About Anita Kaplan

Anita Kaplan brings a lifetime of experience as an artist and seamstress to her role as a master quilter. As a youth she spent countless hours studying the world's finest art in the museums of her native New York City. In high school she continued by drawing, designing and sewing her own clothes.

After a brief career as an elementary school teacher and having two children she founded Interiorscapes, a wall graphics business which provided Silicon Valley companies with unique hand painted wall art. In 1985 she was commissioned to paint the 100-foot high water tower at the site of the old Libby's cannery in Sunnyvale, California. In 1995 she returned her attention solely to fiber arts.

Anita works in a studio full of light, fabric, beads, buttons and threads. With an eagle's eye view of the Pacific Ocean she gathers images from her environment, her travels, books, surface ornament and modern art in all forms. These images may not emerge literally in her work, but inspire her abstract images with bold line and vivid color. She works spontaneously, sometimes starting simply from a fabric that sparks her interest. Her work is pieced and appliquéd, hand and machine quilted and embellished with all sorts of things. Her most recent quilts use her own hand dyed and hand painted fabrics.

Anita has been accepted in many juried shows, has exhibited at venues in California, nationally and internationally. She has won many awards and had her work published in magazines. She also shares her love of fiber and quilting by teaching other quilters.

Artist Statement

Vivid color and texture, dynamic line and contemporary design are hallmarks of my quilts. Using fabric as my canvas allows me to break the conventional rules of style and shape in art.

My quilts have irregularities in texture, layers, and edges, which represent the unevenness of life. At the same time my quilts are meant to reflect the beauty of this amazing world. Manipulating my own hand dyed and hand painted fabrics, I tell my story using my history, my hands and my heart.