Address: Chicago, Illinois

E-mail: maryjobowers@sbcglobal.net

Fabric and colors are delicious, exciting, tactile and energizing. They call for attention to be worked together in a new life. My goal is to tell a story in art quilts— abstract as it may be. Freeform organic and geometric shapes are arranged on whole cloth or pieced backgrounds to affect a mood or statement. I work intuitively having only an idea how the completed piece may look. The piece develops its own path and direction. If I try to frustrate that, chaos and confusion results.

Each piece has three layers as in traditional quilting but art quilts are not bed quilts. They are decorative pieces to be hung on the wall. The fabrics in the art quilts are artist dyed with some over-dyed commercial fabrics, however, some pieces may have glitzy fabrics such as tame, burnout silks and satins. The pieces are finished with hand and machine embroidery and quilting and sometimes beaded.

I want the viewer to play with the images in the pieces and have fun finding their own story or interpretation; therefore, the titles are open-ended and free.

Solo Exhibition

2002 - Creative Essence Studio, Chicago, IL

Group Exhibitions

2004
Art & Soul of Quilting, Anderson Art Gallery, Kenosha, WI
Carnegie Center for Art and History, New Albany, IN
International Quilt Show, Houston, TX
Annual Members' Show, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
Page-Walker Gallery, Cary, NC
Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA
Vermont Quilt Show, Northfield, VT
Quilter's Heritage Celebration, Lancaster, PA
McCord House Gallery, Palos Park, IL

2003
Fine Art of Fiber Show, Glencoe, IL
Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, Auburn, NY
International Quilt Festival, Chicago, IL
Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, Williamsburg, VA
Paqa Small Works II, on Tour - Venues include Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, Golden, Colorado and galleries in New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Illinois - 2003-2004
Quilt and Sewing Festival, Myrtle Beach, FL
Raymond Street Art Gallery, Evanston, IL

Before 2003
Bloomingdale Park District Art Gallery, Bloomingdale, IL
Fine Art of Fiber Gallery, Glencoe, IL
American Quilt Society Show, Nashville, TN
Suburban Fine Arts Center, Highland Park, IL
International Convergence Fiber Show, Vancouver, Canada
Fine Art of Fiber Show, Glencoe, IL
Paqa Small Works I, on Tour - 2001-2002
St. Louis Art Institute Fiber Focus Show, St. Louis, MO
American Quilters Society Show, Paducah, KY

America: from the Heart, C&T Publications, May 2002
Ribbon Works Designers Club, 1998
Michael's Arts and Crafts Magazine, 1997
Art Quilt Magazine, Issue 7, 1997
Small Wonders Show, 1997
Mixed Mediums by Judith Baker Montano

Viewer's Choice - Fine Art of Fiber, Glencoe IL
Third Place - Smokey Mountain Quilter's Show
Third Place - Northeast Quilter's Association
Viewer's Choice - Illinois Quilter's Show, Glencoe, IL
Honorable Mention - Embellishment-Small Wonders Show
Third Place - Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival

Mary-Jo's art quilts are in private and public collections including a Memorial Piece for 9/11.