LeAnn Hileman
Art Quilts
Featured Quilt - Main Street Tonopah
Main Street Tonopah by LeAnn Hileman won First Place in the Pictorial category at Road to California 2024. Also featured at the 2022 Houston International Quilt Festival
LeAnn had this to say about what she wanted to convey with her quilt. "Main Street Tonopah was my challenge to myself to depict different types of light - sunset, streetlights, headlights, reflected light, the light of signage of different types - and still not lose the energy in the dark areas. Ultimately, this quilt captured a moment in time in a small town in Nevada, proving there is more than meets the eye if you look at the right time and in a new way."
Featured Article: "Attention to Detail"
American Quilter's Society - May 2023
From the Publication:
"Ohio Barn in Early Morning Light quilt is especially sentimental to me because it reminds me of traveling with my husband for work. This magnificent barn was across the road from where I dropped him off for a job outside Coshocton, Ohio.
I returned early the next morning to get photos of the barn in the early light. There is a shaft of yellow-green in the quilt to show sunlight peeking through. That piece of sunlit grass was the beginning inspiration for this quilt, along with the sunlit wall of the barn. I picked up the sunlight effect again on the little white cow just over the horizon. In landscapes, a critter or more always gives vitality to the composition.
The fence is also important to this composition as it frames the scene. For me, inspiration comes from a fabric, a particular color, or a scene like the one that inspired this quilt. I don't bother making anything that doesn't start out looking impossible. What would be the point if I already know how to conquer the challenge?
Having grown up on a farm myself, I am fascinated by the structural reminders for the lifestyle of farmers and their families. As the railroads crossed the United States, thousands of small family farms sprang up and, along with them, little towns were formed every few miles. Most of those towns have gone by the wayside, as have the farms. With fondness, I like to document and remember the lives of the people who lived there. The barns were the lifeblood of any farmer, as well as the jewel, housing animals and equipment, which were bought or traded for at great cost. My grandfather, a Danish immigrant, built a huge barn, once the biggest in the country. Of course, it's now long gone.
I learned this barn had been badly damaged in a storm. I am so glad that I got to appreciate it and memorialize it before that happened. The barn lives on!"
Featured Quilt - By The Barn's Early Light
Ohio Barn in Early Morning Light by LeAnn Hileman won the AccuQuilt Best Wall Quilt Award at AQS Quiltweek Paducah 2022.
LeAnn says of her quilt, "Light and shadow fascinate me. I saw this barn early one morning while traveling in Ohio and returned the following morning to see a grand demonstration of it. This quilt is the result." LeAnn used hand appliqué and machine quilting to capture the grandeur and majesty of the barn overlooking the hillside. LeAnn's quilt also took home the Best Hand Workmanship – Innovative award at the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival.
SAQA Journal 2022 Vol. 32 No. 2
Inside this issue of the SAQA Journal, explore how a limited-edition series of art quilts boosts efficiency and your bottom line; get tips on effective fusing; learn how to write must-read email newsletters; and discover the many possibilities of works based on fractal geometry. Plus, meet artist Kathy Suprenant, enjoy dozens of art quilt images, and be inspired with a streetscape by LeAnn Hileman.
