The Intersection of Art and Technology | Quilting Arts Podcast Episode 20

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All artists are inherently innovators – We live in a constantly changing world with new techniques and tools at our fingertips. Today’s episode focuses on innovation and technology as applied to art quilting. When is it appropriate? How do we incorporate tech into our art? And how does it challenge our thinking? Be sure to listen for a fascinating conversation about the intersection of art and technology, with quilter and software engineer Steph Skardal who pushes those boundaries every day.

Below are a few resources mentioned in the conversation

Winning Best of Show for her quilt “Going Up” at QuiltCon, 2018 was an early highlight of Steph’s career. Photo by Melissa Van Rutten, courtesy of the MQG.

Steph’s friend Cassandra Beaver designed this quilt, then Steph used the laser cutter to cut each piece of pre-quilted fabric and sewed them back together again.

This quilt is very small, featuring miniscule circles inside squares. Read more about Steph’s process on Instagram!

Learn more about Steph at stephskardalquilts.com. While on her website, be sure to explore the color tools that were mentioned in the podcast discussion.

Steph Skardal is a modern quilt designer, educator, and maker who loves finding the balance between order and chaos in her quilts, mixing hard geometric lines and structure with an element of randomness in texture, color, or layout. With a background in software engineering, she is motivated to experiment with different techniques and technology to create original quilt designs.

Her innovative approach to fabric and thread has led her on an interesting path: Since bringing home the top award – best in show – at QuiltCon 2018 – for her work “Going Up” she’s continued to push the industry to incorporate technology as a tool for innovation.

You can learn more at stephskardalquilts.com, follow her on Instagram, and watch her fun IGTV show The Scant Quarter Hour for more insight into her work.

This Episode’s Quote

“After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved science and art tend to coalesce in aesthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest scientists are artists as well.”

– Albert Einstein

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