Art Exhibition: The Ongoing Journey of Contemporary Quilt Artist Sarah J. Pavlik

Sarah Pavlik is a fiber and quilt artist.  In the studio her artistic process typically involves using a motif or configuration as inspiration in creating a composition. 

Sarah explores the possibilities, often working improvisationally to create new configurations.  She strives for figure-ground tension and a composition that encourages the viewer to move their eyes around the piece, finding interest throughout the work.  Once the piece is completed, it is quilted, typically with dense amounts of stitching to complement the work.  Making art quilts requires both creative thought and expertise in the construction of the work. Sarah continually explores new territory by working in a series, modifying piece after piece.  She continues to evolve as an artist pushing herself to create new work in her own artistic voice.  Sarah alternates between pieced work with solid colored fabrics and the use of surface design techniques with thickened dyes.  In her more recent surface designed work she is using earth pigments with soy milk as a binder with the fabric.

Sarah has been studying with the world renowned quilt artist, Nancy Crow for over 20 years.  Since beginning this art form, Sarah has won numerous awards and exhibited her work in galleries in the Washington DC area, West Virginia, Upstate New York, Indiana, and Delaware.  She is a member of the Lewes Artist Studio Tour where artists open their studios to the public every year on the third Saturday in September.

While Sarah was caring for her 98 year old mother toward the end of her life, her mother exclaimed, “I Plan to Die Standing,” meaning doing, creating, and living, until her last dying breath.  That has resonated with Sarah over the past several years as she works passionately as a fiber and quilt artist, always wanting to explore new territory in her artistic process.  Her mother’s words are always in the back of her head, “I must keep going on this artistic journey until I can no longer stand.”

This exhibit is held in conjunction with the exhibit Quilted Textiles of the Helping Hands Quilt Guild at two of the historic houses.

Childhood #7 by Sarah Pavlik