Andrea Finch
Cirsium vulgare: Bull Thistle Vessel, 2026
Various textiles, wire, wood disks, polyester stuffing, cotton batting, thread. 23" high x 16" wide x 16" deep
I love weeds! I often find them more interesting garden flowers and they inspire me. Bull Thistles are often found along the roadside. While an invasive weed, it also produces seeds that feed finches, abundant nectar for pollinating insects and its down is used by birds for nesting. Starting with botanical forms and reducing designs to more abstract forms, I am looking for the essence of the structure. Working with various textiles adds texture to my art. I am now creating a whole garden of whimsical flowers with ties to my community and family. Method: machine quilted, hand & machine constructed
Andrea Finch
Magnolia Grandiflora III: Resurrected, 2023
Cotton, vinyl, reclaimed & other textiles, thread, cotton batting, polyester stuffing, aluminum wire 48" high x 48" wide x 48" deep
Most of my quilts start with a flower or weed in my garden. I have probably taken a hundred pictures of each in a different light and throughout its life, bud to seed head. I am intrigued by the center of the Magnolia flowers, the curves of the stigmas, often lost to the viewer because they are small. Many failed battles with the fabric to create these curls led me to the use of fabric wrapped wire. I echoed the curls on the petals of the flowers. The most mundane fabrics can come alive when embellished with thread as in the vinyl of the leaves. Method: Machine quilted, raw edge machine appliquéd, machine pieced, thread painted, hand constructed
Andrea Finch
Receptaculum IV: Arbores unus, 2024
Materials: Reclaimed decorator samples and other textiles, thread. 12” high x 16” wide x 16” deep
The receptacle series started with a question while making some of the structures for my botanical series, what if I leave these pieces open? I started with a flat quilt I made many years ago, layering upholstery samples and other reclaimed fabrics, then stitching until they were stiff enough to stand. I create with discarded ephemeral fabrics from decorator sample books keeping them out of landfills. The focus of my art is on native plants like oaks that provide havens and subsistence for our native fauna. Method: Machine quilted, machine thread painted, machine raw edge appliqued, hand & machine constructed, hand cut
Andrea Finch
Cirsium vulgare: Bull Thistle, 2026
Various textiles, wire, polyester stuffing, cotton batting, thread. 35” high x 40” wide x 40” deep
I love weeds! I often find them more interesting garden flowers and they inspire me. Bull Thistles are often found along the roadside. While an invasive weed, it also produces seeds that feed finches, abundant nectar for pollinating insects and its down is used by birds for nesting. Starting with botanical forms and reducing designs to more abstract forms, I am looking for the essence of the structure. Working with various textiles adds texture to my art. I am now creating a whole garden of whimsical flowers with ties to my community and family. Method: machine quilted, hand & machine constructed
Andrea Finch
Echinacea VII: Mellow Yellow, 2025
cotton & other textiles, wire, polyester stuffing, cotton batting, thread 9” high x 23” wide x 23” wide
My garden is the inspiration for my creations. While musing on the next piece to make the mass of coneflowers in my garden caught my eye. So many colors and textures flowing through my flower bed and a funky spiky seed head that feeds the finches in the fall & winter. I am now creating a whole garden of these whimsical flowers trying different color combinations. machine quilted, hand & machine constructed
Andrea Finch
Echinacea purpurea XII: Industria, 2023
cotton & other textiles, aluminum wire, polyester stuffing, cotton batting, thread. 18” high x 24” wide x 24” deep
My garden is the inspiration for my creations. Starting with botanical forms and reducing designs to more abstract forms, I find the essence of the structure. The Echinacea series grew from the masses of colorful coneflowers in my garden with their funky spiky-seed heads that feed the finches in the fall and winter. I found Knoll International textile fabric lengths at a local fabric outlet that carries remnants from the garment district in New York, keeping the pieces out of landfills. I worked at Knoll Furniture after college, where my father worked most of his life, and my extended family continues to work. Using all textiles, from recycled designer upholstery samples to conventional quilting fabrics, adding a liberal use of thread, letting the fabrics form the stiffness that defies gravity in my sculptures. I am creating a whimsical garden with ties to my family and community. Method: machine quilted, hand & machine constructed
Andrea Finch
Magnolia Grandiflora V: Fitzgerald the Seed, 2019
Quilted Textiles 24" high x 42" wide x 42" wide
Fourth in my Magnolia Grandiflora series I delve further into my fascination with this prehistoric tree. Reducing the quilts to a more abstract form as I find the essence of the curled carpels, smooth tepals and hard, sharp seed pods as they are now escaping the bounds of the surface. Method: Machine quilted, machine raw edge appliqued, hand & machine constructed
Andrea Finch
Magnolia Grandiflora VI: Zelda the Flower, 2019
Cotton and polyester textiles, aluminum wire, polyester stuffing, cotton batting, thread 18” high x 36” wide
My quilts have become more three-dimensional over time. With this piece, I embraced the sculptural form wholeheartedly. Magnolia Grandiflora's flower is white but the bees see it in purples and blues. It was a joy to diverge and allow my love of color to flow into a virginal white flower. Art of the State Pennsylvania 2021. Method: machine quilted, machine raw edge appliqued, hand & machine constructed
Andrea Finch
Magnolia Grandiflora IX: Zelda unleashed, 2021
Cotton & other textiles, wire, polyester stuffing, cotton batting, thread 30" wide x 40" high
The ninth in the series I continue to devolve the structure of the magnolia. Zelda Unleashed was created with the leftovers from other work. The elements that didn't fit the previous more controled works. As the series progressed, I began to reduce the quilts to a more abstract form and use a larger color palette. Assembling the pieces requires considering how gravity will change the work overtime, but I love the challenge. Method: hand guided machine quilted, machine raw edge appliqued, hand & machine constructed
Andrea Finch
Receptaculum X: puer universum integro Arisaema triphyllum (A Boys World Recreated Jack-in-the-Pulpit), 2025
Reclaimed family quilt, 1950’s prom dress, cotton batting, thread, wire, glass beads 24” high x 18” wide x 18” deep
The Jack-in-the-pulpit produces male flowers when young, male and female flowers as it gets older, and only female flowers when fully mature. The inside of this vessel is a quilt I made for my oldest son titled 'A Boy's World', handed down to my second child it was loved it to tatters. It grew soft and worn with all the washings & tucked away when outgrown. As my youngest grew into an adult she realized she was in the wrong body and her transition began. In cutting up this quilt I snipped away at the past, questioning my role as a mother. It was satisfying to transform a beloved quilt into an object to sit in the light for all to see like she has. Method: Machine quilted, machine thread painted, hand & machine constructed.
