Christa Hirneisen
After graduating from Moore College of Art, I designed printed fabrics for women’s wear for fifteen years. I began by painting these designs on paper with gouache and then moved on to using dyes to create designs on silk fabric. During the 1980’s thousands of my original patterns were sold and could be found on clothing in department stores and specialty shops.
When my second child was born, I retired from full time work and went back to painting with water color paints and then acrylics. I even tried my hand at collage and printmaking. But eventually knitting became my passion; mixing colors and textures and experimenting with yarns to create unique wearable pieces and never two items the same.
Today, although I still knit, I also work with fabrics to create art quilts and bed quilts. Scrap quilts are my absolute favorite. I love cutting up the beautiful printed cottons and combining the pieces to make a new design. The art quilts I make give me the opportunity to add texture to the surface not possible with bed quilts or lap size quilts. Usually my art quilts represent a memory for me: a place I’ve been, a day in my life or in my past.
See my work here:
- The Reading Museum Shop
- The Shop at Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia
- The Lancaster Gild Store
- The Art & Craft Gallery of Hamburg