TAMAR HENDEL GALLERY
Fall/Winter Juried Exhibition
Nina Bronk Kellner
Brothers
Fabric Quilt
31″x39″
2019
NFS
Artist Bio:
Nina Bronk Kellner grew up in Clemson, SC and graduated fromUniversity of Georgia with a BBA in Marketing and Georgetown University with an MBA. Nina now lives in Silver Spring with her husband and has two daughters, 25 and 23.
Art has always been a passion of Nina’s, from drawing and painting to photography and darkroom work to, finally, quilting. While Nina always admired quilts, she could never imagine herself making one, mostly because she did not know how to sew beyond hand stitching a hem. When Nina was in her 30s, she had to take her Mac in for repair and had to wait an hour for it to be ready. During this time, she wandered into the quilt shop, Capital Quilts, to admire all the beautiful fabrics and quilts. While at the shop, she was convinced to buy a book on creating a sampler quilt and there her journey began.
Nina’s first quilt was a completely hand-pieced twin sized sampler quilt in which Nina made all her own templates for each block pattern. After completing that quilt, Nina decided to take a sewing class at G Streets Fabric to learn how to use a sewing machine. From there, Nina bought her first sewing machine and began to take classes while raising her children and working as a Marketing Director. Today, almost 20 years later, Nina is a fabric junkie collecting fabrics from her travels, works full-time as a Marketing Consultant, and is an avid quilter, always looking for new techniques to try.
Nina also sells many of her quilts. If you are interested in purchasing a quilt from her full collection, please contact her at ninabk@rcn.com.
Artist Statement:
The quilt, Brothers, is a portrait of Nina’s two cats, Maxie and Oliver. It was made using a fabric collage technique taught by renowned fiber artist, Susan Carlson. