The Finish Line: The Fabric Collage Quilts of Marilyn Davidson

This post is the third in a series of three “Finish Line” posts featuring students who excel at fabric collage. The three I chose—Darlene Determan, Joanne Hannon Shaw, and Marilyn Davidson—are all long-time students. They continue to come to my classes mostly because it gives us all a chance to see each other once or twice a year and share our love of this art form.

As you will see from their work, they are all three accomplished artists. I give them pointers and encouragement still, and they tell me the value of my insight into their work, but at this point any improvements they make to their technique will be more a matter of their hard work than my guidance.

Enjoy these three consecutive blog posts featuring each one of these three fabric collage artists.

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If I had to choose one word to describe Marilyn Davidson, I would choose “elegant.” From her wardrobe to her home to her art, but especially in her manner, she displays the very essence of elegance.

In a previous blog post, I told the story about Marilyn’s first class in 2013, at one of my Harpswell, Maine retreats. The subject she chose—a mermaid—was not what I would have chosen for anyone to do as a first quilt. Here’s the finished quilt, which I did not have at the time of the first blog post.

“Mermaid” (2013)

As I said before, the figure wasn’t very big—the whole head was a couple inches tall, so it meant it would be difficult to put any features into it—and the body was proportionally small. It was a seascape, which meant there was a lot of background in order to make it understandable. There was a lot of detail work without much space to play with visually textured fabric to give the image form.

But regardless of my reservations, Marilyn created a charming small quilt, adding a bit of beading and handwork that she enjoys—see a detail in the very first photo above.

To my delighted surprise, when she returned to another retreat in October 2014, it was like she was a different artist altogether. Here’s the quilt she started in that class.

 

“Haitian Lady with Mangos” (December 2014)

What I didn’t make clear in that previous blog post, is that in the interim, between classes, she found her muse in her own husband, Joel Davidson’s photography. (I later wrote a blog post about a show they did as a couple with his photos and her quilts.) It was his close up photos of the people of different cultures and animals that really inspired her.

In the first quilt I sensed a tentativeness to her work. When she started this quilt, she took off like a rocket. Once she understood what the technique was about—using fabric to “paint” the image—she then knew how to proceed with it. She understood that what she had chosen the first time wasn’t really the best for this technique. Between the two classes she realized that the larger images, usually closeups, are what this technique works well with.

For a reminder (which will hopefully induce you to visit those links above), here’s a sampling of her work that I’ve featured previously here and here.

Marilyn is wonderful to have in class not only because of her calm and generous personality, but for how she helps others. In class as I make my rounds, I’ll comment on the work a student has done since I last saw them. I’ll point out a fabric I like or ask how they worked through a particularly difficult area. So many times the student will say something like “Oh, Marilyn gave me that fabric” or “Marilyn suggested I try that.” She has such a gentle and graceful way of making suggestions and is a wonderful teacher in her own right.

Over the course of a few years, both her and Joel have become my friends and have been so very supportive of me, my family, and my career. My life is better because Marilyn is in it.

The following quilts are described in Marilyn’s own words.

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Grandma’s Dream (May 2018)

“In one of Susan’s previous posts, I spoke about art as therapy. The loss of a loved one is traumatic. One can feel lost and helpless trying to cope with the grief. When my granddaughter Maya died, I was compelled to work on a collage quilt of her. I selected a photo of Maya running in a field while at summer camp. She was so happy and alive and I wanted to keep that memory in my mind. Working on the quilt day after day made me feel connected to her. It was, for me, therapeutic.”

“I started with her face and decided to paint her features rather than collage the small image. I used the collage technique for the rest of her body. Maya loved doing puzzles, so I cut out tiny puzzle pieces from fabric and incorporated them in her shirt, her Crocs and on her beloved stuffed monkey, Curious George. Maya also loved donuts and I found fabric with donut motifs and worked them into her wings. I envisioned Maya in heaven adorned with angel wings bursting out from the “Valley of Death” and into the bright light of heaven. I tried to make my background look like she was emerging into the light. Kristy Wolf, a very talented longarm quilter, quilted a starburst effect to emphasize the energy I imagined.”

 

Sakura Series Quilts (May 2018)

“I have always been attracted to Asian art and fabrics.  Many of my pre-collage quilts featured Asian motifs. My husband and I have traveled to Japan twice and my memories of the cherry trees in bloom, the beautiful women in kimonos, the dance of the Red Crowned Cranes, and the Japanese White Eye birds inspired me to make this  series of quilts. I combined my drawings from photos and decided to feature a tree with pink blossoms in each quilt. I worked on collaging the birds, woman, cranes, and trees separately. I cut them away from the muslin backing and then worked on backgrounds for each subject. I collaged three similar backgrounds using different colorways of Cherrywood hand dyed fabrics. I then created each scene layering my figures and trees on top. After the tops were quilted, I embellished the flowers, kimono, birds and cranes with Swarovski crystals and with gold metallic paint. Working on this series was very relaxing and the subject matter put me in a Zen state of mind. I framed each quilt in a bamboo frame and they are hanging in a hallway of our home.”

 

Miriam and the Tambourine (April 2018)

“The image of the biblical figure, Miriam, dancing with her tambourine and leading women to freedom, intrigued me as a subject for a collage quilt. I asked my granddaughter, Ilana, to pose with a tambourine to mimic a painting I had admired of the prophetess Miriam.  My husband, Joel, took a beautiful picture in his studio of Ilana and that was the start of my quilt.  This is the largest collage quilt I have made to date.  The face and hands were challenging.  I pinned on and took off the pieces of fabric many times over. As always, Susan gave me wonderful direction.  I auditioned many ideas before deciding on this simple silk fabric for the background. The elegance of the silk material appealed to me and again Kristy Wolf did a beautiful job of quilting the bubble design on the background. I attached the quilt using strong beading thread to a piece of foam board. The quilt hangs in our dining area.”

 

Under the Sea Quilt (August 2018)

“The fish quilt was also a form of therapy for me. I was in an auto accident last June and fractured two vertebrae. I was on my back for months in pain and in total frustration. As I slowly recuperated, a felt the need to be creative. I decided to go back to a basic Susan Carlson recommended subject—a fish. It was small enough to manipulate while in my “relax the back” recliner chair. I was only able to work on the fish for short periods of time. Every day, I added a few more pieces of fabric until I completed the fish. I then found a hand dyed fabric in my stash that worked as an underwater background. I positioned my fish on the background and each day I added another element to create the scene. Again, art was my therapy. For the very short intervals that I could work, my mind was distracted from my pain. (There was only so many Hallmark movies I could watch!)”

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Please be sure to visit the other two blog posts in this series of three: Darlene Determan and Joanne Hannon Shaw. Darlene, Joanne, and Marilyn have my gratitude for allowing me to share these quilts with you. The quilts and the women are amazing. I am so lucky to have them as students and as friends.