you tell me a little bit about your quilt?
Judy Coates Perez (JP): This quilt is 'Primordial Sea and I made it in 2005
after living in Texas. We lived in Austin, Texas for seven years and while we were there my son became obsessed with fossils. We spent a lot of time looking around in the creek beds of Austin [Texas.] collecting fossils and it led to many discussions about the geological history of Texas and how it used to be underwater and why there were seashells in the middle of Texas. I would think about, 'wow I wonder what that was like? What was a primordial sea like?' After thinking about that I decided to make a quilt. I made this in Los Angeles [California.] after we had left Texas. This quilt is about five feet by seven feet and its hand dyed silk. Then painted with textile paints and machine quilted.CC: How long had you been quilting when you made this?
JP: Its kind of like one of those things where its a soft fuzzy line of
when I started. I started sort of in high school. I always loved sewing and stitchery class and stuff like that. I think I made some sort of fledgling patchwork kind of pieces when I was in high school. They never really got very far. Maybe it was about 20 years? I never made really truly traditional quilts. When I made quilts, they were always more art focused and more illustrative in their nature as opposed to pieced, traditional work.CC: Have you ever made traditional quilts?
JP: Ive made one [laughing.] I hand quilted it and that was the last hand
quilting that I ever did. That was probably my last traditional quilt. Its nice and everything and I totally appreciate traditional quilting, but I have to create imagery because thats just what Im drawn to.CC: How did you come to realize that you could create images like this using
quilts? Was it just that you saw other quilts that inspired you?JP: When I started, I wasnt seeing any quilts that were like what I wanted to
make. One of my best friends whose sister made traditional quilts, amazed me by the work she did, and I thought, 'Oh I would love to do that. I think that inspired me to play with fabric and sew more. I went to art school and have a degree in graphic design. My working background is more in graphics. I think I got to the point where I wanted something to put on the wall, some artwork, and I wanted something big but I couldnt really afford a big painting or anything so I thought that I would just made a big art quilt. I did some crazy stuff. On my first one, I took some muslin and appliqud snakes and scorpions and cactus all over it. The fruits on the cactus were stuffed and dangling off. and it had wide rick rack along the binding. It had a Hispanic theme, it was a very crazy quilt. I didnt technically quilt it because I didnt really know how to do that. I just tied it with all different colors of yarn. It was a little crazy. I really had no idea what I was doing; I just wanted to do it. It had two layers of polyester batting. People looking at this quilt probably thought, 'wow, this is really puffy and thick.' [laughing.] But that was during the early 80s, I dont think we had too many choices besides polyester batting then in the stores. It was kind of like my first quilt and it took off from there. My second one had corduroy backing because thats the fabric I had the biggest pieces of in the house. That quilt weighed a ton. It probably would keep somebody very warm if they used it for sleeping but it was made for the wall.CC: Are you completely self taught?
JP: Pretty much. I think my best education came when I moved to Texas. I used to
live in Los Angeles, so thats where I started making quilts. I never belonged to a guild or went to shows or anything; I just made quilts because I wanted to. When we moved to Austin [Texas.], I thought joining the quilt guild might be a good way to meet people, I looked on one of the tables and saw that a new group had formed for an art quilt bee and thought 'hey, thats for me. I signed up and those women are still some of my best friends. Weve been friends since 1996 I think. We still are in a yahoo group, talk regularly, and provide each other with a lot of inspiration. Weve done a lot of group quilts together. One of our group quilts is in the Lone Star Exhibit. I think weve done about seven quilts together, it even continued after some of us left Austin [Texas.] The group has continued on with new people making group quilts and entering them. Its pretty cool how thats gone on. Moving to Texas and joining the guild was also a huge education for me because I was exposed to so many award-winning quilters that are in the Austin [Texas.] guild. I would see their work and be amazed by it. I learned so much by seeing their quilts and seeing how they finish their quilts and how the backs of their quilts were clean, free of messy knots and threads. It fine tuned my skills. It helped me to work harder to bring my technical skills up as opposed to just the art in making the quilts. It helped me be a little more meticulous in improving my quilting stitch, making sure things hang straight and hearing each other share our stories about the work and process. Thats how it was. Ive never really taken any classes though, per se, in quilting.CC: Do you mostly just make graphic quilts or do you use them for other things?
