Natalya’s art is an extension of her commitment to using recycled and repurposed materials, a lifelong advocacy. Her detailed works are nuanced and reimagined images inspired by the lines of the urban environment. A close examination of Natalya’s art reveals delightful and unexpected combinations of materials as diverse as vintage lace, plastic sheeting, and candy wrappers, layered and collaged with machine and hand stitching.

Tara is a mixed media pop artist working in Connecticut and New York. Raised in a household filled with artists, Tara was immersed in differing artistic styles and modalities from a young age. Experimenting with variety of mediums and techniques, Tara employs bold colors, layers and texture to create work with the intention to shift perception and evoke an emotional response unique for each viewer. Her work often incorporates nostalgic pop culture to explore contemporary social issues.

Pokey is the founder of both Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines, founding host of Quilting Arts TV on PBS, former Chief Creative Officer of Quilts Inc, and most recently founder of Crafting a Life, LLC, which produces the annual quilt and mixed media retreat Craft Napa, as well as more intimate retreats in her art barn in Napa. Most importantly--beyond curating or editing as she has done for most of her career--she is currently reveling in expressing herself through her own art, especially when it comes to issues such as this. 

Gerrie is an artist who works with textiles. She transforms white fabric into complex cloth, using dyes and paints, and a variety of techniques. The resulting fabric becomes serene landscapes and abstract compositions. Her work has been exhibited in many venues, nationally and internationally, and she is one of the authors of Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge. She is a member of Columbia FiberArts Guild, High Fiber Diet, Studio Art Quilt Associates, and the Surface Design Association. She is currently a co-rep for the Oregon SAQA region.

Lisa has always been a maker of stuff. Her fascination in figuring out how things are made has led her art down many paths. Currently her art is filled with surface design from hand carved stamps, hand dyed fabric, stencils, and printing. Her obsession with color can be seen throughout her art, and often on her cat's paws.

Jane is a fiber and mixed-media artist who began her professional art career as a printmaker. She still incorporates many printmaking techniques, such as screen printing, block printing, gyotaku fish printing, and thermofax printing, in her current work. The experience of living in Peru has had a lasting impact on her appreciation for the diversity of cultural expression and iconography, which as a theme frequently shows up in her work. Repeating motifs of fish, birds, and insects reflect her ongoing fascination with nature, the environment, and human impact on both. Much of her work uses allegory to reveal social and cultural issues.

I use political and social issues—both historical and current—as undertones in my work. My attraction to art grows out of my concern for humanity and all of its man-made divisions because of art’s ability to skin the barriers created by these differences.

On a personal level, in my role as an artist in residence at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, I often see art acting as an agent of healing for the patients I work with. I love my job both for this reason and for the opportunity it gives me to explore all mediums freely, without hesitation, as children do.

Jamie is an avid illustrator and sewer. She makes wall quilts her way by not using batting or binding and is often referred to as the ‘Rebel Quilter.’ She draws her inspiration from her imagination and the world around her. Signature motifs are houses that balance cups and saucers on their roofs, faces, flowers and zippers. She strides between a whimsical bright and vibrant color scheme to an edgy black, white and red. Her hand drawn designs grace colorful yardage for the quilting industry for RJR, stencils for StencilGirl, and two self published coloring books.

Deborah is a writer, quilter, and doll maker in Houston, Texas, and the granddaughter of a migrant from Mexico. In her early career as a journalist, she covered police cases, including the abductions and murders of four young girls whose stories touched her deeply. She later worked in media relations, cultivating international press coverage for university research on fatalities of migrants crossing the Texas-Mexico border. She also has edited two magazines, and was an associate producer on the 2011 documentary film, "Stitched." Semi-retired, she is now writing a novel. 

Liliana Hueso is a queer bi-national bilingual college professor, accomplished producer, filmmaker, photographer, gallery owner, and activist. She has extensive experience in teaching media, facilitating workshops, and organizing film screenings and photo exhibitions on both sides of the border. Liliana’s work has been exhibited in various bi-national conferences, film events and galleries. As a border artist, her work provides a unique perspective revealed in the storytelling quality of her photos.

MaryLin is a painter and fiber artist who earned a BFA from Missouri Western State University. Her work has been featured in various books and magazines and she has taught at several art retreats on both US coasts and in Italy. She paints commissioned portraits and works in mixed media. Currently, she has work on display at a Missouri gallery.

Chawne Kimber is an award winning textile artist who has exhibited quilts and embroidery in galleries and festivals in all over the United States. She started embroidery at 10 years old, transitioned to making formal dresses in high school and found her way to quilting in 2005 when in need of meditative and expressive outlets while working an overwhelming job.

When not manipulating cotton, she is a professor of mathematics at a small liberal arts college in the Northeast.

My goal as an artist is to remind humanity of the strength it possesses. In a world where too often, the images we feed ourselves are full of violence and fear I strive to uplift my audience. The tactile nature of cloth, its texture, richness and malleability are what have drawn me to this medium.

