Bio

I’ve always enjoyed making things with my hands.  If it had anything to do with needles, yarn, thread or fabric, I was all over it.  This interest came to me through the women in my family.  My paternal grandmother, Fanny Berkowitz, was a master of knitting and crocheting.  She grew up in Hungary where her public education taught these areas.  I have a distinct memory of asking her to knit me a double-breasted sweater vest with a shawl collar and pockets.  She “whipped it up” in about a week without using a pattern.  It was amazing!  My mother, Miriam Reese Berkowitz, dabbled in embroidery and knitting.  She was always working on something in the evenings – after she worked full time and provided a soup-to-nuts meal for every dinner.  (And…the house was always clean and the laundry was always done. I don’t think she slept much!) 

These women set the stage for my interest.  I learned early how to thread a needle and clumsily sewed 2 pieces of fabric together – I practiced a great deal for my Barbie doll.  Embroidery and needlepoint were next.  Knitting became interesting during college.  I stuck with it for quite a few years, even learning how to design a pattern and write the directions.

Then, as a young mom, I found quilting – or should I say quilting found me.  I learned from the woman in our neighborhood who watched my son and daughter when I had to go back to work.  Kathy B. was an “earth mother”.  Her home was filled with hundreds of books, and classical music was always playing.  She had one tiny television that was tucked away in her bedroom so the kids didn’t watch it.  She developed an age-appropriate curriculum for the pre-schoolers and taught them well – as a result when my kids headed to kindergarten, they were solidly prepared.  Most amazingly, while all this was going on, Kathy always had a quilt-in-progress laid out on her dining room table.  Each day I was so excited and interested to see her progress.  I loved watching her do the hand sewing…she was masterful.  I asked if she would teach me.  She gave me a few pointers … and it clicked!!  I had found the one needle art that spoke to me above all others!  And the rest as they say…is history!

So today, fiber art is my passion.  I love the tactile sense of it.  I love to work in bold colors and figuring out how to make them work together.  It is an expression of my life experiences that make me who I am.  It is the representation of my mind’s eye – life depicted through the collaborations of fiber and color.  It is me.

And here’s some other info about my life:

 Education:

Hometown: 

Current Residence: 

Commissions:

2012   “Utah Landscape”                

2013   “12 Tribes”

2012 “Kopnick Piano”                 

 2018 “The Ark”

Contribution:

2015    “Teach the Children”         

Exhibitions:

Sigra Gallery

 Red Tree Gallery

Cincinnati Nature Center

CQAFA Annual Show

Award: 2014 Annual Show – Second Place for Viewers’ Choice

The Barn

Middletown Arts Center                                    

Gallery Veronique

Venue 222

 Sinclair College

SAQA Ohio Regional Show             

YWCA

C-Link Brazee Street Studio                                                  

Kennedy Hts. Art Center

Hyde Park Art Show

ish Festival 

Ft. Thomas Library                                              

Wyoming Art Show

Milford Art Affaire

Northminster Fine Art Show

Gallery 708

Cincinnati Art Club

Presentations:

Contemporary Quilt and Fiber Artists (CQAFA) Design       Process                       

 Warren County Quilt Guild

Affiliations:

CQAFA   2011 – current