QUILTASTIC CREATIONS OPENING SHOW

Andrea Nelson and Linda Pontefract, passionate quilters, will present their work and Kristi Cowles, singer and songwriter, will give a concert on Saturday, January 16, 2010, 7-10 PM at the WOWSPACE, 114 Vinal Street, Wittenberg. The quilt show will continue on Saturdays and Sundays, 11-3, through February 7th.

Who are these talented women?

KRISTI COWLES: Wittenberg happens to be Kristi Cowles' home town. Some would say that a career in music would be inevitable because both parents were talented and sang together throughout their long marriage. Even when all 5 Cowles kids were small, Kristi loved the four part harmony that always seemed to evolve. From early childhood 'til the present, Kristi has sung in a variety of venues. Professionally, she began in 1970 in Milwaukee, performing five-six nights a week for 17 years, during which time she finished her undergraduate work at Alverno College and raised 2 daughters. San Francisco beckoned next where she received her M. A. in East/West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Kristi then returned to Wisconsin and in 1990 bought a beautiful 1880 Victorian near Lake Geneva. There she created 2 pioneering businesses: Pederson Victorian B&B and Singing Wolf Center. This career shift, though exciting and interesting, eventually led to her first CD, Shagbark Hickory Spirit --13 original strong-woman songs. 3 more CDs followed: A Thousand Times I've Thought of You, Woman of the North, and Hold the Moment. In 2007, Kristi sold everything and moved to Applegate Valley in southwest Oregon where she now resides with her husband, Arthur Coulton. To her surprise, this new life and love became musically as well as personally rewarding. She now performs with a wonderful guitarist, lends her alto voice to the community choir, and is a founding member and co-director of a new madrigal. Kristi feels honored to have been asked to perform for WOW and is very much looking forward to "coming home."

Andrea Nelson: 15 years ago, a friend of Andrea's twisted her arm to come to a beginner's quilting class. Andrea reluctantly agreed. Would she have time for such a daunting project in addition to teaching German full-time at Antigo High School and her volunteer work in the community, including directing her local church choir? Her friend made one quilt--only one--but Andrea was hooked. Since then she has produced scores of quilts both large and small, wall hangings, and table runners. Her favorite part of the process is choosing the fabrics to start a new project, being in a fabric store is like being a child in a toy store, wanting to touch and play with each beautiful bolt. Andrea found that she enjoyed each step of a project. If a whole quilt looked overwhelming at the start, it became a perfect hobby for someone who worked full-time because you work on only 1 square at a time. Sitting at the sewing machine was a great stress reliever from the mental challenges of the classroom. Eventually, a miracle! Enough single squares to sew together to complete an entire quilt! And another! And another! Since retirement she has enjoyed having more time to quilt. Andrea gives all her quilting away to friends and family.

Linda Pontefract: Linda grew up on various farms in the southwestern part of Wisconsin. She learned how to sew on a treadle sewing machine when she was an eighth-grader, living with her grandmother. In 1972, she graduated from the UW-Platteville with a BA in Art Education. In 1983 she read about a quilt artist who created landscapes of houses perched on cliffs. The artist shared her technique and Linda began designing quilts on graph paper, enlarging them to full scale to trace on the fabric and piece together by machine. Hand quilting is done on most of Linda's quilts. 20 years ago it was a challenge to find appropriate fabrics because the colors and patterns were more traditional than they are today. Getting the pieces to join together into some semblance of a rectangle is like creating a giant jigsaw puzzle. Linda's quilted wall hangings have been featured in national quilt magazines: Lady's Circle Patchwork Quilts and Stitch 'n Sew Quilts, as well as numerous quilt shows in Wisconsin. For the past 22 years, Linda has been an art teacher at Homme Youth and Family Programs in Wittenberg, WI.