Paper Piecing Zine: A Collaborative Collage Quilt

Paper Piecing is a collaborative project started in the summer of 2022. I sought to integrate concepts of quilting into a more accessible medium that non-sewists could easily engage with. Inspired by quilting bees and previous art-by-mail exchanges, I wanted artists to work together to create something greater than the sum of its parts while at the same time practicing the art of releasing control and embracing surprise.

The participating artists are informed of a theme and some initial design parameters, and then instructed to send me a partially finished collaged piece on paper. I then swap these unfinished pieces with another artist so that each person finishes someone else’s collage in whatever way they wish. No one knows who receives their piece or what the final result will look like.

The finished pieces are sent back to me to be displayed all together in a kind of paper quilt, with each piece serving as a ‘block’ that builds a larger collage of cohesive themes and elements. Each artist receives a full color PDF of all the pieces in zine format, including a page of all the collages assembled together.

Digital downloads of Vol. 1: SACRED/GEOMETRY and Vol. 2: LOG CABIN are available in the Shop section of this site. All proceeds of Paper Piecing works go to various charitable organizations of the artists’ joint choosing.