ABOUT
ERIKA MULVENNA
Artist, Author, Educator
Hey, thanks for stopping by! My name is Erika, and I am an artist, author, educator, collector of vintage sewing machines and sewing stuff, and a total geek for color theory. I currently create, write, and teach from my home in Chicago, Illinois.
I have a deep-seated love of color, and some of my first memories include the brightly colored objects of everyday life (like my dad’s red Volkswagen, Orange Crush, and Saturday morning cartoons).
Color seems a tangible part of life; we see a colored object and the color is inherently part of that object. The truth about color is much more elusive, and I’ve spent the past 10 years trying to better answer the question, “What is color?”. This exploration has led me to begin to read (and re-read) books about color published over the past 300ish years, and what I’ve learned has influenced my work.
My mother taught me to use her sewing machine when I was about 10, and since sewing those first few little things I’ve learned all kinds of sewing techniques from garment construction and corsetry to fabric dyeing and printing techniques to quilting. I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree majoring in Fiber Arts from the College of Fine Arts at SIU-C in 1997, receiving the Rickert-Ziebold Trust Award for excellence in undergraduate art. I was lucky to study under Professor M.J. Lintault, who taught me many creative sewing machine techniques I still use today. She was one of the few adults who believed in me and my ability to create capital “A” art.
My current artwork reflects my interest in human color perception and how humans approach color as something to be organized, categorized, and analyzed. These works are colorful and full of multiple saturated hues. You may have seen my work at a past QuiltCon show, MQX Midwest show, or even at the Iowa Quilt Museum. My work is also included in the newly formed Modern Quilt collection of the International Quilt Museum.
I have been guiding others to create and sew since university, and have found a way to teach in some capacity at every organization I have worked with since. Through a long partnership with BERNINA of America, Inc. beginning in 2005, I have taught consumer classes of all sizes and have authored hundreds of blog articles on all subjects of sewing for the WeAllSew.com platform. I continue to contribute creative content for the WeAllSew.com platform as a long-time BERNINA Loyalist Ambassador.
My current mission in education focuses on teaching how color vision can affect projects made with color. My Color Theory lectures and classes can help students discover their sense of color and better communicate in their chosen media with color. Learn more on the "Lectures and Workshops" page, link at the top of the blog.
