Carolyn’s Done it Again!

This is the quilt that caused Lynn to exclaim, “Carolyn’s done it again!” Carolyn named it ‘Texas Boy with Fish.’”

Carolyn’s “Texas Boy with Fish” is currently on display at the Texas Quilt Museum in LaGrange (into December). It’s in the Seeing in Color exhibit there.

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How I know Carolyn…
I met Carolyn Skei 20 years ago. She was a Collin County Master Gardener who volunteered to screen calls for my radio program. We hardly got to talk, though, what with soundproof glass and all. Mostly gardening pleasantries between us.

One day, however, Carolyn brought jewelry she’d made in to show those of us at the station. It was glorious. That’s when I started asking more questions. I learned that there was more to Carolyn than met the call screener monitor.

A short while later the position of editor of my gardening magazine came open. Carolyn applied for it. She laid down a resume that would have qualified for a national publication. I was honored to say the least.

Carolyn had been a senior editor for a major California university. She had moved to Texas to be near her daughter and her family, and we’ve been friends ever since.

Carolyn edited my magazine for more than 10 years. She edited my annual Texas Gardening Calendars for that same period. And then she agreed to the task of all tasks – to guide me through the process of Neil Sperry’s Lone Star Gardening. She was my editor there as well.

As it progressed, in all those times of dropping off disks, photos, editorial and such at her house, I had the opportunity to see her incredible art projects. Jewelry was just a drop in the ocean.

She had, and has, paper and fabric crafts, photographic art and handmade books and combinations of all those and more.

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And quilts, quilts and more beautiful, award-winning quilts. She’s as busy as ever. If anything, the pandemic revved up her engines even though she admits on her website to being “an octogenarian artist.” Carolyn is my shining rock star. Amazing lady.

Let me show you just a few pieces of her artwork and some of her quilts that caught my eye from her website and Facebook page.

Carolyn asked that I encourage anyone interested in art quilting to consider joining the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA.com).

A sampling of Carolyn Skei’s work…

Manipulated Botticelli image, waterslide on polymer clay.
Polymer clay. Click image for larger view.
“Evening in Paris,” digital photograph. Click image for larger view.
An iPad-manipulated photo of the U.S. Capitol that Carolyn took from the balcony of the Newseum. Click image for larger view.
Carolyn in her workshop. Click image for larger view.
“San Antonio on My Mind”. Click image for larger view.
“Quicksilver Country”. Click image for larger view.
“Poverello and the Birds” at Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona. Click image for larger view.
“The Eyes Have It”. Click image for larger view.
“Mystic Currents,” detail. Click image for larger view.
“Dia de los Muertos,” detail. Click image for larger view.
“Imperiled Pollinator“. Click image for larger view.
“Elba Isle Hancock” – Carolyn’s maternal grandmother, is Carolyn’s largest quilt. Carolyn developed it from an old photograph using an iPad app that is no longer active. This quilt was shown nationally and won prestigious awards. Click image for larger view.
Posted by Neil Sperry
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