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by
Rose Datoc Dall
My first impressions
of Sue Gilgen were from about twelve years ago in Madison, Wisconsin,
when she was a mother with three remaining teenagers, out of her
five children, still living at home. She was the very capable Relief
Society President of the Madison 1st ward, and the wife
of a bishop, hosting many a youth fireside in her home every Sunday,
naturally exuding the aura of “mother” of the ward. She and her
husband Read Gilgen represented then, as they do now, a true backbone
of leadership.
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Until
she won First Place at the American Quilters Society International
Show, Susan McBride Gilgen had no idea that after raising
five children and getting to the other side of fifty, she
could start a new career. She has since won first place several
times at a long list of important venues. |
At
church, Sue was also known as a choir member and a very experienced
ward choir director. She is a gifted and trained vocalist, having
studied voice at BYU. It is not untypical for Sue to be involved
in, if not spearheading, a large-scale event from time to time. My memories
are very vivid of Sue as the music and vocal director of the stake
musical.
So
where does fiber art come into play? One
has to look back at Sue’s life to see how she arrived at an illustrious
and decorated career in fiber art.
PRECURSOR TO A CAREER IN ART
While
her husband had a very stable career at University of Wisconsin,
in 1983 Sue began her own successful business as a fashion consultant,
couture dressmaker, and seamstress of custom bridal gowns. Her home
basement became her studio. The creation of her own business was
a sensible and practical move, providing an income, but it also
moved her a step closer to a career in
fiber art. It is clear that, even then, Sue had leanings to do something
creative, but she had not arrived at that single vision which would
later synthesize all of her expertise into pictorial quilting. While
dressmaking, Sue was still working in a familiar medium which she
had known from childhood. Through the 1970s, Sue taught her skills
in California, Wisconsin and Utah.
click
on this image to enlarge |
|
| Autumn
Splendor, First Place for Pictorial Wall Quilt
at the 1999 American Quilters Society, International Show, First
Place and Masters Award at the Springville Art Museum,
2000. |
When
I first met her in the early 1990s, the world of fiber art knew
nothing of Sue Gilgen, and dreams of becoming
an artist had still not fully incubated. I remember, however, our
many phone conversations with the drone of a sewing machine or serger
whinnying at high speed in the background on her end. No doubt she
was busy working on a project for one of her many clients.
It
wasn’t hard to imagine what Sue looked like on the other end of
the phone with the earpiece on one shoulder and both hands free
to work at her machine. Somehow Sue was able a juggle and process
a million ideas at once in some kind of masterful dance, manage
a deadline while having a phone conversation about something completely
different, like her church calling. Yet, somehow, she was able to
make some kind of conversational sense, with humor to boot.
Sue
seemed to work, back then as she does now, at a pace that whirls
as fast as the bobbin could spin with tremendous focus and drive,
living the busy and service-filled life of an LDS and dutiful mother,
having seen her children grown, for the most part. This drive, in
part, might account for her success upon entering a new career after
age fifty.
click
on this image to see detail |
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| Boundaries
Crossed, First Place for Group Wall Quilt
at the American Quilters Society Quilt Show, Paducah, KY, 2001 |
So
what inspired this transformation from seamstress to artist and
how did it occur? What happened that sparked the birth of a new
and successful career?
I
remember Sue’s intimations of a desire to develop and sharpen her
drawing skills so that she could replicate the designs in her head
and put them on paper. In 1997, Sue “discovered” Landscape Quilting
while taking a class from artist Natalie Sewell. The light bulb
went on as her years of unparalleled skill as a designer/seamstress
connected with the technique. Since she had found a fabulous medium
and a means of expression for herself, she immediately hit the ground
running.