JP: Theyre pretty much for the wall.
CC: How many hours a week do you quilt? Is there any way to quantify that?
JP: No. I tend to go through spurts. Im not a real prolific quilter. I have
friends who are constantly churning out work all the time and my work is in my head a lot. Ill be thinking about ideas and concepts for quilts sometimes for a couple of years before I actually start. Theres a lot of thought process. When I have an idea I will think about how it should be technically created: the look I want, the imagery. Ill start collecting images and ideas to use to design the quilt. Often, its just that Im thinking about it for such a long time that by the time I start, then I am in it a full 24/7, focused and working intensely until its done and then Ill need a break. So Ill knit, draw, or do other things. I do a lot of textile work with other mediums as well, more mixed media textile works. Ill incorporate paint, papers, and other kinds of imagery, and use quilting as the method for holding it all together. Then Ill create three dimensional structures, using quilting as the technique in making it but they wont technically be quilts of any kind. Ill do a lot of smaller work and then make about one big quilt a year. If I have a good year, I might do two. But generally Ill do one big piece and then small pieces. Itll be sporadic with no rhyme or reason when they happen.CC: Do you sketch out the image before you make it or do you create whats in
your head?JP: With quilts like 'Primordial Sea and the other quilts Ive entered in
the shows, its very planned out. I draw the imagery. Once I get it all pulled together, I scan it into my computer. Ill enlarge it, then print it out. Ill tape that all together and then work with a large cartoon that way. Its very planned. But lately in the past couple of years, Ive also been doing other work that is what I consider very cathartic work. Its very emotional, and spontaneous, where Im just painting on the fabric with no real plan. There might be some ideas of the direction I want to go in, but nothing really concrete. I just start putting paint down on fabric and layer the paint and imagery very spontaneously. The last two quilts Ive made for the 'Dinner at Eight special exhibits were done this way. One of them is here at the show this year, in the exhibit called 'Between the Spaces. Its a lot of layers of paint, theres writing, some paper imagery, images on tea bags glued onto it, stamped and stenciled imagery and lots of layers of paint. Its all very spontaneous. Im working on another piece for next years exhibit that is done the same way. Those are very emotional and personal. Its kind of a new direction for me with soe of my quilting. Most of my quilting in the past has been more analytical, about something conceptual, an idea that I have that I want to communicate. These other ones are processed, in a real spontaneous way and have a very different look.CC: Aside from the quilting community that youre in, is there any particular
way that you think that where you have lived has influenced the way that you quilt?JP: It completely influences the imagery. I have so many pieces that are about
where Ive lived and that are about experiences that Ive had. A lot of my work is very multi-cultural. When I was a kid, we moved out of our house when I was 13 and put everything in storage. I lived in Massachusetts at the time. We drove to Guatemala and spent a year traveling. We went all over the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Guatemala. We rented a house in Guatemala for six weeks and really got immersed in the culture. That has been a huge influence in a lot of my work: the colors, the imagery, that all comes into play. This quilt, 'Primordial Sea, is really about my life in Texas. I have another quilt thats a big agave plant thats about my time in Los Angeles when one of our homes that was up on a hill in a canyon. Often where Ive lived has influenced my work in the imagery or colors or something about it.CC: Have you tried to get any of your family into quilting?
