Not many people can say their quilting career kicked off in a mining region where the dramatic, sometimes harsh, natural environment inspired their work. Sue Dennis can. It was when her husband’s work took her to Mt. Isa, in North-West Queensland, that the stitching bug bit. Since then she has become a sought after teacher, the Studio Arts Quilts Associates (SAQA) Oceania representative, the World Quilt & Textile Australian coordinator and an award winning designer in her own right.
With a husband in mining geology, Sue Dennis has lived in some of Australia’s most dramatic landscapes and it was in 1990, while attending a TAFE course in Mt. Isa, that she discovered patchwork.
She joined the local quilting group in the area and was soon experimenting with the rotary cutter, machine piecing and quilting and generally “doing her own thing”. Before long Sue had a class plan in place and headed to Isa Uniforms and Fabrics to suggest she introduce a beginner’s class.
“The TAFE course was very basic,” she says. “You didn’t even get to make a quilt. I thought I could put a popular course together that showed people how to make great quilts fairly quickly.” Eventually she was teaching four nights a week and tutoring on the weekends for the Queensland Arts Council. “It was great,” she says, looking back. “Groups in remote places like Julia Creek - 632 km west of Townsville - could apply for grants then I, usually with a friend, would load up the 4WD with fabrics and supplies and drive out to teach.”
Today Sue lives in Brisbane but she still covers many miles on teaching engagements. She’s known for her relaxed, stress free classroom approach as much as for her distinctive and colourful patterns and designs.
“I don’t like to put unrealistic expectations on students,” she says. “I have a two day workshop called ‘Opal Fever’ where people can almost get their quilt finished... But I assess and adjust things as we go. People don’t learn when they’re stressed.”
Sue’s earliest quilting days, away from urban design influences, may have helped develop the unique and striking style now present in her own art quilts. Inspired by the landscape, her travels, fabrics picked up along the way, politics and more, Sue says, from early on, she felt she wanted other people to see her work.
“When Pauline Rogers (from Toowoomba’s Quilters World) came through town in the 1990s looking for works to exhibit at a symposium I showed her my quilt called ‘Indonesia Journey No.1 - To the temple’... later when I began sending work away to competitions or exhibitions, I would pay close attention to the critique sheets you got back. They showed me how I could improve my techniques.”
Though Sue now has numerous prizes to her credit and her work is shown in exhibitions throughout Australia, the USA, the UK, Europe, the Middle East, South Africa and New Zealand, one of her proudest achievements remains the quilt held in the collection of the Immigration Museum in Melbourne.
“My Dad escaped Czechoslovakia with nothing but a suitcase. My quilt features images of the suitcase plus a story written using free machine writing. I felt my deceased father was watching over me as I created that work,” says Sue.
On top of achievements such as this Sue continues to put great energy into the quilting community locally. A judge and valuer, she also serves as the Australian coordinator for World Quilt & Textile, gathering quilts to send to the USA for judging at the World Quilt Show in New England.
In this capacity as Oceania representative for Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA) - a non-profit organisation for the promotion “of the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development and documentation” Sue is curating the group’s first exhibition from 7 - 22 February 2009 at Gallery, 159 Payne Rd, The Gap, Brisbane. She is also curator of the inaugural State of the Art Quilt 09 which launches at the Gold Coast Craft & Quilt Fair in March 2009.
Already 2009 is promising to be a hectic year for Sue. The SAQA QLD exhibition is followed by a trip to the USA where she is guest speaker and will conduct a workshop for Empire Quilters, Manhattan and attend the SAQA conference before returning to Australia to run workshops in Queensland.
Teacher profile
Sue Dennis
Her specialty
Art quilts
Where she teaches
Australia & beyond
Find her at
www.suedennis.com [suedennis.com]
(for information on workshops & entry forms for World Quilt & Textile)
Other Links
www.saqa.com [saqa.com]
State of the Art Quilt 09
www.qldquilters.com [qldquilters.com]
World Quilt & Textile
www.worldquilt.com [worldquilt.com]
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