About the Artist

Short Biography for Phyllis Binkley

Phyllis is a retired Art teacher of 30 years. Her first 12 years
were spent in Central Illinois teaching high school. The last
18 years were in the Houston, Texas area teaching eighth
grade crafts and advanced art. Although she had to teach
all aspects of art in the classroom, crafts and sculpture
have always been her favorites. She has a Masters Degree
in Art with background in weaving and fabric design, but
teaching in these areas was limited in public schools. Batik
and some off the loom weaving is about all that was
possible in a classroom. About 1994, her mother, who is a
traditional quilter in Illinois, insisted that she attend the
International Quilt Show in Houston. That was a life
changing experience. She began to see that quilts could
be expressive, personal statements and that quilters did
not have to stick to preset patterns. From then on, she
turned the classroom batiks into large quilts for the school
and did several family quilts custom designed for specific
interests. Since her retirement in December 1999, her
passion for fabrics, dying and creating with these materials
has led her through some interesting and enjoyable
experiences. The method of collage has always been one
of her favorites. Using either flower print fabrics or
landscape textures to create original designs and
compositions, she has found that raw edge appliqué is
versatile and spontaneous. Because realistic sky fabrics
are hard to find, and even distant mountains are not so
plentiful, she started painting her own sky and mountain
fabrics to use in the workshops and for her personal work.
Free motion machine stitching, thread painting, and hand
embroidery allow her to enhance the collages with stitches
and details. She has been giving Landscape Workshops
since 2002 and enjoys teaching adults, especially ladies
who share her love of fabrics and quilting. She is active in
her local quilt guild and also the Embroidery Guild of
America in Hemet. While Phyllis and her husband were still
traveling in a motor home, she gave landscape workshops
at many RV Rallies for the craft ladies, and a few men.
Many of them chose to stitch their pieces by hand. Phyllis
has also done some special wall hangings for her church.
They may be seen on this web page. Commissions and
other "Special Projects" may be seen on the "Special
Projects" page of the web site.