Hollis Chatelain - Textile Artist

Many people ask me what I am working on, where my work is being exhibited and how I am spending my time. This is a new addition to the website that will be updated monthly with the latest things that are happening in my life.

February brought a wonderful surprise for us. Last Monday, while we were eating dinner, the door popped open and our son walked in. He had planned a surprise return and everyone in our family knew but us!! It really was a surprise because we thought he was in Burma. He will be home for just two weeks and then on to Mexico. Ah, but to be young and free again!

North Carolina was cold like the rest of the country in February. I spent 2 ½ weeks in San Antonio where it was also colder than normal. This was my first time being in this wonderful city and I had a great time.

This month The $100,000.00 Quilt Challenge Magazine will be featuring me (this is the issue that announces the winner for their contest). There is even a project in the article about how to learn more about threads and color.

Enclosed you will find the March newsletter. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.

As soon as I got back from San Antonio, I jumped back into quilting. “For Our World” (the Desmond Tutu piece) needs to be finished this month! This means long days (I’m usually in my studio at 3:30 AM). It is progressing and everyday there is a little more color besides just purple as the colored threads from the quilting cover the purple dye-painted piece. It is really starting to come alive. Click here to see another glimpse of it.

The work for the exhibit at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in Boone, NC is also moving forward. Three of the tops are pieced together already and are waiting to be quilted. This exhibit will be solely abstract work and is based on photographs of antiques that my son took. All of the artwork will be small and there will be twelve pieces in the show.

In addition to “For Our World”, and the abstract work, I am also working on a commission. The piece will depict imagery of the nomadic Tuaregs in West Africa.

March 15^th I will be presenting my new lecture in Raleigh, NC at the Capital Quilters. The lecture is titled “The Emotion of Color and How it Affects Activism in Art”. Since so much of my work is monochromatic, I will be talking about how different colors create an emotional response in art. Quite a few of my one color quilts will be hung including Precious Water, Baobab Forest, For Our World, Untold Secrets, Resident Alien, and Jimmy Carter: Ambassador of Peace. I will also be teaching two workshops March 16^th and 17^th. For more information contact: Kerri Arthur email

March will also take me back to Asilomar in Monterey California to teach at the Empty Spools Seminar. I will be teaching a 5-day “Painting Images with Dyes / Bringing Them to Life with Quilting” workshop. This is such a special place to teach and we all have a great time in this class. I believe there are a few spots left in the class. Click here

As I mentioned before, San Antonio was my destination for teaching in February. We had two drawing classes. It started out as just one drawing class, but there was so much interest, that we added a second class. What a wonderful time we had! Both groups were so dynamic and interested in learning. I’m thrilled to be going back again next year! This is part of a five year study program.We will have “Drawing to Increase Creativity II” in February 2008. Contact Charlotte Maxwell if you are interested in joining us next year. Click here

I also taught a 2-day “Dye-Paint your Images” workshop and lectured at the Southwest School of Art & Craft in San Antonio, TX while I was there. What a beautiful facility and we had a great workshop. Click here

The International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, NE is sponsoring an exhibit called “Give and Take: the Artist – Student Dialogue” from February 5^th – March 4^th, 2007. The curator for the show is Michael James. The Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery is hosting the exhibition, which juxtaposes the work of nine artists and their respective Quilt Surface Design Symposium student artists in order to spotlight the role that QSDS has played in the education of the contemporary studio quiltmaker. “The Gift” is being shown beside one of Caryl Bryer Fallert’s quilts . I first came to Ohio to the Quilt Surface Design Symposium in June 1993 and took a class from Caryl. She eventually became my mentor. Click here for more information.

This show will then travel to Columbus, Ohio to be featured at Ohio Arts Council’s downtown Riffe Gallery from May 3rd – July 8^th, 2007. Click here

There will be a solo exhibit showing my monochromatic statement work at Berea College in Berea, KY in April 2007. This exhibit will include five of the pieces from the exhibit I am putting together called “Hope for Our World”. Each piece in the show is based on a different monochromatic color and will carry a message about social or environmental issues. “For Our World” will be shown in this exhibit. Berea College was where I had the meeting with Desmond Tutu in May 2005 to discuss my dream and making the piece. “The Gift” will also be there.
Berea has also invited me for a convocation event April 19, 2007. I will be speaking on “The Emotion of Color and How it Affects Activism in Art”. In the last years, I have been working uniquely with monochromatic color schemes in my statement art. Since each color evokes its own emotion, this is a topic that truly fascinates me. This convocation event will be open to the public. For more information click here

Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC has invited me to do a solo exhibit October 5 – November 17, 2007. click here for more information.
I will also be teaching a 5-day workshop at the Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild October 1-5, 2007. For more information, contact Candace St. Lawrence click here

We now have giclee prints of “The Grandfather”, “Sahel”, “The Gift”, "Ecuadorian Girls", "Precious Water", "Fatima’s Son", "School: It’s Never Too Late to Learn"," Nature’s Gift", "Blue Men", "Burkinabe Mother" and "Untold Secrets", and they are all beautiful. click here to check out all the prints.

All of the threads that I designed for Superior Threads are for sale on the website. They are sold in packs of 25 because I have found that quilters use threads in a more unique and exciting way when they have the opportunity to “audition” a number of different colors (just like we do with fabrics) before making their final choices. click here

We have a secure system where you can order thread, fabric, prints and my artwork directly on line and pay by credit card or Pay Pal.