Pat Kroth

Pat Kroth’s work has been included in many group and solo exhibits including Quilt National 2001. She is continually intrigued with surface-design techniques that create interesting texture.

“My background is in painting and I really do admire the abstract expressionist painters.

About 15 years ago, I started quilting and quickly decided I wanted to create my own work. I started creating these fiber pieces. I was working on a flat surface on the floor. One day I was standing over this fairly large piece and I said ‘oh it’s Jackson Pollack.’ Why did it take me so long to revolve around this and figure out that this is what I was doing?              

My work is very dense in a lot of ways and sometimes you’re just struck by the overall pattern of it when you look at it. It isn’t until you get up close that you really start looking at things that you find out what’s there.

There’s always a challenge. Each new piece presents something new to you. I always try and create a challenge for myself even though technically I may have the piece figured out. I may try and add something in that’s different. I may try and use different thread or I may try and apply things in a different way. I think that maybe the hardest part is not having enough time to do everything that’s in my mind. A lot of times when I work on a piece something else comes up and I think, ‘what if?’ I get really excited about that and so I want to really just get going on this piece, and I think that’s what helps me complete a lot of work. I’ve been able to be fairly prolific and a lot of that is the discipline of working, sticking with it, but also the inspiration. I think working and creating work creates more work. I mean it really just is like a flower. It just keeps unfolding. It’s really exciting for me.

When it’s actually finished and it hangs on the wall in the gallery in an exhibit, it’s exciting on a lot of levels, because it takes on a presence of it’s own. It’s actually left my hands and it’s become part of the public domain. Other people view it and to me that’s where the piece really takes life is when other people come and see it, and they respond to it. I think it’s really great because people take away different meanings from my work. I may be thinking about it on one level, and someone else will come up and say ‘did you realize?’ And to me that really brings it full circle.”