How I Work
My mission is to create art with a healing message and to inspire the opening of creative juices in the viewers of my work.
Your creative needs are important.
You want to create a lovely space. You want the right and perfect quilt for your wall. Buying a work of art for yourself or a friend is a personal process, and you want to feel great about your investment. My art quilts are designed to inspire you, to enhance your growth, and to remind you daily that you can create your dreams in your living and working space. One of my clients bought a beautiful piece for a wedding anniversary gift, and when things get tough the art reminds her of why she is in the relationship.
I have a friend whose husband was in the last stages of cancer. As they stepped out of the hospital elevator they saw one of my art quilts hanging on an adjacent wall. She told me that seeing the quilt gave her a jolt of positive possibility.
Personalized Quilts help to tell your story.
When you commission a quilt from me, the art can represent and embody your story by using your memorabilia, fabrics and artifacts. These quilts serve as reminders that your stories are positive, growth-enhancing and healing.
Who I Work With
I work with interior designers, art consultants, art collectors, and art lovers wanting to create an uplifting and colorful living area or work space that reflects their personality and inspires them to make their dreams come true. My art quilts add color and vibrancy to your home and office. This is a partial list of collections where my work appears:
Kaiser Hospital, Santa Clara, CA
Sunnyvale Senior Center, Sunnyvale, CA
Watsonville Hospital, Watsonville, CA
Kaiser Hospital, Walnut Creek, CA
Kaiser Hospital, Oakland, CA
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, San Jose, CA
El Camino Hospital, Mountain View, CA
Kaiser Hospital, Vacaville, CA
White House Art Collection, Washington DC
San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, CA
The Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, Golden, CO
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA
Numerous private collections across the United States
Commissions
When I create a commissioned work of art I work closely with you in our consultation time to make a special piece for you and your family that will be significant for generations to come.
How you will benefit:
An art quilt commissioned just for you can be like a family heirloom, providing energy and inspiration for loving your life and connecting your space with your Spirit. Receiving a work of art composed around your stories, colors, interests, and design preferences creates a luscious visual statement about who you are. Your art piece adds a rich, personal depth and texture to your environment. Because the quilt is coordinated with the existing design of your space you can expect to be both comforted and energized when you enter into the room where the quilt is hanging.
What you can expect from me:
Work with your colors
Coordinate with the existing design in your space
Provide 2 drawings to choose from
Correspond consistently with you and be open to hearing your ideas during the design phase of the quilt making process
Welcome to see the progress of the quilt as it is being created
Expect the quilt to be complete in a timely fashion
What I need from you:
The size of art quilt you need
Your available budget
The colors that inspire you
Any personal fabric or embellishment objects you’d like included in the quilt
A picture or description of the space where your quilt will hang
Whether you would like to choose from my existing drawings (as pictured on my CD) or whether you would like for me to create an entirely new design.
Contract for Commissions:
My design services fall under the following price ranges:
If you choose an existing drawing from my CD, the fee is $200 to adapt the design to your size and color choices.
If you would like to choose from two drawings based on our consultation, the fee is $300.
The price of a commission piece will vary according to the size of the quilt and complexity of embellishment. I will work with you to stay within your budget.
Upon signing the contract, this nonrefundable fee is subtracted from the total amount of the commission at the time of completion.
When I complete the designs, I will send you a copy of the contract along with copies of the drawings. Before I begin the work I will need a signed copy of the contract and a 50% deposit. The remaining 50% is due when the work is complete.
Once I have finished the design phase, I charge a fee for any additional changes.
Shipping is included in the price of the artwork.
Testimonials
"I received the box filled with your artistic love! Thank you so much. The quilts are gorgeous and the colors and embellishments - buttons, paint, braids and love dots! - bring them to life. Truly pieces of art from the heart. I feel it! And thank you for the additional 'small cup of love'......so generous."
– Kathryn Schlichting
“I feel very fortunate to have Therese's work in my home. I have one of Therese's quilts, which she created for me as an anniversary gift for my husband, as the centerpiece in my office. It should be in my husband's office, but I just couldn't let it go! I had to get another gift for him. It's a large quilt with the word "LOVE" embellished on it and it inspires me whenever I enter the room. It gathers a lot of "OOHs" and "AHs" from other people, too! The colors are bright and cheerful, and the archetypal images and flowers within the quilt make me feel so much at home. And my clients feel truly welcomed when they come in the door!”
– Steph Dugdale, balancedpathcoaching.com
“I have known Therese over the past 20 years and love of her many artistic talents. My living room is fabulous because of a large rose wall hanging quilt (in remembrance of my mother-in law whose name was Rose) custom pillows and a painted table. In my dinning room I have a small quilt with a smiling coffee cup and painted dishes. I adore the use of organic composition and that her art appears to be folkloric. My husband and I found we share many things in common with Therese, so it was only natural to buy one of her paintings for our anniversary. Therese’s art forms the common thread that ties all my art whether they are dedicated to the female form or are indigenous. My home would not be complete without her talent.”
– Cecelia Salazar Arroyo
“The moment I first saw Therese May’s incredibly beautiful and provocative work will remain with me forever. As a member of the San Jose Arts Commission, I was serving on the Convention Center Public Art Selection Committee with fellow commissioners and “art experts,” in the 1980’s, reviewing slides from California’s most respected artists, including a rare few local artists. When we came upon Therese’s marvelous embellished art quilt of a cup of coffee with steam ascending to the heavens, the group literally gasped and immediately gravitated to her as our first and only unanimous selection. Her eventual work, a very large and spectacular “Animal Spiral,” filled with animal images, was so outstanding that she was commissioned to do a second art quilt, named “Butterfly.” Both quilts prominently hang in the Convention Center drawing attention from admiring visitors.
It is my good fortune to have gotten to know this unique and lovely individual and to own several much-cherished pieces of her work, art quilts that lighten our hearts and please our eyes every day in our home. I most admire that Therese was willing to work with me as a client, graciously and creatively taking an amorphous idea of utilizing items collected over the years, including fabric, buttons and pictures, to create a Commemorative 35th Anniversary Quilt for my husband, all the while combining her ideas, imagination and sense of imagery and beauty. This piece hangs above our fireplace mantle and catches everyone’s attention as they enter our home. In addition to her exceptional talent, Therese is the quintessential thoughtful, sensitive, attentive and caring individual who teaches us all how much we benefit from those who have been given this unique interpretive and creative ability. As a role model and teacher, she even helps us all to get in touch with those very characteristics -- perhaps more hidden, but also present in ourselves.”