Featured Artist – Clare Kapitan _ND

Clare Kapitan describes herself as a Modern-Traditionalist, with one foot in traditional design and techniques and the other in modern quilting with strong graphic formats. She enjoys generating her own designs and most often works in an improvisational style with no set pattern.

“I have always been a maker. There is always something to learn, new paths to explore and skills to improve. Since childhood, I have been attracted to color, shapes, patterns, scraps of paper and fabric, odd twigs, leaves and rocks – whatever was in front of me and was interesting. My earliest memory of fabric and quilts is the scrappy hourglass quilt my Grandma Gertie Kapitan made for me as she did for all of her 25 grandchildren. I recall searching for repeats of patterns and colors and tracing my fingers over the stitching lines –  all hand pieced – the hand quilting leaving her signature of sorts on every block. She taught me how to thread a needle and do simple embroidery stitches. And so it began.”

Clare was born and raised in Yankton, SD, where she had easy access to live theater, music and visual arts at two liberal arts colleges and a university nearby. She explored her interests in handweaving, dyeing, knitting, garment sewing, stitchery and self-expression. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Textiles from the University of Idaho. She moved to the Pacific Northwest 44 years ago. In her work life she was an instructor at Highline Community College teaching interior design, furniture history and color theory, worked as a kitchen and bath designer and was the office administrator for an architecture firm until retirement in 2015.  Whatever the day job, textiles arts were always in the background. 

Clare didn’t start making quilts until she was almost 60. It was retirement that prompted her to focus on quilting.  She decided it was the best medium to continue her work with fabric and thread.

She credits her grandmother and quilt experts Sandy Bonsib, Katie Pedersen and many other teachers, artists, bloggers, Instagram posters and guild members as influencing her work. She enjoys being part of a remarkable community of creative artists and makers and learning something new every day.