We had the good fortune of connecting with Ann Harwell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ann, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.― Chuck Close

This quote gives me permission to work as much as I do

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
There is a quote among fabric artists, “This is not your grandmother’s quilt”. That definitely holds true for me. My work is constructed in the traditional pieced method that has been used in quilt making since the dawn of time. My seams are strong and straight; my points are precise; constructed like fine garments. However, my work is not traditional. I take inspiration from the world around us and the skies above. Creating my impression of scenes from nature, people, architecture and the universe above us and recreating them in fabric. My work is in Momentum Gallery, Asheville, NC, Piedmont Craftsmen, Winston-Salem, NC, Artful Home online gallery and the NC Art Museum Gift Shop, Raleigh, NC.,

Parkinson’s disease and macular degeneration may be putting a time limit on my ability to create work to the standards that I want it to be. That’s why I start work at 4;30 or 5 AM and continue sometimes until 8PM (with pauses for meals and exercise)
. There is a time limit on everyone and everything and I have so many ideas and projects I need to complete before that time limit arrives.

 

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We go out occasionally and spend most our time with family.

NC Museum of Art
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
NC Museum of History
Bartaco, North Hills
Ajisai Japanese Fusion, Cameron Village
Gringo’s, Downtown Raleigh

 

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My husband

 

Website: annharwell.com

Instagram: annjharwell

Facebook: Ann Harwell Art

Image Credits
photos by Dick Cicone

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