Linda S. Schmidt

I make quilts because quilts are my Art and fabric is my medium. Quilts are made from bits and pieces of the fabric of life, made by many hands in many places, sewn together to make a whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts. I make all sorts of quilts, from abstract to portrait to liturgical to landscapes, and often make commission quilts for individuals, public buildings, and private institutions. I usually use a photo as my inspiration, but sometimes I'm inspired by songs, poetry, books, or liturgical readings.

I also make wearable art, ensembles inspired by everything from Van Gogh to waterfalls, forest fires to fairies. Inspiration is all around us, you just have to open your eyes to see. Fabrics connect us with all the people that wore them or used them or made them; and they connect me with my mother and grandmother and great-grandmother because we all make quilts to keep our children warm and to create the Art that keeps us whole. It's all there for me in quilting - the fabric, the tradition, the making and doing, the learning and trying, all caught up in the attempt to make Art that moves and stretches, challenges and changes.

Art should make a sum greater than its parts. Art should MOVE you from where you are to SOMEPLACE ELSE, and stretch you like a rubber band so you can never be quite the same again. Art is "like hearing dark green, or catching a glimpse of a musky scent, or smelling the tinkle of golden bells..."; and that's what quilts are, for me.

I make quilts because I believe they are important, in and of themselves. In making quilts, I fill empty spaces with beauty and empty hands with comfort, and to me that is important. Mother Theresa once said "We can do no great things. . . only small things with great love." That's what I do, make small things with great love.

Basic Bio:

Linda started her first quilt when she was eight years old, and has made all of her own clothes since she was twelve. She has made hundreds of quilts and garments since then, having won over 250 ribbons from local, national and international exhibitions. She judges quilt shows and teaches quilting nationally and internationally, including the Pacific International Quilt Show, the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show, the Denver International Quiltfest, World Quilt Show, Quilt Oasis and the American Quilter Society show, and was chosen Teacher of the Year for 2003 by The Professional Quilter magazine. She travels with her own Flamboyancy Rising Fashion Show and Short Attention Span Quilting Trunk Shows, teaches online for www.AcademyofQuilting.com, and was a founding member of the Network for Wearable Art. She is active in her quilting guild, and has four part-time paying jobs, three children, one husband, and a B. A. in French that has suddenly ceased to be totally useless.

In her spare time, she plays flute, guitar and piano and writes music and really bad poetry.

Dharma products I use:

Bolts of PFD fabric – used for painting skies, people, cars, hats, and myriad other things – used on almost all of my quilts; and dyeing fabric
Setacolors – transparent, opaque, metallic and perle – for painting all of the above things
Jacquard Metallic paints when the Setacolor is not available
Squeeze bottles to mix up paints in
Tiny bottles with metallic tips for silk painting
Jacquard silk painting sets for teaching classes in silk painting
Silk (see above)
Fibers and yarn for making things with my Embellisher felting machine (see the sweater and hair in The Hat Shop quilt)
Fiber Etch – for making leaves for trees (see most of the leaves in the Come to the Water quilt)
Puff Paint – for making tree trunks, buildings, columns, brick and stone walls, castles, etc. (see the two foreground trees on Come to the Water, the foundation under the anchor at Treasure Island on the On the Road Again quilt, the columns for the Palace of Fine Arts, and the building embellishments on the Legion of Honor building. Also, the rocks, trees, and flowers in the Where the River Meets the Sea quilt were done with painted Puff Paint, as were the tree and wall in the Ahh....Venice quilt.)
Dyes for gradation dyeing, and more PFD fabric
Basic white garments to dye and paint – skirts, tops, jackets
Silk scarf blanks to dye and/or paint

P.S. I really hate actually going to the store, because I know I won't walk out of there without spending over $200, when all I really needed was a squeeze bottle!