Interview with Yvonne Porcella, October 29, 1999

Partial Transcript: I'm Jeri Baldwin and I'm with the, um, Save Our Stories Quilting Project, and it is my pleasure to be with Yvonne Porcella this morning who is going to answer some questions about her story of quilting.

Segment Synopsis: Porcella talks about a quilting class she taught at the festival. She taught her students how to create faces and flowers. She expands upon how she started to create portraits and faces within her quilts, inspired by the paper dolls she played with as a child.

Keywords: Artists; Creativity; Design; Dollmakers; Encouragement; Faces; Facial profiles; Figure quilts; Flowers; International Quilt Festival; Paper dolls; Quilt studios; Quilting classes; Samples; Self portraits; Sewing techniques; Students; Teaching

Subjects: Portraits on quilts; Quilting; Quilting--Vocational guidance; Quiltmakers; Sewing

Partial Transcript: Well, let's drop back just a minute and find out when did you begin to quilt?

Segment Synopsis: Porcella talks about the first quilts she created. Before trying quilts, she created wearable art and was a weaver and sewer. She even wrote books on wearable art. In her first exhibition, she submitted a quilted jacket that did not turn out as desired.

Keywords: Appliqued; Appliques; Artistry; Baby quilts; Childhood; Collage clothing; Cotton; Crochet; Distraction; Dolls; Embroidery; Family quilts; First quilt; Flannel; Flowers; Garments; Grandmother; Knitting; Needlework; Nine patch; Pique fabric; Quilt conference; Quilting; Sewing; Stitching; Teacher's Exhibit; Teaching; Wearable art; Wearable art books; Weaver; Wedding

Subjects: Appliqué; Crib quilts; Nine patch quilts; Quilting; Quilting--Vocational guidance; Quiltmakers; Sewing

Partial Transcript: I'd like to go back to these wonderfully colorful, uh, examples that you've gotten here on, on our table, the faces and the flowers. How did you, um, decide to use the bright colors?

Segment Synopsis: Porcella talks about how her experience with learning to weave influenced her use of colors in quilting. She also notes that while the fabric is usually bright, she does her hand-painted fabric in pastels.

Keywords: Artistic; Bright colors; Color sense; Colors; Crochet thread; Duality; Ethnic textiles; Fabrics; Guatemala; Hand painting; Knitting yarn; Looms; Pastels; Patterns; Russia; San Jose Museum of Quilt and Textiles; Twisting; Weavers; Weaving

Subjects: Quilting; Quiltmakers; Sewing; Weaving; Weaving in art

Partial Transcript: What other classes--(clears throat)--excuse me, what other classes do you teach, besides, uh, besides this one?

Segment Synopsis: Porcella talks about her techniques and what she teaches in her classes. She talks about her best quilts, including the one that hangs in the Smithsonian, versus the ones she more recently completed. Porcella also talks about the history and storytelling aspects of her quilts.

Keywords: American's best quilts; Appliques; Art quilts; Careers; Checkerboard; Classes; Clothing patterns; Costume patterns; Crib quilts; Designs; Dolls; Fabric painting; Half square triangles; Hall of fame; Hand applique; Hand painted flowers; Hand quilts; Log cabin; Machine quilts; Nurses; Pastel palette; Patchwork; Portraits; Process; Quilt historians; Quilting; Quiltmaking; Sewing techniques; Smithsonian; Stick figures; Storytelling; Strips; Tapestries; Teaching; Totally embellished vest; Wearable projects; Weaver; Weaving; World Tokyo Quilt Expo

Subjects: Appliqué; Crib quilts; Machine quilting; Patchwork quilts; Portraits on quilts; Quilting; Quilting--Vocational guidance; Quiltmakers; Sewing; Sewing machines

Partial Transcript: What thinking are you doing about the 21st century in terms of your work and your teaching?

Segment Synopsis: Porcella plans to continue her techniques and traditions into the 21st century. She talks about her down time. She enjoys reading art books and spending time with her family and teaching them to sew and quilt. She takes trips with her grandchildren to appreciate different types of art.

Keywords: Art Institute; Artistry; Artists; Chicago (Ill.); Children; Continuation; Creativity; Down time; Family; Grandchildren; Grandsons; Hand quilting; Hand sewing; Ideas; Inspiration; Mothers; Museums; Nursing; Quilting; Quilting studios; Reading; Traditional; Traveling; Wall quilts

Subjects: Machine quilting; Quilting; Quilting shops; Quilting--Fiction; Quilting--Periodicals; Quilting--Vocational guidance; Quiltmakers; Sewing; Sewing machines

Partial Transcript: Do you teach adults or you teach children when you teach professionally?

Segment Synopsis: Porcella mostly teaches adults who are excited about learning quilt-making. Sometimes Porcella goes to a school to teach about quilting, but she focuses on the geometry of quilting. Porcella loves bright colors, and she talks about how it used to be hard to get specific colors and patterns of fabric. She appreciates how available fabrics are now. She then talks about the fabric composition in her samples.

Keywords: Adults; Alternative fabrics; Colors; Cotton; Decorator fabrics; Fabric availability; Fabric scraps; Geometry; Iridescent; Machine quilting; Nine patch quilt; Prints; Quilt shops; Quilting; Quilting style; Samples; Schools; Silk; Silk fabric; Teaching; Thailand; Wearable art; Weaver; Woven

Subjects: Nine patch quilts; Patchwork quilts; Quilting; Quilting shops; Quiltmakers; Sewing

Partial Transcript: What do you say to a student who comes to your class and says, "I really would like to quilt, but I just am not creative."

Segment Synopsis: Porcella reflects on how she gets her students to expand their perceptions to foster creativity. She attributes her creativity, in part, to her nurse training. She was taught to enter a patient's room and to quickly observe the surroundings and patient to assess what needed to be done and in what order. That awareness helped her to see possibilities and inspiration around her. Porcella also talks about how it isn't just sight, but all of the senses: the feel of the fabric, the sound of music, etc.

Keywords: Artistry; Artists; Awareness; Bolts of fabric; Cashmere; Creativity; Fabrics; Looking; Needs; Noticing; Nurse training; Observant; Opera music; Patients; Senses; Students; Teaching; Teaching methods; Texture; Textures; Vests

Subjects: Machine quilting; Quilting; Quilting shops; Quilting--Vocational guidance; Quiltmakers; Sewing

Partial Transcript: Yvonne, you've, uh, done a number of books in, uh, connection with you profession, your art--ar--artist's work, and your quilting work and that sort of thing, um, but I think you've done one most recently that might be your most favorite?

Segment Synopsis: Porcella talks about her most recent book on inspiration, creativity, and her evolution as an artist. She reflects on her good friend who died, and Porcella describes this friend as her artist's muse. She describes what this friend meant to her. This friend helped to inspire her and commissioned quilted wearables that now hang in some California museums. For Porcella, this most recent book helps to show her growth and her skills over time.

Keywords: "Art and Inspirations"; Artwork; Books; Careers; Commission; Creativity; Friendships; Inspiration; Memorials; Muses; Museums; Process; Projects; Quilting; Quilting students; Recordings; Sewing; Techniques; Textiles

Subjects: Quilting; Quilting--Fiction; Quilting--Periodicals; Quilting--Vocational guidance; Quiltmakers; Sewing; Signature quilts