" Kissed with Paint - A Special Exhibit of Pictorial Quilts"
Artist Statement:
I have had the opportunity to live in several different states across the U.S. and in Puerto Rico. I am amazed by the different landscapes that characterize each place I have been.
I love and am inspired by the
beauty in nature. I have always been an avid amateur photographer.
These things coupled with my love of fabric and color have lead me to my journey of creating landscape and pictorial art quilts from personally taken photographs.
Occasionally I will work from a drawing, but I usually work from photos.
I most often construct the surface of my quilts with raw-edged fused appliqué, but will occasionally do machine and hand applique.
By machine I do piecing, free motion embroidery, beading, and quilting.
I use commercial, hand-dyed, and hand painted fabrics.
I paint on the surface of my quilts to add detail, texture, and depth with shadow elements.
Emphasis is placed on quality workmanship.
Much of my current inspiration comes from hikes in the Rocky Mountain National Park,
trips to botanic gardens, and traveling with my husband, Rick.
I also enjoy working with architectural and still life subjects.
Biography:
Annette grew up in Kettering, Ohio. As a young girl she learned to sew, crochet, knit, embroider,
and do needlepoint from her mother and grandmother.
Drawing and experimenting with watercolors and pastels was a much-loved pastime.
Although she has never had any formal art education, Annette has always loved to “create”.
As a young adult Annette worked in the dental laboratory field fabricating crown and bridgework.
After marrying her husband, who was on a military career path, she had the opportunity to live in several locations
on the east and west coasts of the United States and in Puerto Rico.
During those years she worked
as a cosmetologist and later as a retail merchandiser for Hallmark Greeting Cards.
Annette learned to quilt as an adult from her mother and grandmother who had been quilting for years, doing everything by hand.
Annette got hooked on quilting when her mother started piecing quilts by machine and the process no longer seemed so time- consuming.
After making several traditional bed quilts over several years, in the summer of 2003 Annette then moved on to creating her own original landscape and pictorial art quilts.
After her husband's retirement from military service in 2001, they have settled in Longmont, Colorado with their kitties. They have one son, Nathan, who is currently serving in the US Army JAG Corps.

Mountain Chapel
2008
43.25" x 53"
Permanent Collection of the
National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY
Mountain Chapel is of the beautiful Saint Catherine Chapel at Camp Saint Malo, 10758 Highway 7, Allenspark, CO 80510;
this quilt won the Best Pictorial Quilt award at the Road to California Quilter’s Conference 2009 in Ontario, CA, and the
Best Wall Quilt Purchase Award at the 2009 American Quilter's Society's Quilt Show in Paducah, KY.


Detail
Fruit for the Wine
2006
49 3/8" x 34"
This quilt has won two awards:
1st Place in "On the Wall Quilts" at AQS 2008 Quilt Expo, Nashville, TN, and
Best Wall Quilt at the 2007 Denver National Quilt Festival, Denver, CO.
For more information about Annette's work go to http://www.annettekennedy.com