AL Fine Arts Gallery Hosts Exhibit by Fiberworks Artist Cindy Grisdela Thru Dec. 18

The Alexandria Arts Program will host a beautiful contemporary exhibit by Cindy Grisdela, a fiber artist who adds a contemporary flair to the quilting tradition. Visit the Fiberworks exhibition by Solo Artist Cindy Grisdela, on view at the Alexandria Campus, Fine Arts Gallery until December 18. The gallery can be a meditative space, one where you can visit with a friend to talk about the work, or rest your eyes from your computer and contemplate the work yourself. Feed every aspect of yourself, from heart to head. This show is both restful and exciting.

Cindy Grisdela is an artist, teacher and author of Artful Improv: Explore Color Recipes, Building Blocks & Free-Motion Quilting and Adventures in Improv Quilts: Master Color, Design and Construction. She travels all over the country teaching and lecturing to guilds and groups about Improv Design. Cindy was raised in Gainesville, Fla. and learned to sew at age 10. She made clothing as a teenager and young adult, but there weren’t any quilters in her family. She discovered quilting almost accidentally when she happened on a magazine article about quilts as a college student. She was immediately enthralled with the possibilities of making something beautiful and useful out of fabric and thread that wouldn’t wear out, or at least not quickly, and gave up garment making for quilting. 

Cindy has a BFA in Art History from the College & William and Mary and an MBA from The George Washington University. She used quilting as a creative outlet for many years while working as a financial reporter for Dow Jones News Service and then raising two children. She started out as a traditional quilt maker but got tired of following patterns and began to develop her own contemporary style as an artist, inspired by the modern painters she studied in college, like Henri Matisse, Paul Klee and Helen Frankenthaler. 

Cindy’s work has won awards in both quilt venues and art venues and can be found in private collections all over the country. She is represented by the online gallery Artful Home, and she is a Juried Artist member of Studio Art Quilt Associates, as well as an associate member of the Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association and the Art League of Alexandria, Va. She lives and works in Reston, Va. 

See the online version of the exhibition.

Submitted by:
Stacy Slaten, AL-Art, SSlaten@nvcc.edu