Biography

Elizabeth Rosenberg uses her sewing machine to create art from fabric and thread. Her award-winning art quilts are in numerous private collections, and have been exhibited throughout North America, Europe and Japan. Her carefully crafted pieces feature thread as their focus, creating subtle images formed by lines of free-motion thread work.

Elizabeth has been involved with fabric from a very young age. She was taught to sew by her mother and grandmother, both accomplished seamstresses, but broke from family tradition by choosing to study voice instead. After a few years of working as a studio and on-tour backup singer for rock and roll artists you’ve never heard of, Elizabeth happily settled into the life of a suburban wife and mother.

She has been making quilts since 1990, when she signed up for a beginning quilting class and immediately became consumed by the magic of manipulating color, texture and design that is inherent in quilt making. In addition to creating art quilts, Elizabeth writes about art quilting for national magazines, lectures at guilds and quilt shows, and leads workshops on free-motion machine quilting, thread-painting, bobbin quilting and machine appliqué at guilds and in her private home studio.

Elizabeth also designs and self-publishes a line of quilt patterns celebrating the Jewish traditions of her husband’s family, under the company name Inventing Tradition. The patterns are available at quilt shops throughout North America and Europe. You can also purchase them on this website, using Paypal, by clicking here.

Artist Statement

I am a textile artist. Sitting at my sewing machine and watching the thread flow through the needle and onto the fabric is meditative for me. It helps me to feel centered in myself and in the world around me.

I am fascinated by the shapes and richly detailed designs found in ancient African rock paintings and carvings, especially those depicting women. I derive an enormous amount of pleasure from "translating" them into quilted lines of thread upon cloth. With my quilted art, I hope to pay tribute to the ancient artists who left their mysterious drawings upon the rock walls of Africa so many thousands of years ago.
 

Exhibitions:

● Folks in Fiber, Cahoon Museum of American Art, Cotuitm MA, March-May, 2006
● Fiber Revolution: Nudes, Nature and Nurture, Quilters' Heritage Celebration, Lancaster, PA, April, 2006
● Fiber Revolution: In The Garden, NJ Convention Center, Edison, NJ, June 2005
● The Salon Seven: Sharing The Joy, Mount Kisco Public Library, Mt. Kisco, NY, June 2005
● Fiber Revolution: Visions of Women, UCONN, Storrs, CT, May-July, 2005
● Fiber Revolution: Women in the Arts, Trinity Episcopal Church, Torrington, CT, May 2005
● NSQG A World of Quilts XXVI, Somers, NY, May, 2005
● Form, Not Function: Quilt Art at the Carnegie, Carnegie Center, New Albany, IN, Jan - March 2005
● Fiber Revolution: Visions of Women, Charter Oak Cultural Center, Hartford, CT, Dec, 2004
● Quilts=Art=Quilts, Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, Auburn, NY, Nov. 2004 - Jan. 2005
● Cultures of Westchester: Folk Art Visionaries, Blue Door Gallery, Yonkers, NY, Nov-Dec, 2004
● Quilts: A World of Beauty, International Quilt Festival, Houston, TX, November, 2004
● Fiber Revolution: Quilts as Art at Priam Vineyard, Colchester, CT, Oct. 2004
● Fiber Revolution: Expressions, New Haven, CT, August, 2004
● Fiber Revolution: A Survey of Styles at LBI Foundation, Loveladies, NJ, August, 2004
● Fiber Revolution at the River Street Gallery, New Haven, CT, July, 2004
● Fiber Revolution at the Martucci Gallery, Irvington NY, June, 2004
● Reflections: NSQG Challenge Exhibit, Somers, NY & Lancaster, PA, April 2004
● Art Quilts: Elements, Page-Walker Arts & History Center, Cary, NC, April - May, 2004
● Considering Quilts 2004: Fiber Artists Explore the Quilt Form,
      Atlantic Center for the Arts at Harris House,  New Smyrna Beach, FL, April - May, 2004
● Quilters Heritage Celebration, Lancaster, PA, April 2004
● Fiber Revolution: Quilts as Art, CHIP, University of CT, Storrs, CT, 2004
● A Page from My Book: The 2003 Journal Quilt Project, Int'l Quilt Festival, Houston, TX, 2003
● Wrapped in Cloth: The Human Figure in Textiles, Tubac Center of the Arts, Tubac, AZ - 2003
● Quilts=Art=Quilts, Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, Auburn, NY - 2003
● Quilts for Art Sake II, Gallery 214 ArtSpace, Montclaire, NJ - 2003
● America: From the Heart, Dairy Barn Cultural Arts Center, OH - 2003
● Fiber Revolution: Quilts as Art, Ellen Traut Collection Gallery, Hartford, CT - 2003
● Art Quilts VIII: A Cut Above, Chandler Center for the Arts, Chandler, AZ, 2/24 - 2003
● Fiber Revolution: Quilts as Art, Rathbun Free Public Library, East Haddam, CT - 2003
● World Quilt & Textile, Lansing, MI & Manchester, NH - 2003
● A Page from My Book: The 2002 Journal Quilt Project
    April - Int'l Quilt Festival, Chicago, IL
    May - Int'l Quilt Market, Portland, WA
    June - Quilts NY!
    July-August - Appalachian Cultural Center at Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
● Japanese-American Architectural Challenge, International Tour (invitational) - 2003
● A Page from My Book: The 2002 Journal Quilt Project, Int'l Quilt Festival,  Houston, TX - 2002
● Born in the USA: Contemporary Quilters Look at Their Music (invitational) Lancaster, PA - 2002
● 9/11: Las Artistas Reaccionan, US Embassy, San Jose, Costa Rica - 2002 
● NSQG Challenge Exhibit, Lancaster, PA - 2001
● Japanese-American "Word" Challenge, Tokyo, Japan (invitational) - 2001
● Singing the Blues: A Retrospective, Brookfield, CT (invitational) - 2000
● NSQG Silent Auction, Somers, NY (invitational) - 2000
● American Quilters Society Show, Paducah, KY - 1999
● Quilts... A World of Beauty, Fall International Quilt Festival, Houston, TX, November, 1999
● Seeing Red: The Redwork Project, Indianapolis, IN - 1999
● Greater Flint Art Council Presents Quilts at the Crossroads, Flint MI - 1999
● The Hoffman Challenge 11th Anniversary, USA Tour - 1998
● Quilts=Art=Quilts, Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, Auburn, NY - 1997
 

