SHEBOYGAN – A hidden owl peaks between the leaves of a birch tree. A buck stands in the valley of two hills near a lake. Two horses nuzzle together in a reaching sunflower field.
These are several images captured in the fabrics and stitches of quilt artist Barbara Strobel Dellger’s work. She uses a combination of fabric, thread, drawings and photo references to craft scenes of wildlife and the outdoors. She grew up in the area, impacted by Lake Michigan and the Kettle Moraine State Park.
“It's more me,” Dellger said. “I like to hike. I like to be out there. I always have. My family camped and did all that stuff. So, it's familiar with me.”
Quilt art diverges from bed quilts that follow a more structured process and often have a functional use. These pieces are typically displayed on the wall, and for Dellger, there is more creativity and flexibility.
"My thing is to try to make them look like paintings through fabric,” Dellger said.
Dellger uses base fabrics for backgrounds and smaller fabric pieces for shapes or details, like leaves or animals. The shapes are then ironed on with fusible tape. She uses thread to quilt and to change color or texture in a piece, like adding hair onto a deer or bark on a tree.
Dellger had a creative background before she started art quilting. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a major in graphic design and made a few bed quilts. But she wanted to try a different type of art.
She "jumped in, not knowing" a lot. She connected with a group of women who art quilt and often watched Nancy Zieman's sewing and quilting series "Sewing With Nancy," on PBS Wisconsin. Deciding to art quilt rather than pursue another art medium was influenced by Dellger having young kids at the time, too.
“I had little kids, and just (getting) out oil paintings and stuff like that was 'danger zone' when they're running around,” she said.
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50-some years later, Dellger said only about 30% of people who quilt do art quilts. She said she’s often the first art quilter inquiring customers have met.
“That's a big thing,” she said. “They'll see them (the art quilts) and they're like, ‘Wow, I never saw anything like that. You do that all with fabric?’”
Dellger often spends mornings in the workspace in her basement, which she shares with her husband Mike, who’s a drummer in a local band, Sunblind Lion. Walls are covered with Dellger’s various pieces — turtles and fish swimming underwater, small blue and green birds flying around a birdhouse, and a black-and-white bird perching on an open sunflower.
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She said she grows with each piece she makes. Each is a record of a period of time in her life.
“Something connects there with what you're doing,” Dellger said. She’s working on a piece of a white crane in a marsh with reeds and tall grasses inspired by springtime.
Handmade art quilts are available for sale
Learn more about available pieces from BSD Art Quilts at https://www.bsdartquilts.com/ or on the Etsy page. Dellger also does commissioned pieces.
Have a story tip? Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or agarner@gannett.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @alexx_garner.
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