Artist Exhibition Featuring Kristy Ottinger

The McKinney Center will host an exhibition for fabric artist Kristy Moeller Ottinger starting Wednesday, April 5. The exhibition is free, open to the public, and will be up through Friday, May 5. All artwork will be for sale.
Ottinger grew up in rural Tipton, Indiana, the older of two girls born to Herbert and Lucy Moeller. At nine, she began learning sewing skills that would lead to her eventual focus on fabric art. Ottinger earned degrees in Biblical Studies, and Education and an MFA in Art. She taught elementary and college art until 2016 when she left teaching to pursue art quilting full-time.
Best known for her narrative art quilts, Ottinger embellishes her work using found objects, mixed media, embroidery, paint, and writing. As she moved through her formal art education, she dabbled in other media, eventually earning an MFA in Painting. A 1994 scholarship to Burren College of Art in Ireland introduced her to an Irish quilter who provided bits of silk for her initial art quilt.
Art quilting uses both modern and traditional quilting techniques to create art objects. Quilters create an art quilt based on their experiences, imagery, and ideas rather than traditional patterns.
For more information, contact the McKinney Center at 423.753.0562.