Thom Atkins has worked in many mediums: painting, stained glass, clay and bronze sculpture, fabric, landscape, and beads. Having been introduced to beads in the 70’s; he has come back to them in the last seven years, using the Art Quilt as a canvas and has begun a search for a balance between beads and cloth, where each has an equal voice in the composition. He is currently using his love of color, organic motifs, flowers and landscape to create vivid bead encrusted Art Quilts.
Thom’s journey into beaded quilts began after a car accident made it impossible to work using clay to create his bronze sculptures. Finding he could still use a needle and thread, Thom began with a series of bead-embellished quilts, looking for a balance between the fabric and beads. To begin with, they were small art quilt, heavily encrusted with beads. Some became quite sculptural in nature, with pieces extensively embroidered, stuffed, and then appliquéd onto the quilt. Eventually Thom turned to landscapes and freeform abstracts. New techniques called for new piece. He added dyeing, painting with textile paints, using tulle as shadow or as a way to hold down small pieces of cloth. Photoshop opened a whole new world of printed images on fabric. New ideas kept coming and new fabrics called out to him. When he had added the three
dimensional sculptural forms in fabric with bead embellishment, he felt he had come full circle, back to sculpture, in a new media. His fingers still itch for clay every now and then and someday he may go back but for the time being, he is happy. Beads and fabric have given him back the color that he was missing in the bronze. To him, beads and fabric seem much more vibrant and immediate.
Thom lives and works in Santa Cruz, Ca, and travels nationwide to teach. One of his pieces was used on the 2006 invitation for the International Quilt Market in Houston. His published work can be found in Lark Publishing’s books 500 Beaded Objects, and The Art of Beaded Beads; Interweave Press’ book Beaded Embellishment; in Margie Deeb’s book The Beader’s Color Palette; and now, in a new book by C&T Publishing called innovative Fabric imagery for Quilts.
Above, Coral by Thom Atkins.
At right: American Indian meets Australian Aboriginal by Thom Atkins.