SWEEPING THE AWARDS
Within
months, Sue entered her first quilt show, won the Viewers Choice
Award, won several awards, then won the
Prestigious First Place Award in 1999 at the American Quilters Society
International Show in Paducah, Kentucky in the category of pictorial
quilts for her piece Autumn Splendor. This venue is considered
the “big-league” in the world of fiber art and Quilting
She
remarks in amazement, that she had no idea she could make a career
change at that point of life—and do it with such distinction.
click
on this image to see detail |
 |
| Peace
Maples Along the Tamoe River- Susan McBride Gilgen’s
most awarded and decorated piece, First Place for Pictorial
Wall Quilt at the 2002 American Quilters Society Show,
Paducah, KY, and Best of Show, Best
in Color, and Second Place Viewer’s Choice
Award at the 2002 Prairie Heritage Quilt Show, Sun
Prairie, WI. |
Her
sweep, year after year, at the annual American Quilters Society
venue includes Second Place at their International Show in 2000
for a quilt entitled Indian Summer. Then in 2001, she won
First Place for Boundaries Crossed and an Honorable Mention
for Forest Fantasy, and First Place again for a pictorial
wall quilt in 2002 for Peace Maples Among
the Tamoe River.
In
addition, Sue’s work has also won First Place at the National Quilt
Association in 1998, for The Sacred Grove “Whence Cometh Their
Faith” and Third place for best representational quilt for Autumn
Woods in 2002.
click
on this image to see detail |
 |
| The
Sacred Grove, Whence Cometh Their Faith- First
Place at the National Quilt Association Show, Ft, Wayne,
IN, 1998, First Place for Appliqué Wall Quilt
at the 1998 Prairie Heritage Quilt Show in Sun Prairie, WI,
and The Award of Merit, The Director’s
Award, and The People’s Choice Award
at the Springville Museum National Quilt Show in 1997. |
Again,
Sue’s yearly sweep was repeated at the annual Prairie Heritage Quilt
Show in Wisconsin. In 1997, she won Viewers Choice, and First Place
in 1998 for The Sacred Grove “Whence Cometh Their Faith.”
She won First Place for an appliqué wall quilt and Best of Show
for use of color in 1999, First Place in 2000 for a wall quilt and
also won Second Place for color and First Place for Viewers Choice
that same year. In 2001, she won First Place again for group quilt
and in 2002, Best of Show, Best in Color
and Second Place in Viewers Choice for Peace Maples Among the
Tamoe River, Sue’s most decorated and awarded piece.
Other
notable honors are the Springville Museum of Art National Quilt
Show’s Award of Merit, Directors Award and People’s Choice Award
in 1997, and First Place and Masters Award in 2000. And again,
Autumn Woods won its best distinction, Best of Contest, at the
2002 American Quilters Society Exposition. In addition, Sue’s work
has consistently won many awards in many
other state and local shows and exhibitions..
To
add to Susan McBride Gilgen’s distinctions, her quilts have been
featured at the New England Quilt Museum in 2002 and have been exhibited
in Japan in the Winner’s
Exhibit at the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival in 2002.
Sue’s work has also graced the cover of American Quilters Society
Catalog 3 times, while being featured 2 times in the American Quilters
Society Calendar and has been written up numerous times in several
publications.
And
amongst her most recent honor was the Museum purchase of her entry
in the Church’s Sixth International Art Competition, “Latter-day
Saints, Yesterday and Today,” by the Museum of Church History and
Art in Salt Lake City. Her entry, Within the Shady Woodland can
be seen with the rest of the exhibition display until September
of 2003.
click
on this image to enlarge |
 |
| When
Within the Shady Woodland - This entry was accepted and
purchased by the Museum of Church History and Art at the Sixth
International Art Competition, “Latter-day Saints, Yesterday
and Today, currently on display until September 2003. |
It
is almost hard to believe the amount of success that Sue has achieved
in under a decade in this field. Over the past six years, Sue averages
about six to over a dozen quilt competitions and exhibitions per
year, a pace that is mind-boggling, if not exhausting, and wins
honors at most of these competition, a consistency that is rare
in any field of art.
THE PROCESS AND TECHNIQUE
Sue
undergoes a very interesting process technique when she quilts.
“I do not use patterns. Often the composition goes in directions
that I did not fully envision. Letting that happen and working through
the tight places takes lots of time. Sometimes at the end of the
day only a few inches are accomplished. Larger works often take
2 to 3 months to complete the designing.”
Often
the images that Sue uses in her art are scenes of places that she
has visited before, such as the Sacred Grove. “There are always
emotional ties as in the sacred grove,” remarks Sue. “The emotion
is usually the byproduct of the initial siting or adventure. Revisiting
all those feelings in the challenge of recreating a scene in fabric
is a big bonus.”
