National Quilt Museum

Melissa Sobotka

Rembrandt’s Repast –

PhotoReal FiberArt

with Melissa Sobotka

RRnoframe copy

October 3-5, 2024
Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm each day

$495 Public/ $396 NQM Friend

All skill levels welcome

Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting and drawing in which an artist studies a photograph and attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium. In this 3 day workshop, you will be reproducing the still life, “Rembrandt’s Repast” using Melissa award winning techniques for transforming a photograph into a masterpiece of Fiber Art.

This is a technique class where you will learn to see as an artist does, select appropriate fabrics, build a pictorial quilt from an image using a raw edge applique method. You will then learn to enhance your work by adding depth, dimension and detail with inks.

  • Pencil and Eraser
  • Color Ink pen or thin Sharpie
  • Ruler
  • Freezer Paper
  • Tape (ie: painters tape, drafting or artist tape)
  • Light Box or Pad
  • Small iron for applique
  • Ironing mat
  • Applique’ sheet
  • Light weight Fusible Adheasive of your choice (Soft Fuse is Melissa’s preference)
  • Small paint brushes (at least 4, size anywhere from 0-10)
  • Small jar or cup for cleaning brushes
  • Scissors (small that cut to a point)
  • Paper towels (not the whole roll)
  • Inks:
    Tsukeniko Inks recommended. These come in a variety of colors and can be found at art supply stores and online (ie: Blick Art Supplies, Dharma Trading Co). You don’t need to purchase the whole set. Just colors you think you may use in the class (for example: browns, burgandy, white..). If you have other water soluable inks that are not Tsukeniko, that would be fine for the class.
  • Fabrics:
    You will recieve a digital image to print so that you can select fabrics. Fabric Choice is very important!! Batiks and/or Hand Dyes only. Select Fabrics in a variety of hues, tones & shades, specific to the provided Still Life. Batiks with varigated colors also work well. Stay away from batiks that have been block printed. We will be cutting out small shapes, so fat quarters and remnants work well. You don’t need to bring large pieces of fabric. Small in size and a large variety is the best way to go.

Melissa will email you a video a couple of months prior to class to go over and clarify supplies. The email will also include an image that you can print out and take with you when gathering fabrics. The color image you will be working from in class will be printed and provided for you by Melissa for $5.

Register

MS headshot

Melissa Sobotka


Melissa’s began her unique style of quilting in 2007 and quickly gained recognition and accolades. Her work has been juried into several na-tional and international shows. Awards include the Houston Interna-tional Quilt Festival Best of Show, IQA Master of Contepmorary Artist-ry, IQA Master of Innovative Artistry, Mancuso’s World Quilt Best of Show and American Quilters Society Best of Show and Best of Show at Road to California. She has also been featured in many magazines and on The Quilt Show.

Melissa’s photo realistic style of quilting is created by appliquéing nu-merous pieces of raw edge batiks, and then enhancing them with inks to give them greater depth. Her vision is to be a catalyst for viewers to see the beauty and depth in and around us. Much of her work is influenced by photographs from her travels.

With students anxious to learn her techniques, she began teaching in 2014 and by 2017 was teaching internationally.

Quilting has become Melissa’s passion, but occasionally you can find her doing professional costuming, interior decorating, floral design or traveling the world in search of her next quilt.

Melissa’s artwork can now be found in many private collections and in the National Quilt Museum.