Dragonfly

Dragonfly

• Artist: Theresa Coughlan
• Title: Dragonfly
• Media: Fabric/quilt
• Dimensions: 45 1/4 in. x 41 in. (unframed)
• Date: 2009

• Biographical Information: Theresa was born in Ashland, Oregon. She says she started drawing as early as the age of two. She became fascinated with different fabrics and textures as she was growing up and even created different things with an old sewing machine. She even learned to knit at the age of 16. She later on attended RIT for Weaving and Textile Design. Her teachers at RIT are who influenced her to start quilting and she fell in love it. She decided to further her education and graduated with her master's degree in Rehabilitation Counseling for the Deaf from Western Orange University in 2007. (Biography)
• Artist's Statement: "I created my first ASL quilt and was amazed. It was not that hard, I kicked myself for allowing fear stopped me in the first place. In no time, I created another ASL quilt.....I was sure that I had found my style! Still continue making more ASL quilts after 18 ASL/deafness theme quilts."
• Background Information: "This Deaf art is created by Theresa Coughlan. She has incorporated quilting with ASL (American Sign Language). The handshape with the three fingers means “bug”. The “D” for dragonfly. Notice the hands on the tree? They represent the leaves. I think deaf art is so interesting."
• Connection to Theme: I love Theresa's work! From the quilts I have seen that she designs, they all have a Deaf style and theme, which ties in perfectly with my exhibit! Theresa's work is unique because she is the only Deaf artist I found who makes quilts so I felt I had to show off one of them. I wanted to include Dragonfly in my exhibit because it was my favorite quilt out of all of Theresa's creations and was also very colorful. I think this piece connects to my theme because it shows how creative Deaf art can be. Deaf artists can literally take something as simple as a dragonfly on a tree and turn it into a Deaf-based masterpiece. The person (who doesn't have ears, hinting that they are Deaf) stares in amazement at the dragonfly as the sign the word "bug." Hands are making up the leaves on the tree, for obvious reasons. I love this piece so much because it shows how creative Deaf people can be in showing off their culture! I love how Theresa expresses herself and her culture through this simple quilt.
 

Artist's statement (ctrl + click here) 

Background information (ctrl + click here) 

Quilt information (ctrl + click here)