Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Sharon Schamber Lecture and Trunk Show

 We felt very fortunate to have
Award Winning Quilter
 provide a Lecture/ Trunk Show
for our
Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild
this month.
Christy Fincher is a member of our guild
and she had asked her mom to come as a favor.
What a treat!
I've watched Sharon's videos 
and admired her work for years.
It was wonderful to see her amazing quilts up close,
and to hear her story.
If I understood right,
Sharon is the only person 
to have been awarded
 three 1st place ribbons
at International Quilt Festival.
 The room was packed for this outstanding trunk show.
 For the first part of the trunk show,
Sharon showed a large stack of 
Baltimore Album blocks that she has been working on for years.
 Such intricate tiny details in each one.
 As many of you know, Sharon is a very prolific quilter.
We asked her how many hours a week she spends on her art.
She replied 
" I travel quite a bit.  But, when I am home I quilt at least 
14 hours a day, 7 days a week."
She said she has a condition called
Hyper Focus,
which is an intense form of mental concentration
where a person focuses on a subject
with an inability to switch tasks.
She will often see the quilt in a dream,
and will visualize it in it's entirety
from beginning to the final quilting.
Fortunately, Sharon has a husband who takes care of most 
of the day to day tasks,
allowing her to work on her art.
 Dream Weaver
Sharon said this image is her "alter ego"
 When Sharon began quilting,
it was not acceptable to quilt the human face.
From the start of her career, she 
has broken the rules 
and created what she feels inside,
often developing new and innovative techniques.
 Sacajawea 84" X 66"
Won 1st place AQS, Nashville, TN 2003
and many other awards.
 The images were painted first
and then stitched to add details and depth to the faces.
 Sitting Bull 90" X 93"
2002
 All of her quilts are quilted on a domestic machine!
 For a list of all of the awards Sharon's quilts have won
you can visit the gallery portion on her web site 
I thought Sharon's life story was as interesting as her quilts.
Christy is her oldest child, and only girl.
She had her laughing over many of the stories.
This is just a beginning of the pictures I took.
More tomorrow.

7 comments:

dream quilt create said...

Wow, what incredible quilts!!! I love her story too, it's so interesting!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

what can we say but WOW - great quilts and thanks so much for sharing the detail!

Rhonda said...

Oh, I am loving viewing the trunk show via your post. Thank you so much for sharing all the photos and some of her stories. I've never heard of her condition but I could use a little more focus in my life. I'll be back tomorrow for more viewing!!

Nat Palaskas said...

Fantastic looking quilts there Nedra. Your guild always have talented people visiting - Hugs Nat

The Quilted Finish said...

ofTeneGreat quilts and the scrappy flying geese blocks are abso9lutely wonderful. I am so inspired I think I am going to start one of my own soon!
Thanks for sharing!

Cindy said...

Wow! Hyper focus would be nice to have a couple of days a week I think!

Essie's Quilts said...

Thanks for sharing! I am a great admirer of Sharon Schamber, her quilts are absolutely stunning. If she ever comes over to Europe for a show I will definitely try and make time to see her quilts. Would love the chance to see them in real life!