"Sense Memory" Collage

1936 Chicago, Illinois USA, studios in San Francisco and Sunnyvale, California. Lecture and teach internationally. In The Fresno Art Museum, California, awarded Schulze the Council of 100's Distinguished Woman Artist for 2017 with catalog and exhibition "CELEBRATING 80-Joan Schulze" Produced 2 reference books: The Art of Joan Schulze, 1999 and Poetic License-The Art of Joan Schulze, 2010; 2 catalogs: QUILTS:Joan Schulze; iQuilt iDraw-The original fiction of Joan Schulze; 3 poem books, most recent 2017 "In-between". About the artist: Schulze began to make art seriously in 1970. These early works were stitched and embroidered and her first collage explorations. Beginning with her first quilt in 1974, Schulze altered purchased fabrics dyeing (60s and 70s), painting and Xerox transfer (80s), photography and photocopy (70s), digital technology (90s) including an ongoing fascination with direct and glue transfer processes (80s to present). While her interest in technology continues, Schulze's main theme is poetry: the poetry of strange often surreal juxtapositions, elegant colors, eccentric surfaces and most of all, the element of surprise in theme and execution. Quilts from 2000 to 2007 reintroduce her interest in gardens while in 2009 she began to use more urban, sometimes political subjects. Other new themes: collages both paper and fabric mixed media works inspired by her tea bowl collection and interiors. Her delight in cities is best illustrated by monumental collages 3 to 4 meters wide. Schulze's favorite and most important camera is the black and white photocopy machine. Not being portable, it stays in the studio. For many years Schulze used the copier to recompose and distort photographs, printing them onto cloth and paper for quilts and collages. In the mid 90s she began to use the photocopier to create line drawings by photocopying stitched organza embroideries. This idea enlarged and invigorated her work. Simple copies of the organza embroidery were printed onto silk. Later by folding and pleating the original, Schulze layered trompe loeil drawings. Enlarged, distorted and recombined copies created more complex mysterious drawings. Editing and working with the paper copies, she pieced them to build a larger drawing. The process goes back and forth from the originals to re-composed copies until she photocopies the drawings onto silk. The prints are stitched together. Layering the pieced drawing over batting and backing it is then ready to quilt.