Joe Cunningham has been a professional quilt artist since 1979. He has written a dozen books on the subject, many magazine articles and essays for museum catalogs. His work has been widely shown and is in the collections of major museums. He has received grants for shows and travel, including his 2024 exhibition at the Cahoon Museum of American Art in Cape Cod where he wrapped the building in patchwork. Cunningham lives in San Francisco with his wife and there he maintains a gallery/studio where he works and teaches.
Workshop: Pointing the Way
It does not seem possible to make some of these sharp points freehand, no templates or paper piecing. But with my techniques you can follow simple steps to create truly infinite variations on this pointy theme. Long and thin, short and squat, regular and irregular, you can use units like these to make dynamic compositions. We’ll take two days to make the basic variations, then have time to use them in an abstract project. As part of a larger composition or as the basis of an entire design, these techniques can open new doors into your quilt design.
- Day One: extreme point workshop, simple technique, turning corners, making any size.
- Day Two: Escher variations with a simple unit.
- Days Three and Four: Joe’s compositional guidelines to making your complete quilt top.
