How One Simple Change Can Transform A Quilt
This is an article that was published in my art quilting column in Make Modern magazine Issue 67 in November 2025.
Making a unique Quilt Painting
Every artist will come to a point in their process where they want to weave their own voice into their work, because quilting can be an important way of self-expression. I’m known for my technique “quilt painting”, where I take a classic oil painting and recreate it with fabric strips, like my “Starry Night” quilt. Copying “The Masters” is such a great way to learn about use of colour, composition, rhythm, space, contrast and so many more aspects of each art work. (That's why I'm teaching a class about it on my website!) With my latest quilt painting “The American Scream”, I wanted to take it a little further. Just one small change made a big impact.
For this art quilt, I was inspired by Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” and just changed one thing: the colors. It doesn’t sound like a huge change, but I maximized the impact of this choice with a symbolic color combination – red, white and blue – to give the quilt a deeper meaning. I used a picture of the black-and-white original 1895 lithography like a piece of line art that I could color within. The lines in the sky reminded me of the American Flag, the lake behind the figure I saw as a light blue - and from there, bit by bit, the right colors fell into place. They became symbolic when surrounding a screaming figure emblematic of the overwhelm many feel in our current times in the US. A barrage of news (mostly concerning) and a feeling of just wanting to scream for fears of our democracy being dismantled.
It has been such an effective way of expressing my unique voice that comes from my background. I am a German immigrant (now a dual citizen) and I remember my grandparents’ harrowing stories of the 3rd Reich vividly. In fact, my grandma would tell me dark stories about the war when we were quilting together in my childhood - she was about the same age during the war than I was then. Ever since I was young, I was warned about authoritarianism, shaped by the collective guilt of the next generations of Germans and our responsibility to never let extreme nationalists take over again. Now living in the US, I wanted to express my anxious feelings in a relatable way without making it a single-issue quilt or taking a stab at specific people. By just using the symbolism of color, I achieved that goal.
It can take a lot of determination and energy to make a politically “flavored” quilt. I’m not usually one to speak my opinions loudly on the internet or in public life. I’m a conflict averse person, but I am just so passionate about this quilt’s subject that I had to find a way to get through my hesitation, anxieties and fear of getting heckled. I found that sometimes, subtle changes can express our voice without being too literal or divisive, which is what helped me follow through with this quilt.
In order a to make a quilt your own, you can change any of the principles of art and design, like composition, color, line work, contrast, texture, and many more! I invite you to pick one to focus on especially in your next project and see where it takes you.
If you'd like to learn about principles of art design and this quilting technique called "Quilt Painting", I teach classes! Go to www.quilt-your-masterpiece.com for a FREE trial class.