Sue
then proceeds to replicate colors and effects that she sees in nature
with fabric. “Some fabrics are dyed, over dyed, painted, and over
painted to achieve the necessary colors and effects. Many
batiks are used.” Sue remarks that “auditioning of fabrics
to add greatly in this preparatory stage. It makes a huge mess but
gets the work moving forward. I do some sketching to make sure that
what is cooking in my head actually looks good on paper…The fabrics
themselves are a huge inspiration to me,” describes Sue. “A surprise
piece from a day of dyeing can be the entire focus of a quilt.”
After
selecting the fabric, she then cuts fabric “into shapes resembling
natural elements” and layers them onto a larger muslin backing to
create the picture. It is like piecing together a
puzzle. Sue then secures each piece with a “free motion overcasting”
technique to encase the raw edges, to “enhance and [to] fine tune
the branches, leaves and grass, and so on.”
Sue
essentially paints with fabric. A photograph of one of her quilts
has the effect of a watercolor, and one often has to take a second
and closer look to really discover that the image is made up entirely
of fabric. Of course, the bumpy texture of the quilting remind us
that we are not looking at a watercolor, but a complex mosaic of
variegated pieces of fabric. The overcasting stitches along the
edges of these shapes are reminiscent of a helation technique in
painting, like that of Wayne Thiebauld, who distinctly outlined
his shapes with colors.
Some
of Sue’s compositions such as Autumn Woods, have a complex
richness, which have the similar effect of a painting by art nouveau
artist, Gustav Klimt, who painted fabulously elaborate backgrounds
which were rich in design and pattern. Klimts incorporated that
oriental sensibility by the flattening of the surface, or pushing
the perspective, so to speak, a harmonic push-and-pull of the 3-D
and the 2-D.
click
on this image to see detail |
 |
| Autumn
Woods, Best of Contest at the 2002 American
Quilters Expo, Nashville TN and Third Place for Best
Representational Quilt at the National Quilt Association,
Charlotte, NC, 2002 |
After
the top of the quilt is created, Sue quilts it to its batting and
backing layers. She uses an unconventional free motion quilting
technique, which is done in a meandering,
free-directional manner. “The actual
quilting takes about 1/4th of the total creation time,” remarks
Sue and “is as much a part of the artistic product as the initial
design.” This process is very physical, trying to negotiate layers
of fabric of a large quilt through a machine while trying to achieve
evenness and flatness to the overall piece. Only years of experience
as a seamstress give her the edge to accomplish this challenging
technique.
When
it all comes together, the pay off is literal. Executed with unsurpassed
skill, a mid-size quilt can sell for up $2000- $4000, and a larger
quilt can sell for “three or four times that amount” due to their
proportionate “complexity and difficulty.”
FORMULA FOR SUCCESS- PERSONAL VISION, DETERMINATION,
FAMILY SUPPORT AND THE SPIRIT
So
what is the secret to Susan McBride Gilgen’s success, as a wife,
mother, artist, a person? It all seems
to be there, the best of all worlds, a stable home and family life,
a rich life of service, and a thriving art career, although occurring
later in life. There is no doubt that there are some key ingredients,
not in the least being self-determination, personal vision and a
lot of hard work, but indeed a formula of balance can be derived.
The
first part of the equation might be the loving support of family
members and loved ones. “My husband is the real star on my list
of supporters. He has encouraged me every step of the way. He helps
me in every thing imaginable. When dead lines loom, he takes over
the household…He is my biggest and most important admirer,” observes
Sue.
As
for Sue’s children, they “see me in an expanded light...not just
as their mother...but a person with something to offer many others
as well,” remarks Sue. “My children are very supportive of my art
work. I like to think it is because we have always been supportive
of their endeavors…While my five children are on their own,
I have tried to always be available when they really needed me.
