Jean Howard

Nature evokes beauty and calm and sometimes a whimsical sense of humor. Nature is an invitation to create. Combining my family tradition of quilt-making and working the land, I employ traditional methods to create lyrical designs. Using colorful hand-dyed and commercial fabrics, I stitch the exquisite colors, lines, curves, and shapes found in nature. From the purple prairie coneflowers of my windswept front yard to the columbine in the protected woodlands behind my home, flowers are an inexhaustible source of inspiration for my art quilts. Using nature’s wondrous sense of humor, I sew accents of unusual colors into my quilts to surprise the viewer and amuse myself. Observing, appreciating, and respecting the wonders of nature enables me to view each morning with excitement and anticipation for the studio.