Creating Connections

Idea. Design. Create. Quilt.

Creating connections is about getting away from the daily routines and experiencing the world

around me. It may mean taking a trip away, or it may just be a walk or grabbing a coffee in my

local area, or it may be allowing myself to feel and process what is going on around me.

When I experience that “something”, I use photography to capture a reference image. These

experiences tend to percolate in my mind until an idea forms into a design. I get to a point

where I need to get that design on paper and bring the design to fruition in fabric. I love this

process of creating – the color, the exploration, the problem solving – driving the deepening

connection to the idea (inspiration) until a quilt is made.

About the Artist

Michelle Wilkie is a self-taught textile artist and designer of modern quilts. Quilting is a passion,

driving her creativity. She works to have her quilts seen not just as quilts but as art. She

experiments with a variety of modern techniques and aesthetics, though embraces

Improvisation and Minimalist styles. 

This year Michelle is currently participating and exhibiting as a community artist at the North

Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA). Michelle has completed an artist in residence at Durham Art

Guild and Penland School of Craft. She exhibited at Page-Walker Center in a solo exhibition

“Eyes Wide Open”, and exhibited at CAM Raleigh, Truist Gallery, 311 Gallery and ArtSpace NC

and curated international shows in France and Italy. She regularly has work juried into

International Quilt Exhibitions and has been featured in several magazines and has work

published in the book Modern Quilts: Design of the New Century.