Fabric has a history almost as old as humankind; we wrap ourselves in cloth every day, and cover ourselves with it at night. It brings us comfort and protection and defines our individual identities. It also binds us together as a human community with it’s universal connection to each member of the human race.

Ladislao Loera is a pet lover, illustrator, writer, improv student and story teller. His artwork is all based on the Mexican holiday "the day of the dead".

His stories revolve around loss and how we can learn from loss. "We tend to hide our grief as if it is something to be ashamed of. But talking about it is the truest way to heal." 

Yoli Manzo was born and raised in the Silicon Valley. She is well known as a highly creative mixed media artist in the Sacramento area, where she now resides. Yoli has immersed herself in making and exhibiting her Latino influenced art that includes icons such as Frida Kahlo, Santos, Guadalupe, vivid colors and edgy sensibility. Folk art and abstracts are a large focus of her recent works. 

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Yoli has exhibited her art work at numerous galleries, on television and at art festivals throughout Northern California. In addition to creating art, Yoli teaches mixed media workshops at her studio as well as a guest teacher at other studios and venues. She has a love for bright colors, textiles and just about any media she can throw on a canvas.

Born in Mexico City, one of three siblings, Raul was only 8 months old when his mother carried him to the United States. Coexisting between American and Mexican culture, Raul has remained fluid. Beginning roots as an artist with street art, he navigated around the art scene to ultimately create the well-recognized, distinctive, simple lines yet complex subjects with a keen sense of design always keeps it refreshing. Raul's art is non-traditional yet includes elements of his hybrid Mexican and American culture. Innately capturing metaphorical and spiritual elements captivate curiosity, distilling beauty, and provoking thought.A reminder of life, death, and all of the beauty that exists in-between in the here and now.

Shanna is an award winning poet, painter, educator and art consultant from Bridgeport, CT.  Performing, exhibiting, and creating performance venues since 1997 has offered great opportunities to share her work with diverse communities.

Developing spaces for self expression has connected her to many creative communities but it also enhances her creative process as she guides and continues to learn from every person who engages in writing and performing with each gathering.

LaLa was born and raised in San Francisco, California and lived just across the highway from the Pacific Ocean. She feels fortunate to have grown up in an environment surrounded by so many interesting people and places. The early exposure to limitless possibilities is what has given her an open outlook on life and all that it has to offer, pure magic! Her art is inspired and informed greatly by her surroundings. Shells, rocks, and twigs found on long walks along the beach or wooded paths will often spark an idea for a new character or maybe a whole tribe. 

Judy is an International award-winning mixed-media textile artist and author, who travels globally to teach painting and mixed-media techniques and lecture about her creative process and sources of inspiration.

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She received her BFA in graphic design from The Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design, but found her true passion when she began working with textiles.

Andre Rochester is a visual artist from Hartford, CT. His recent work tackles subjects such as immigration, social justice, and race. Although acrylic is his preferred medium, he also creates with color pencil, charcoal, pastel, and oils.

Rosie has been an artist for over 25 years, working with mediums such as polymer clay, stone clay, paper clay, fiber and mixed media. Through her blend of computerized images, free-form embellishing, and her use of color, form and texture she transforms her conceptual visions into canvasses of creativity and self expression. Rosie lives and works in San Antonio, Texas.

Scott is a self-taught artist who creates content driven art in a wide variety of mediums including beadwork, drawing, installations, carving, photography and video.

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Born in Minnesota, his engineering degree took him to Seattle where he worked for a big airplane company for 20 years and 10 days. In 2005, he quit to devote his time to making art.  He has lived in Connecticut since 2012.

Alicia Smith is a Xicana artist and activist currently based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She received her BFA in Fine arts with an emphasis in Contemporary Sculpture and Printmaking from the University of Oklahoma and her MFA at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. 

Her work uses the abject and sublime to investigate the relationship between the land and the body. 

Tracy has been combining fabrics, buttons, papers, threads, photographs, paints, politics, humor and any number of other materials for many years. Quilts, dolls, furniture, clothing, mixed media projects and jewelry with a twist have emerged from those efforts.

Libby Williamson is patchwork and collage, joy and contradiction, and authentic voice; her artworks emerge from all layers of her person. Her imagery is greatly influenced by the natural world, real or imagined, and the geometry found within.

Tactile riches from cloth, paper, stitches, and paint form her work. Repurposed discards and ephemera can also be found throughout her art, whether they are featured prominently or they simply exist, unassuming. 

Sabrina Zarco is an award-winning autistic Chicana queer femme multi-media artivist, poet, cultural worker, and grass roots community educator. She uses her unique way of experiencing the world fused with cultural influences to create her visual artwork. Sabrina’s unconventional works tell stories, show us dreams, and visually articulates how she views the world. Her distinctive visionary processes of creating art manifest in a variety of multi-textural media using recycled and repurposed items with a primary focus on using fiber as a base. As an outsider artist, her work is a visual journal of her walk as a part of marginalized communities. Her work can be found in public and private collections, national, and international exhibits.