Artist’s Statement – Susanne Clawson

When we were in Tallahassee, FL, I took up weaving for a while, and stained glass. I also learned hand papermaking. I have a very large piece that was purchased by the Florida Art in State Buildings program. It hangs in a building in Tallahassee. IBM, in Gaithersburg, MD, also purchased on of my large paper sculpture pieces. Another large paper sculpture hangs on my dining room wall.

In Silver Spring, MD, where I now live, I took a class with Susan Sorell on making small beaded quilts. I had a lot of fun with them. One of my favorites is of my cat lying on the floor with his tootsies in the air. I called it, Cat Thinks He’s a Dog. I don’t seem to have a picture of that, but here’s another one: Alligator Lips.

I love color and texture, so I experiment with materials to create art with these characteristics. Years ago, when I was a weaver, I discovered I was more interested in off-loom three-dimensional things that were not flat. But now I am back to making flat quilts that hang on the wall.

I took a workshop with Freddie Moran, who is a well-known quilt maker, where I was the only one who didn’t know what flying geese were or how to make them. That introduced me to using the sewing machine to make larger quilts, including one for a queen-sized bed. It’s gorgeous, but I’ll never do that again!

But now, I have been sewing smaller quilts for the last several years. During the 2^nd year of this horrible Covid pandemic, I made over 100 small quilts. Many of them are stacked on a little chest in the living room or draped over a dining room table chair.

My “studio” is my dining room table, a space I often have to contest with my husband who would like to use it as his desk, not to mention as a space to have dinner.

I work almost exclusively with printed fabrics, which I love for their amazing variety of patterns and color combinations. Color is my thing, so I am constantly experimenting with different color combinations, even when making a quilt loosely based on a traditional pattern, such as a nine-patch or crosses, even though my quilts are not very traditional in appearance. One of my favorite nine-patch quilts, about 17” X 17”, is made of small triangle scraps sewn every which way. It ended up being used on a poster for a quilt show. Pretty exciting.

One other thing I like to do is cook. I am always trying new recipes, and over the years, I have accumulated the best of the best. The first group I put into a book which I published on-line; it’s called, Good Enough for Company. The second group is in a big folder with over 100 recipes in it.