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Creative Native Designs: Every "Art Quilt" Tells a Story

Unique artist Faye Lone loves Kingstowne and Rose Hill

“I really enjoy the creation of it all,” said Faye Lone, surrounded by stacks of colorful fabric, some in various stages of transformation into an art quilt, ribbon shirt, coat, or whatever her imagination decides.

However, Lone could just as easily have been talking about her life to date – including having a piece in the National Museum of the American Indian – and her vision for the future.

Lone said, “I’ve been making clothing since I was eight.” Her great-grandmother, grandmother and aunt were always sewing around her on the Tonawanda Seneca reservation near Buffalo, New York. They taught her various stitching techniques, as well as how to knit and crochet. But it was only about a decade ago, as a mother with a career, that she took the Landmark Education course that unleashed her inner artist.

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“I discovered that I had been putting aside my art, because I started having children, had a job, a career. Art doesn’t make any money. Starving artist, there’s a reason for that phrase. So I thought I should never do art,” said Lone.

She had a lifetime of experience making clothing, so the Landmark course inspired Lone to invest in a Bernina sewing machine. She also decided to indulge one of her fantasies and learn how to quilt.

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“My first big quilt was this four-foot by six-foot piece of fabric, and every time I’d learn a new foot, or a new thread, or a new technique, I’d do it on this four-foot by six-foot piece,” Lone said, grinning as she began the story that breathed new life into her artistry. “So I started making this picture of our creation story ... I just had a good time with it, but it turned out pretty nice. So I put it together and did some quilting. Now remember, I didn’t know what quilting was, so I have lots of spaces on there where there’s not real quilting.” But it had at least grown to full size.

Lone entered the quilt in the New York State Fair where she won first place in the art division. Officials with the Smithsonian saw it and made an offer. Lone said they told her, “We’d like to buy it, but because you’re not a known artist – which was true – and your quilting’s not that good – which was also true –we can only offer you $1,700. Will you take that?”

She asked for a day to think about it, hung up the phone, and “started jumping up and down and screaming. It was so exciting I started calling everybody I know … So I called them back about an hour later, after I calmed down, and I calmly said, well yes, I would be thrilled to have this in the Smithsonian.” That is where Sky Woman’s Gift is today.

“Ever since then I have been going to town,” Lone said. “I love buying fabrics. I love matching up the colors. I love drawing stories.” Her work is now in three museums; she has won awards, runs her Creative Native Designs business, and has been commissioned by a variety of individuals and organizations.

In addition to what she calls her “art quilts” and her job with the U.S. Department of Education, which brought her to this area six years ago, Lone is working on smaller pieces that can be mass-produced.

She hopes items like placemats can be done by some of her six children who have returned to the reservation, where there are few jobs. She also wants to create more opportunities to show her work across the U.S. and Europe, and support other native artists. Most of all she wants a permanent home in the Kingstowne/Rose Hill areas.

“I just love it in this area. I keep moving around in the same area,” Lone smiled. “I just fell in love with the convenience of it. The neighborhoods. There’re still lots of trees, still close to work, so it’s all workin’ out pretty good.”

*****

Faye Lone Creative Native Designs

www.FayeLone.com, 716-341-2479

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