Pages

Saturday, December 27, 2014

This is SAQA Europe/Middle East: Lithuania

Maryte Collard




I was born and spent most of my life in Lithuania, country of amber, songs and rain.
Despite my career in a medical field I was always interested in fiber arts and crafts but quilting stole my heart when I was introduced to it in 1997.
For 11 years since 2002 till 2013 I lived in US and there I realized that quilting was much more than a craft, it was an ART.



I started making traditional quilts but soon I realized that I wanted to explore endless possibilities fiber arts offer: raw edge applique using my own hand dyed silk and cotton as a background, painting and thread painting and free motion quilting that is my favorite part of quiltmaking.



I draw my inspiration mostly from nature and life around me but also I love creating abstract quilts letting the pieces of fabric to fall into places just like they knew where they belonged.


A new challenge in my quilting career emerged when I moved back to Lithuania in 2013. There were no tradition of making quilts here and there were no supplies. I had to start dyeing my own fabrics and to this day I am searching for my new style. For now my style often is recognized as “American” when I put my quilts on display in Lithuania or in Latvia.


Even there are few quilters in Lithuania now, there is no sense of community and I feel rather isolated. That's why I joined SAQA and also became a member of Latvian Quilting Association.





1 comment:

  1. Your work is so vibrant. I'm glad that you found the SAQA family.

    ReplyDelete