At first glance you might think it’s a painting.

Actually it’s a hand-crafted art quilt by Incline Village artist Karen Colbert.

These are not like your grandmother’s quilts. Instead of relying on complicated quilt patterns, Karen uses hundreds of small different colored fabric to create intricate designs that stand apart from traditional quilts.

Her use of light and dark fabrics add depth to her art quilts that capture the imagination and subtleties of nature’s handiwork.

Many of her garden and floral quilts are reminiscent of Monet’s paintings.

In her own words:

“Fabric provides a wonderful medium to create subtle shading in my quilts. Playing with the fabric colors allow my pieces to transition through the entire color wheel, providing a unique bold landscape or abstract picture.

I use simple squares and triangles when creating my quilts so I can focus on the artistic elements of the quilt versus the intricacies of the patterns. It is the play with the colors that fascinates me and gives my quilts their individuality.

Nature is my inspiration, fabric is my medium, and my quilts are an interpretation of God’s landscape. Quilting is also a way that I’ve found to bring a bit of nature indoors – and quilts are a versatile and useful art form!”

Each of Karen’s quilts recreates nature’s landscape and palette. Her favorite subjects include mountains, streams, floral fields, and abstract images.

To see more samples of Karen’s amazing art quilts, click here. Her quilts are also on permanent display at the North Tahoe Art Center in Tahoe City and the Log Cabin café in Kings Beach.

In addition to quilts, Tahoe Quilts also offers a line of semi-precious stone and beaded jewelry, home décor items such as table runners, decorative gifts, cards and other local artwork.

Artists At Lake Tahoe
873 Tahoe Blvd, Suite 2
(Highway 28 next to Wildflower Cafe)
Incline Village, NV 89451

Please call Karen at (775) 833-0637 or reach her via email at karen@tahoequilts.com for more information.