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| Fire - 48 x 48 |
Dottie Moore has been working with textiles for 23 of
her 63 years, however, only quite recently began to call her work art quilts. A
Georgia native, Dottie began working with fibers when she and her husband built a
log cabin on 114 acres in Greeneville, TN in 1975. A four-room tenant house served
as her studio where she made weavings with her own vegetable-dyed yarn from walnut
hulls, sumac, coreopsis, marigold and onion skins. From this small studio, Dottie
began to recognize her love of nature’s beauty and incorporate natural materials
from her surroundings into her crafts. Before long, she was running a one-woman
craft business with customers all over the Southeast. When a friend asked for help
in decorating a store window Dottie quickly stitched up her first banner-like quilt
for display and soon orders for more started to roll in.
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| The Mystery - 53 x 54 |
The Mystery - 24 x 24 |
These first small quilts were part of the landscape
around her studio. Many portrayed images of wild flowers and trees. Because Dottie
had had no formal art training, she was not constricted by artistic rules and her work
shows that freedom of design and expression. It was not until 1980 that she made her
first art quilt and by 1987 was quilting full time. Dottie’s images in her art quilts
are not only multi-layered in construction, but also visually and in their message.
Dottie’s process is quite complex, as she begins with white
fabric, which is painted, appliquéd and embellished with many surface design techniques to
obtain her very complex works. Today’s art quilter has moved away from most of the
traditional quilting methods, however, it is still a very labor-intensive craft and
reflects personal symbolism to express reality.
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| The Messenger - 47 x 45 |
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| Click to view larger images. |
In 1995, with the aid of a 6-foot wall map of the world, Dottie began to travel.
Her first trip to Bali was a spiritual and creative turning point. From that first trip came the
inspiration for “Piecing a Quilt Of Life”, the documentation of the creative process among senior
women. In 1996, Dottie departed from Rock Hill, SC in the family mini-van and headed for a 2-month
stay in the Southwest to lecture, interview and explore. With 38 interviews on tape, Dottie returned
home to document her experiences. The themes that arose from those interviews: diversity, healing,
trust, courage, forgiveness, freedom and reverence enfolded Dottie in the fabric of these women’s lives.
So far the project has yielded a book (on CD) with photographs of the interviewed women, six exhibits
of the creative works of senior women, a national conference on women and creativity, a public television
show, a newsletter and website www.creativetraces.com/index.htm.
Recently, a 7 month-long exhibit of art quilts made by 23 senior women from five continents concluded at
the Museum of York County in Rock Hill, SC.
Dottie fills her life with sharing her experiences and creative
process through lectures and workshops. Her lectures include: “Piecing a Quilt of Life”,
“The Food is in the Refrigerator” and “Balancing the Opposites: Chaos and Creativity”.
The following workshops are also offered: “Intuitive Designs” (1 day), Paper and Fabric
Quilts for Non-Quilters” (1day), “The Language of Landscapes” (2-5 day), “The Creative
Source: Honoring the Imagination” (2-5 day) and “Innovative Stitching” (2-5 day).
To contact Dottie:
Dottie Moore
1134 Charlotte Avenue
Rock Hill, SC 29732
803.327.5088
email - dottie@dottiemoore.com
www.dottiemoore.com
www.creativetraces.com
©2004 Bonnie Ouellette
“On The Road” Reporter
www.theQuilterCommunity.com
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