March 29, 2024

A Conversation With 2015 ArtPrize Winner Ann Loveless

Oct. 7, 2016

Sometimes you’ve just gotta go for it — twice.

In 2013, artist Ann Loveless won the grand prize at ArtPrize in Grand Rapids — $200,000 for her strikingly detailed landscape art quilt Sleeping Bear Dune Lakeshore.

In 2015, in an unprecedented accomplishment, Loveless won again, snagging the grand prize honor and another $200,000 for her co-entry, a 5-foot-tall, 25-foot-long “photo fiber” work called Northwood Awakening. The piece begins on the left side with her husband Steve Loveless’ landscape photography and, as the viewer’s eye moves to the right, morphed into fiber art.

Loveless, who said she was “stunned” to win a second time, took a circuitous route to her accomplishments. We talked to the artist to find out how her winning artistry began.

Northern Express: You went to Michigan State University and acquired a degree in clothing and textile design back in 1982. What did you initially aspire to with that degree?

Ann Loveless: I originally wanted to be a dress designer! I was planning to move to New York City or Chicago to pursue that. But I got married and decided to return to Frankfort.

Express: Did you do fashion design Up North?

Loveless: Not really. I worked as a seamstress mostly. I did do some custom work, like wedding gowns. But I developed arthritis in my hands and couldn’t do the alterations-type work anymore; it was too difficult to rip out seams and such. So I transitioned to making quilts, as it was lighter sewing on the hands.

Express: How did you discover landscape quilting? It’s such a specific and very beautiful craft, but it seems a little more unusual.

Loveless: I actually took a landscape quilting class right in Traverse City at Quilt-N-Bee. The turning point happened when I working with some batik fabric one day. The painterly look of it brought back the more artistic side of me, and something just clicked. I started making quilts for art fairs and started selling a lot of them.

Express: All in the landscape quilting style?

Loveless: I never really did much traditional quilting. I like landscape quilting so much better because there are no patterns or rules. You just make it up as you go. It’s more spontaneous, and it’s fun not to have any rules to break in the first place!

Express: I understand that there are three types, or styles, of landscape quilting you primarily work with. Would you tell us about those?

Loveless: The first are impressionistic art quilts — a borrowed technique from Japanese [quilt artistry], where I chop up fabrics and layer them under a tulle-like netting. The second are fabric mosiacs. For those, the fabric is cut then fused onto the background, which is made up of little squares. The third is collage landscape art, which involves cutting, fusing, and stitching the fabrics, then adding linen and silk yarns and other nontraditional fibers, and the pieces forming the background are much larger.

Express: What determines which style you’ll use for a given piece of art?

Loveless: It depends on what I’m trying to achieve. I usually reference photos — most often my husband’s — to choose the colors and style. But sometimes you’ll decide you want a sunset or something when there isn’t one in the photo. That’s where the ‘no rules’ comes in!

Express: How long does it take to create one of your works?

Loveless: The smaller pieces, little 4-by-6- inch quilts that are framed and hung as wall art, can be completed in about four hours.

The really big works like Northwood can take up to four months. That one was done in panels to make it manageable to work on. Everything is machine-quilted, so it has to fit through the machine and is then assembled as it’s being hung.

Express:And while I’m sure it’s rewarding in the first place to complete a work of art like that, I’m guessing it was even more so upon winning ArtPrize — twice! How did you feel when that happened?

Loveless: It really was amazing! It’s just been such a wonderful opportunity and has led to so many nice things in my life. And it’s not just the money — it’s the exposure. 300,000 people visit ArtPrize — where else would you have that many people view your work? It’s awesome exposure even if you don’t win. I can’t thank ArtPrize enough. I used to just be known in Michigan. Now I’m known nationwide. I’ve written a book, I travel and teach and lecture. I have long had such a fascination with fabric and sewing and nature, and I feel so fortunate I can combine all three of these things that I love.

To view more of Ann Loveless’ landscape quilting and Steve Loveless’ photography work, visit quiltsbyann.com or State of the Art Gallery (stateoftheartgallery.com), 261 S. Benzie Blvd. in Beulah, 231-882-0200.

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