Judy Severson
 "Quilts give me a sense
of history about the women who lived before me --
their feelings, their families, their times."Soft, warm, and comforting, quilts are bedcovers that over time have evolved into an art form. Judy Severson takes the art of the traditional quilt one step further by making handmade quilts on paper on her antique Victorian etching press. The quilt prints are signed and numbered in limited editions of 200 - 250, on a pure rag paper with hand-torn edges. Judy hand-carves a separate plate for each color she uses, then hand- prints the colors one at a time. Judy also creates her embossing plates by hand, before embossing each print one at a time; the outstanding registration (alignment of the color with the embossing) is the mark of an expert. The embossing represents the delicate stitches in an heirloom quilt and gives the prints their marvelous texture. Look for a "mistake" in each of the designs, which Judy introduces in keeping with folklore that "nothing is perfect under God." She also hides three hearts in every print to represent her husband, son, and self.  Judy's cards are reproductions of the handmade prints. Judy shares the history of the quilt on the back of the card, leaving the inside blank for you to express your own special message. In addition to printmaking, Judy spends much of her time actually quiltmaking in her Victorian home near San Francisco. Unframed prints are mounted on a matboard using acid-free materials, and shrinkwrapped for protection with a label on the back relating the history of the pattern.
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