Andy Luther

Art quilts are my passion. They combine color, texture and design together. My designs are original or reworked traditional. I love color and my work clearly shows that. In addition I usually add a layer of texture, such as applique or beads. A few of my art pieces have hundreds and thousands of beads. Most of the time, I start the process with a design in my head which I put down on paper. I then pull fabrics and start cutting and sewing. Often times my draft is not even close to what I actually made but it is still part of the process. Sometimes I see a fabric and it serves as the jumping off point for the piece of art. I am a Professional Engineer and many of the tools that I learned how to use at Purdue University are ones that I use on a regular basis. These include French curves, a compass and graph paper. The challenge becomes how to translate the design to fabric. Fortunately I am not hindered by the fear of mistakes. It is all part of the process. Sometimes those mistakes become the perfect feature of a piece. My pieces resonate with people in different ways. Where one sees dancing girls with wild beaded hair another sees Olympian athletes in training! I hope when people see my work it makes them smile.