WHAT IF…
Exhibit
Debra Calkins
Social Commentary Artist
I began my textile journey 30 years ago, like many women, sewing traditional quilt squares together. Yet with each stitch, I longed for a more personal way to express my experiences as a woman. Within a short time, I abandoned the quilt patterns of former generatiomns and sought my own subversive textile shapes and forms.
I have interwoven two paths of beauty and pain throughout my artistic career, seeking to document the difficult “Long Walk Home” that every woman travels during her life. If art captures meaning, it is my hope that with each stitch my art shares an awareness about truths that needs to be told.
I live by the sea on an island near Seattle, Washington.
My most current art can be seen at the
Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum
May 5-30, 2021
Unprocessed rape kits in Los Angeles evidence locker
I continue to work each day in my studio to creatively express the often silenced voices of women and oppressed minorities.
Learn more about my work at