Every birth, graduation, and special occasion required a trip to
Utah usually for a few weeks. They have expressed a great deal of
appreciation for my successes and I hope [that] it gives them encouragement
in their own lives.”
click
on this image to see detail |
 |
| Dancing
Manatees, by Susan McBride Gilgen- an example of bright
colored fabrics, dyed, batik, or over-painted. |
The
most important part of the equation is the use of the Spirit and
inspiration. “After I put my head on something, I do a lot of pondering
and listening to the spirit before setting forth,” remarks Sue.
“Actually, when my life is not headed in a direction that is in
sync with what Heavenly Father is asking of me, I find myself in
a fog and cannot be the least bit creative… Without the spirit I
am surely insufficient as an artist or a person.”
Closeness
to the Spirit can teach how to manage time. Prioritizing and managing
time are the “never-ending battle,” as Sue describes it. “For most
of the time I have been doing Landscape Art Quilts, I have served
as the Relief Society President, choir member and sometimes conductor,
visiting teacher, and an ordinance worker in the Chicago Temple.
There is no question that many times what I wanted to do in my studio
was put on hold.
“Becoming
a good delegator was the first order of survival. I often felt that
organizing my time to do what was required of the Lord, made me
work more efficiently. I find that the more organized and service-
oriented my life is the more creativity I seem to have when I need
it. I am always amazed at the final product. It always seems to
be more than I had imagined it when beginning.”
“I
feel closer to my Heavenly Father when I am in the thick of it.
Serving family and church callings keeps my feet on the ground.
The balance is necessary. I see the world in a different way now
than ever before. I notice the smallest things and feel more gratitude.”
“Success,
however, would have to be defined in my relationships with my family
and friends. With how well I have used my gifts and talents to the
enriching of others lives. My greater goal would include a productive
life with my wonderful husband doing what we can to help build the
kingdom. I desire that each of my children recognize their relationship
with their Father in Heaven and seek to develop their talents in
obedience and service to Him. Through the sacrifice of the Savior
we might be together again in His presence. Fiber art is a medium
of artistic expression that can be an avenue of communication and
heighten my awareness of the power of God in my life.”
“I
think more that ever before, we have the time and sensitivity to
broaden our awareness of God’s role in the universe through art.
It is wonderful that so many [LDS artists] are attempting to explore
and define our relationships with God and each other in creative
ways. To evoke goodness in others through art is a very fine thing.”
SYNTHESIS
Perhaps,
the beauty of beginning an art career after age fifty for Sue is
the opportunity to look back and to synthesize everything. From
a lifetime of expertise and skill, to her experience as a designer,
from wisdom from a lifetime of service, to her personal passions,
Sue has re-filtered them through her own creative vision, and hence,
come up with an art which she can call her own. “All the other things
I had been engaged in along the way in regards to sewing, designing,
analyzing, etc were now able to be focused on a more creative venue.”
Of
course, the ability to assimilate a lifetime of skills, retransform
life’s experiences and retranslate these ideas successfully into
media is the ultimate goal shared by all artists. Not all artists
achieve this goal, and certainly not all artists are recognized
for having done this in their lifetime. Sue luckily has a persistent
drive to put herself out there, knowing not only her medium well
but her market and her audience. Being able to marry those elements
is a definite skill in its own right.
Moreover,
there have been definite advantages to beginning her career at a
later juncture in her life. She has lived her life in a manner in
which she could enjoy the blessings of having a family, has conformed
her life to righteous, wholesome living, dedicated herself to the
Lord, and has found the opportunity to further develop her gifts.
Perhaps with clarity of the Spirit, more focus on what is real in
life, and more time once the kids are grown, her creativity has
had the opportunity to soar. And soar it has for Sue.
 |
| Susan Gilden
and her sewing machine |
“Wow,
life is good. The best
moments
have often been the quiet ones when you turn a corner and see a
newly finished piece out of the corner of your eye and feel that
it has materialized into something good. [Or] when someone catches
[his or her] breath upon a first
viewing
[of a piece], that is a most
invigorating feeling [which] sends me back into the studio for more.”
Susan
McBride Gilgen continues to produce in her home studio in Madison
Wisconsin, working at a feverish pace, exhibiting and producing
about five to eight pieces a year. While she and her husband plan
on serving a mission within a few years plan, Sue plans on producing
on into her husband’s retirement, health willing.
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