Member Profile: Alanna Nelson

Alanna Nelson

Alanna Nelson calls herself a textilphiliac. Art quilts are one way she expresses that passion. Inspired by landscape, events, and her environment, silk and wool are her favorite fibers, although dyed and painted cotton figures significantly in the art quilts.

She turned to quilting in the 1990s, frustrated after knitting with 26 colors. Her third quilt was made for the wall. The pendulum continues to swing both ways.

Carpe Diem by Alanna Nelson, 2005

Quilting and living in Italy between 1994 - 2005 definitely impacted Alanna's quilts. She began dyeing cotton fabric while living near Rome and incorporating fashion fabrics into her work while living near Milan. She joined Quilt Italia when it first began, participating in exhibits the first exhibit in Modena and Yokohama, Japan.

Sheep and wool festivals in New England and New York provided materials for recent work. Nuno felting is one of her favorite summer pastimes when she's not hiking or sailing.

Entry Blessing: Come into our home in peace and tranquility. 2013

Inspired by 17th Century embroidered caskets viewed at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, Alanna currently explores quilts and bookbinding techniques to create three dimensional quilt art.

SAQA membership feeds Alanna's passion to create art quilts by exposing her to other quilters with similar interests and opportunities to submit work to exhibits. Keep up with her on Instagram, Twitter or on her web site alannanelson.com.