Hand-Dyed, Digitally Drawn: A Memorial Quilt Project

In this presentation, Meranda will be sharing an experimental quilt project that bridges digital modeling, physical craft, and collaborative dreaming.
"Using Photoshop, Illustrator, and Rhino, I designed parquetry-inspired quilt blocks and translated them into hand-dyed fabric compositions. I’ll also touch on how I’m using AI as a conversational tool—a back-and-forth between myself and ChatGPT—to explore quilting as a site of imagination and internal dialogue. This project is rooted in the emotional landscape of memorial making; I’ve been working on a quilt in honor of a close friend, and this act of remembrance has inspired new directions in my quilting practice. Through this lens, I see quilts not just as objects, but as places to dream, reflect, and connect across time and tools."

Meranda McDermott is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores intimacy, longing, and transformation through unexpected materials. With a background in sculpture and a deep curiosity about systems—both emotional and structural—she experiments with forms that invite closeness and conversation. She currently works as a security officer at the Kansas City Art Institute, where she supports the campus community while maintaining a creative practice that blurs the line between observation and participation.

We hope that you can join us in person for this fun demonstration of an unexpected use of the software we all know. We will be meeting in the Marburg room of Vanderslice Hall at the KCAI campus.
Map

If you are unable to attend in person we will stream the meeting on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86837498434?pwd=b3RkbUdiTmZiVFBLd1R3Vjd4aE4xZz09