Cover Art: Dream lll quilt

deborah hyde, west bloomfield

Her story: Artist Deborah Hyde has been developing and creating original art quilts for more than eight years. “I always enjoyed sewing, and … I decided to combine my work in art with my sewing skills to produce unique fiber pieces by innovating on a technique called ‘watercolor quilting,’ ” says Hyde, who took art classes at Wayne State University, as well as courses at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, and various sewing and quilting classes.

Each piece Hyde creates consists of thousands of 1-inch squares of fabric that are stitched together and quilted.Hundreds of hours go into each quilt’s formulation. Inspiration comes from advertisements, and her photography and life drawings, she says. The process begins with drawings and watercolor sketches before the creation and exacting process of sewing and quilting takes place.

About the cover: “[Dream III] is the third rendition of the same pose, although each one is quite different,”Hyde, 57, says. “The title refers to the time each person needs to be alone for creative thought and contemplation.”

Her philosophy: “I want to represent the beauty of the figure in my own style, imbued with my own emotional response,”Hyde says of her art. “This medium is timeconsuming, precise and restrictive – it forces me to concentrate on my interest in bold form and intense color, and forgo the extraneous.”

Hyde exhibits her work at the Lawrence Street Gallery in Ferndale, a cooperative gallery of about 30 artists, of which she is currently the president. The Lawrence Street Gallery is at 22620 Woodward Ave., Ste. A, two blocks south of Nine Mile Road.More of her art can be seen on the gallery’s Web site, lawrencestreetgallery.com.