JP: I havent really tried, but my sister had been having a really difficult
time for several years and had become very depressed. She wasnt even going out of the house much and I kept telling her that she needed to find a passion or something to inspire her to do something. She was becoming totally closed in. She came to see me in Austin [Texas.] She was saying how she always felt like since I always was an artist growing up and she was more of the writer, that art wasnt really something she could do because it was my deal. She felt like she couldnt really step into the artist territory. She said shed really like to make an art quilt but thought that it was too hard. I told her 'Dont be silly, of course you can make an art quilt.' We sat down and I pulled out all sorts of fabric and fusible web, scissors, and rotary cutters. I said, 'just, go for it.' It was crazy. She took to it like a duck to water. It completely changed her life. It pulled her out of the depression. She went back home and became obsessed with quilting. She was going to the quilt shop, buying fabric, and got a job at the quilt shop. She started to work on their website and then she got into mixed media stuff. She doesnt do as much quilting as she used to, but she talks about wanting to make a quilt again. Its been a while. Shes done several traditional quilts as well as art quilts. Ive been trying to see if my daughter would get into quilting but shes not super interested. Shes done some nice pieces though. Shes done a little bit of quilting, but shes not totally into the quilting thing, she prefers designing clothing for her ball jointed dolls. I think thats really common with daughters and mothers. Maybe later on it happens.CC: Could you describe where you create quilts and the type of space you create
quilts in?JP: Right now, we live in a loft in Chicago. We always had houses before and
they would always be a mess. When we moved to Chicago, we thought that maybe a house wasnt the way to go. We got a loft and most of it is workspace. All of my neighbors have designer showroom- looking lofts that are all beautiful and everything. Our place is a workspace. Anything that would normally be designated as living room and dining room, is open work space. I have big tables, sewing machines and, shelves everywhere, computers, filing cabinets. Its all just work space. We have a kitchen and library, which also has more supplies and books. The library is like our living room. All of our main living space is devoted to making art and sewing.CC: What kind of technology do you use to create these kinds of patterns? How do
you do this?JP: I rely on computers a lot. I have a Mac and use a scanner, I draw my imagery
on paper and then scan it into the computer. I use programs like Photoshop and Illustrator to either draw up some parts of the imagery or to scan all of the images in and then manipulate them in programs, size them up, rotate them, flip them, distort them, whatever way I want to change the imagery around until its the way I want it. Then Ill blow it up in Illustrator to its full size. Then print it out on individual 8 and a half by 11 pages. Then Ill tape all of the pages together to make a large pattern to work from. Then I tape my fabric to my paper and trace the design with pencil. When I paint my fabric I often leave the paper underneath. If I want to change things or add things, I can draw them on the paper and add it into the painting. After I finish with the painting, I always use wool batting. Thats my favorite. I made the switch probably eight years ago from cotton to wool. I just love wool. Wool is a little tricky because its a little slippery. The thing I love about wool is that its really lightweight. You can easily manipulate it underneath the sewing machine arm. I love the loft you get when you quilt. If you quilt it really densely its really flat. If you leave more space in your quilting it gets very puffy. You get a lot more dimension and definition to your quilting. I really like that. I use a regular sewing machine. I have several older machines. I love my old Bernina. I have a Pfaff thats well over 20 years old that I bought used. Thats the machine I sew on the most these days. I love it. I bought a newer machine a few years ago with a bigger space under the arm, but its fussy with threads, so it just ends up sitting on the floor because the tension becomes more problematic than the old work horse. I could talk about the quilting. I always like the quilting to reference the imagery in the quilt. In primordial sea, there are plankton hidden in the quilting lines of the ocean background. I like to create little surprises in the quilting that you dont necessarily see unless you stop and look. My quilt Moon Garden, which is black and white with a little red bird, has a huge white background but its all free motion quilted in white with flowers, leaves, and butterflies, that you dont really see if youre just looking at the front of the quilt. But if you look at the back, which has black fabric, theres stitched imagery all over the whole thing. I like those surprises that you might not see at first, but if you look really closely they become apparent.CC: Do you sue this quilt in your apartment?
JP: This quilt (Primordial Sea) goes with me most often when Im giving
lectures because its one of the ones that people always get excited about. Its kind of a show stopper, one that people really like to see. It usually travels with me, if Im giving a lecture somewhere.CC: How did you get started teaching?
JP: I kept getting asked and I responded, 'what should I teach? What do you want
to know?' I kept thinking that I didnt have a special technique like those who do special piecing methods or appliqu. Having a blog was very helpful for getting to know what to teach. People would ask me questions 'How did you do this?' or "What paintbrushes did you use?' and I thought to myself 'Oh, thats what I should teach." The more people would ask me, I would ask them what theyd like to learn. After getting feedback from people, one thing led to another. I did a little workshop here, a little workshop there. Next thing I know, I was getting more requests. Thats how it grew.CC: Why did you decide to start a blog?
