Susan Else Email & Phone Number

I treat cloth not as a flat surface but as a wild flexible skin for three-dimensional objects. My work has developed in tandem with the art quilt movement, but I am one of the few artists making figurative sculpture in this medium. My current work often incorporates sound, light, and motors. I use cloth to create an alternate universe, and the resulting work is full of contradictions: it is whimsical, edgy, mundane, surreal, and engaging, all at once. Each piece tells a story, but the narrative is always open to interpretation. The power and beauty of the patterned cloth surface play off the form and content of the work, and the result is a dynamic seesaw of meanings and possibilities.I started this work in 1998, when I added 3D elements to a flat art quilt. I have shown nationally and internationally since then, and I teach at art centers, museums, conferences, and fiber guilds across the U.S. For further information about available work or potential commissions, send an email to: susan@susanelse.com.

• Mechanized Fiber And Figurative Sculpture

  Susan Else Sculpture

  1998 - Present - Santa Cruz, California

  Solo Exhibitions:Pacific International Quilt Festival, Santa Clara, CA, 2015Peninsula Museum of Art, Burlingame, CA, 2013-14National Quilt Museum, Paducah, KY, 2011Back Porch Gallery, Pacific Grove, CA, 2010San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, California, 2007Selected Group Exhibitions:Form Not Function, Carnegie Center, New Albany, Indiana, 2015 (Best of Show)Radical Elements, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, 2015Season X… Show more Solo Exhibitions:Pacific International Quilt Festival, Santa Clara, CA, 2015Peninsula Museum of Art, Burlingame, CA, 2013-14National Quilt Museum, Paducah, KY, 2011Back Porch Gallery, Pacific Grove, CA, 2010San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, California, 2007Selected Group Exhibitions:Form Not Function, Carnegie Center, New Albany, Indiana, 2015 (Best of Show)Radical Elements, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, 2015Season X, Celebrating a Decade, Osilas Gallery, Bronxville, NY, 2015Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, with Work't by Hand exhibit, 2014Milestones: Textiles of Transition, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA, 2013Layered and Stitched, Blue Line Arts, Roseville, CA, 2012Art Quilt Elements 2012, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA (Juror's Choice award)The Teapot Redefined, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2013, 2008, and 2007Tactile Architecture 2011-12, 2005-06, and 2003-04, Houston, Chicago, and PittsburghCelebration, National Quilt Museum, Paducah, Kentucky, 2011Volusia Wrapped in Fiber, Gateway Center for the Arts, DeBary, Florida, 2011Sew New: Contemporary Art Quilts, Osilas Gallery, Bronxville, New York, 2010Quilt National 2009 and 2005, Athens, Ohio, and touringModern Materials, Untitled [Art Space], Oklahoma City, 2009 and Tulsa, 2010Selected Publications:Ultimate Guide to Art Quilting, Linda Seward, Sixth and Spring Books, 2014The Quilt Show, episode aired October 2013"Susan Else's Make-Believe World,"The Quilt Life, August 2013"The Art Quilt Is What They Say It Is,"American Style, Summer 2012The Studio Quilt, NO. 8, Quilted Sculpture, Sandra Sider, 2012Quilting Art: Inspiration, Ideas, and Innovative Works from 20 Contemporary Quilters, Gillespie, 2009Mixed Media Self-Portraits: Inspiration and Techniques, Prato, 2008The Art of Quilting (PBS documentary), 2007The Quilt, A History and Celebration of an American Art Form, Roberts, Fall 2007 Show less

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  Univerity Of California Santa Cruz