This is SAQA Europe/Middle East: Belgium (Denmark/Netherlands/USA)

JETTE CLOVER

I was born and raised in Denmark, but I have lived and worked for many years in the US and in the Netherlands. Since 2005 I live in the beautiful old city Antwerp in Belgium. I started out as a journalist and worked for five years at the daily newspaper Information in Copenhagen, but then I met my husband and moved to America, where I got a degree in art history at the University in Seatttle. And I saw my first quilt, an Amish quilt hanging on a wash line.

When we later moved to the Netherlands I worked at the Dutch Textile Museum, combining my love of textile, of art and art history and of writing. I was excited about  the opportunity to organize exhibitions and introduce ‘new’ quilts, first with an exhibition about American art quilts, and later in 1997 I was the curator of the very first European Art Quilt exhibition.

That last exhibition, however, also made it clear to me how much I missed making my own art work, so in 1998 I left my museum career to make art quilts full time.

Besides being a maker I am also teaching workshops and masters classes , and in 2001 I organized the 2 year course Quilten Speciaal in the Netherlands for quilters who wanted to further their artistic development - and this course is still taking place; we just started with group # 13.

Metropolis 1

Since 2000 I have been a member of the European group Quilt Art. This group celebrates its 30^th anniversary in 2015 with two traveling exhibitions and a big book.

And I have been a member of SAQA for about as many years and served as the SAQA representative for Europe and Israel from 2005-08, when we introduced the first Wide Horizons exhibition at the Carrefour in Alsace.

White Wall 2

I construct my quilts like a collage with many layers of cotton, linen, cheese cloth and paper, which I have painted, printed screened, rusted and bleached. I am fond of monochromatic colors and subtle tones and of hand quilting with big stitches. For the last five years I have focussed on the color white.

Words 5

Almost all of my work refers to writing. I was a journalist before I became an artist, and language and communication continue to be my main source of inspiration – from printed book pages to handwritten notes and letters  and from crude graffiti to posters and advertisements in the streets. The text on my pieces is meant to be seen rather than to be read, and to be seen as the human need for communication.

You can see more examples of my work on my website, www.jetteclover.com