JP: I originally started a blog because I thought that it would be really good
to have a website to put my work on to direct people to if they wanted to see it. At the time, it was very costly to do a website. You always had to hire somebody. You couldnt really design it yourself. I couldnt afford to do that. My sister had a blog at the time. I realized it was free and easy. I set it up kind of like having a website to begin wit. Initially I just used it to upload pictures of my pieces. Each time I made another piece, Id upload it onto the blog before long I began blogging regularly. Ive never had a website. Ive always made the blog work for me in a way that was dual duty; I have pages on the blog that are static where people can go for information like where Im teaching or to see my work but then theres the ongoing blog that talks about technique or what Im working on. I have many tutorials about my whole process of making a quilt from start to finish with photos and the techniques that Ive used. Ive had my main blog for about nine years so when someone wants to find information, it can be a lot to go through. Over the years, Ive redesigned it several times as technology improved allowing me to organize information in a better way. Its really fun and people leave comments from all over the world. Ive made friends from all over.CC: Do you currently belong to any quilting groups?
JP: Yes. I currently belong to SAQA and PAQA, Professional Art Quilt Associates,
which is out in the suburbs of Chicago. Now that Im teaching so much, its really hard for me to get to as many meetings as Id like to. I only get to a few meetings a year now. But that was a really great way to meet people and share my work with others. In the past, Ive belonged to guilds. But when I moved to Chicago, I was so busy with other things. Honestly, Im a little embarrassed because I dont even know where the guild is in Chicago. I dont belong to a regular guild anymore.CC: What do you enjoy about quilting?
JP: I love working with fabric. I love painting and sewing, so its the best
of both worlds.CC: What do you find frustrating about quilting?
JP: when things dont work quite the way I want them to, thats frustrating.
I feel like I learn so much. Every quilt that I make has a technological challenge. I always find that I learn so much from each piece that I often come up with new techniques or new ways to do things, thats always very informative in the end. It probably comes down to sewing machine issues mostly, wanting your machine to be more than it can. Wanting a machine with a really big space under the arm, that has perfect tension every time and would thread itself and tie itself off. Its more of stuff like that.CC: Have you made quilts for friends and family?
JP: No. Sorry [laughing.] I dont know. Im not going to say anything about that.
CC: Do you think there are ways in which quilts have special meanings about
womens histories in America?JP: Yeah. This is how we tell our stories. Its got such history. When women
werent necessarily accepted as artists, in all cases they were able to make interesting quilts. I love the way that in the past quilts have been used in untraditional ways, like death quilts. Those always fascinate me, grieving their loved ones. Like the quilts with coffins on them from the 1800s. I think those are so interesting. Quilts are our ways to express ourselves.CC: Are there any particular artists who have influenced you?
JP: Thats a tough one. I find inspiration all around so its really hard to
say any artist that has impacted me the most. I look everywhere for my influences.CC: What do you think makes a quilt powerful?
JP: Strong image. The one thing that I always tell my students is contrast. You
have to have good darks and lights to make it powerful and strong. I always see quilts that are good but could be fantastic, yet they fall short because they look washed out or the contrast in value is too low across the board. A quilt that has really great contrast and strong imagery, technical stuff is good too, but its really the imagery that comes across most to me.CC: You said that youre sister worked through her depression through
quilting. Have you ever used quilting to work through a difficult time in your life?JP: Absolutely. During the past three years, all the quilts that Ive made
have been very cathartic. Recently I went through a rough spot and was feeling pretty overwhelmed with things. My way of dealing with it was to pull out fabric and paint and just start painting to get my feelings out. Its a very cathartic process. I just try to stay away from the alcohol, drink a lot of water, try to sleep, try to be healthy and eat because I have a hard time with that one when Im stressed. Through painting and working on that next potential quilt helps me pull out of that difficult time. For the last several years Ive worked through some difficult things, and the quilts have been such an important part of working through stuff.CC: Do you have any tips on what it takes to be a great quilt maker?
JP: I think the one thing is focusing and putting in the hours. I think we all
want everything yesterday. We are used to things going so fast, we want everything so quick. Being willing to put in the time it takes to hone a skill. Thats about it.CC: Is there anything youd like to add? Anything else youd like to say?
JP: I cant think of anything else to say.
CC: Id like to thank Judy to allow me to interview her for the Quilters
SOS. Our interview concluded at 2:45 pm.