Crazy Quilt Series - Gloria Zmolek

I make paper because I like to make paper. I like the process. It is very soothing to be near and touching water while I work. I also like the life of its own that each piece of paper takes on regardless of how carefully I might try to control the process.
Over the years I have accumulated boxes and boxes of small scraps of paper which I could never bear to throw away. Finally I decided to follow the tradition of many women before and started to piece them together randomly in a crazy quilt fashion. I was stunned by the richness and beauty that came out of such random placement. Putting the small pieces together gave me time to reflect on how my life was like a crazy quilt: so many pieces, which at times don’t make sense, but with hard work, they come together and reflect a special kind of beauty. My more recent pieces are beginning to include imagery relating to the many things in our world that make me crazy or seem crazy to me.

On a Patchwork Quilt is a commentary on our currently in vogue, busy multi-tasking lives. Chaos/Cosmos juxtaposes the haphazardness of the crazy quilt next to the orderly patterns of traditional quilts.
Gloria Zmolek lives in Cedar Rapids, IA. She has been making handmade paper for over 20 years. She received an M.A.T degree in Art and a B.A. degree in Art History from the University of Iowa. She spent five years teaching art in the public schools and during maternity leave was introduced to papermaking. Much of her knowledge about papermaking was gained from reading and experience; but she has also had the great fortune to study papermaking with Karen Stahlecker and Timothy Barrett. She was taught marbling at Penland School, studying with Eileen Canning and Patti Schleichler. Her work can be seen in private collections across the country. In the recent past, she has shown her work in shows at St. Paul, San Francisco, and at the Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington D.C.
In addition to her studio work, she teaches papermaking in workshops throughout the United States. Based on her experiences, she wrote the book Teaching Hand Papermaking, published in 1995. The book includes methods for making papermaking workable in a classroom setting as well as presenting ideas for integrating papermaking with both the art as well as the basic curricula. She returned to teaching art in the classroom 7 years ago and is currently teaching at Linn-Mar High School in Marion, Iowa. In 2002, she received a Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholarship to travel to Japan to learn about the Japanese culture and educational system. While there, she had the opportunity to visit several Japanese papermaking villages and papermakers. In her other life, she mambos constantly and shares her wisdom with her two young adult children ... and she mambos with them, too.