Art Opening Reception: "All about the Birds: Art Quilts and Collage"

“All about the Birds: Art Quilts and Collage”

By Sandra Poteet

Medium: re-purposed fiber and mixed media

Opening Reception: Friday, May 22nd | 5:30–7:30 PM

Showing at the Nevada City Winery Gallery May 20th – June 29th

About the Show

Sandra Poteet’s masterfully designed and created “All about the Birds: Art Quilts and Collage” is filled with a nod to not only the grace and beauty of birds, but also their unique ability to engage our spirits and wonder.

About creating these quilt art collages, Poteet says, “The collages are compilations of birds I have seen on my travels, stylized with graphic influence. This series is a departure from [my] pure fabric art, although they are made with fabric as well as paper on wood panels, I still strive to use re-purposed materials.” 

Indeed, these pieces are enriched by re-purposed materials: perhaps bits and pieces of a scarf, an apron, or a piece of a curtain.

These scraps bloom into the shape of a slender curve of one feather of a wing, a multi-colored edge of the sky, or a mountain. 

Poteet also uses and incorporates paper and maps, all are gathered, re-appreciated, and re-created by her into vivid and sublime works.

Poteet’s birds have personalities, and somehow, she communicates a flavor of humor in many of her Birds. In the backgrounds and surroundings, the birds are encased by ecosystems and fauna: a butterfly, a snake, or marshes and fields touching a horizon.

Poteet likes to surprise and tempt the viewer to get up close. When they do, the viewer may find hidden delights, another creature, a word, or a piece of a map. There’s always more to discover in her keen and unique capturing of birds and their habitat. 

Poteet’s works are created with a ‘fly me to the moon’ enthusiasm, plus her appreciation and respect for her subject’s flight and plight. With years of working with re- proposed materials, perhaps Poteet has helped save many a bird. 

Artist Statement

Artist Sandra Poteet talks about her show “All about the Birds: Art Quilts and Collage” at the Nevada City Winery Gallery.

To my eye, birds make wonderful subjects for artwork. They are so varied and colorful, and look almost artificial, animatronic. My goal in this series was to use a graphic-inspired interpretation that could take advantage of color blocks of fabric or paper. 

The bird collages are personal memories of the places and some of the birds I’ve seen on my travels. They are a departure from my purely fabric works. The art principles and elements are the same, whether I am using fabric and paper with glue, or a sewing machine. 

I re-purpose materials as much as I can. The art quilts are made almost entirely from cast-offs or scraps of fabrics that had previous real or intended use. The birds collaged on the wood panels are created first with scrap fabrics and then detailed with paper torn or cut from quilting and travel books I’ve kept in my studio or picked up at thrift stores. They are laid out on wood backgrounds painted and papered, sometimes with fabric, and often with travel maps. The frames are refurbished. 

A note to birders: The birds are recognizable, but are not field guide images and are only generally to correct scale. I have taken artistic liberties.

About the Artist

Sandra Poteet is a noted fiber and mixed media artist who uses re-purposed materials. Her artwork encompasses a broad range from abstracts to portraits, from explorations of symbols to quotes, and more. For this series, “All about the Birds: Art Quilts and Collage” she honors diverse, colorful birds from her memorable and varied travels.

She has exhibited internationally from the UK to China and nationally at numerous museums, including the Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, NY, New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA, Visions Museum of Art, San Diego, CA, and the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI. Her work has been shown in many fine art galleries throughout the US. 

Locally, Poteet has exhibited at the Center for the Arts and ASIF in Grass Valley, CA.

Poteet lives in Northern California’s Sierra Foothills, where migratory and non-migratory birds nest, perch, or fly by her studio window.