July, 2006

March, 2005

May, 2004

2002 - 2004

Awards:

2005   A World of Quilters XXVI, Third Place
2004    A World of Quilts XXV, First Place & Second Place
2004    NSQG Reflections Challenge, Second Place
2003    A World of Quilts XXIV, Second Place
2002    Dallas Quilt Show, Honorable Mention, Masters Class
2001    A World of Quilts XXIII, First Place
2000    A World of Quilts XXII, First Place
1999    Indiana Heritage Quilt Show, First Place Professional & Judge's Choice
           A World of Quilts XXI, First Place
           NY Quilts, First Place
1998    NSQG A Charming Illusion Challenge, First Place
1997    NSQG The Four Elements Challenge, Best Overall
 

• Quilting Arts Magazine, Fall 2004 "In the Spotlight: Elizabeth Rosenberg of Yorktown Heights, NY" p. 100
• Magic Patch, UK edition, "Exhibit: Wrapped in cloth, the human figure in textile" by Elisabeth Fuchs, No. 18, p. 29
• Magic Patch, French edition, "Exposition: Wrapped in cloth, the human figure in textile" par Elisabeth Fuchs, March, 2004, p. 44
• Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting™ November/ December 2003, "Glory Quilts," p. 38
• Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, September 2003, Strawberry Fields Forever p. 60 
• America From the Heart: Quilters Remember September 11, 2001
       curated by Karey Bresenhan, C&T Publishing, Reaching Up to the Sky p. 51

• McCall’s Quilting Magazine, June 2000 p. 48, Redwork Revival

Publications:

• McCall's Quilting Magazine, December 2003, "Spinning Dreidel" p. 46

• Rodale’s Successful Quilting Library Series
       Volume 13: Quilt Embellishment. Put Couching in Your Lineup, p. 14
       Volume 11: Innovative Piecing.  Show Stopping Pieced Appliqué, p. 44 and 
       Off-Kilter but On-Target, p. 26. Hearts Askew is the cover quilt.
       Volume 10: Rotary Cutting & Speed Piecing. The Dog Quilt  p. 62

Private Collections:
    Susan Rubino, Austin TX: Reaching Up to the Sky II
    Jeri Riggs, Dobbs Ferry NY: Trial Mystery
    James & Joyce Feather, Dallas TX: Reaching Up to the Sky
    Karen Eckmeier, Bedford NY: Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries
    Mary Gay Leahy, North Salem NY: Illumination
    Linda Hawkins, Great Barrington MA: My Favorite Zebras
    Charles Shafer and Mary Fitzgibbons, Rio Rico AZ: The Fat Ladies
    Carolyn Lee Vehslage, Erial, NJ: The Three Fat Ladies
     Zach Morowitz, New Haven, CT: Flowers & Flies V
    Suzanne Sunday, Bedford NY: Flowers & Flies IV
    Joyce Sullivan, Somers NY: Flowers & Flies III
    Barbara Sferra, Katonah, NY: Flowers & Flies VI
    Joan Weth, Croton Falls, NY: Coneflower Pop
    Georgia Heller, Stamford, CT, Citrus Posies in May (Journal Quilt '02)
    Karen Phelps, Yorktown Heights, NY, African Mask in January (Journal Quilt '03)
    Elizabeth Brooks, Suffern, NY, Morning Glories
    Linda Hawkins, Stamford, CT, Trio of Butterflies (made with Maxine Oliver)
   

Corporate Collections:
    Fairfield Processing Corp, Danbury, CT
 

Affiliations: