Painting with fabric

Ask someone their thoughts about quilting and most would probably think of a grandmother making her 106th patchwork quilt for the local church auction. The medium has been often associated with traditional home making and regarded as a craft rather than art. St. Paul artist Lucienne Schroepfer is changing that notion through her fabric paintings.

Lucienne is an artist who creates detailed quilted visual art that can easily be mistaken for a traditional painting. Instead of oil and acrylic, she uses carefully cut fabric scraps and well-placed stitches to create dynamic, textured pieces.

The journey started in 1999 after losing her newborn daughter. Lucienne found herself taking a hard stop from her workaholic life and took her full maternity leave to recover. She was gifted a sewing machine by her mother and jumped in head first despite no basic knowledge of how it works. She spent everyday sewing, stitching, and learning.

After five years she transitioned to modern quilting and visual art. These days she spends at least an hour sewing while balancing her time between family and work.

All her pieces are framed to set them apart from traditional quilts. Normally, quilts are binded with fabric around the edge to join the different layers involved. Framing the art allows it to be displayed similarly to a painting. Lucienne also doesn’t protect her art with glass and is quick to remind people it’s just fabric and can be washed.

“People don’t know its fabric until they’re up close and then they have this aha moment which is really fun to watch. I just like it better. I feel like the frames set the art off in a way that it doesn’t if it’s bound. I think people take it more seriously if it's in a frame.”

Photo courtesy of Lucienne Schroepfer

Being taken seriously as an artist can be difficult when using an art medium often associated with “womanly” duties. Knitting, embroidery, and other fiber arts have traditionally been utilitarian in their purpose. With the rise of industry, there is no longer a reliance on those skills to survive. They can instead be enjoyed recreationally and artistically. While there’s been a shift in purpose, there is still a lack of reverence and respect when compared to other art forms.

“When people see my work, most people recognize it as something very unique and different. I think that especially when they’re looking at one of my zip purses or a more simple landscape they will say things like ‘Oh I could do that myself.’ As they look at my stuff they realize this doesn’t have anything to do with what my grandmother did…Quilting in general is often categorized as a craft vs an art.”

Lucienne loves what she is able to accomplish with textiles. From the wide variety of fabrics to different stitching techniques, she greatly prefers it over traditional painting methods. Few limitations exist when relying on textiles to make art.

“The biggest limitation is that you can’t do it everywhere, you have to do it at a machine. A painter just walks in with a canvas and a toolbox.”

While it's true that she isn't able to pick up her machine to go do an art demo, Lucienne is still able to share her art through her website and local galleries.

Lucienne is a member of Art to Change the World, a non-profit that showcases art as a means of social change. ACW makes sure artists get paid and their work displayed in ways they may not be able to achieve themselves.

Photo courtesy of Lucienne Schroepfer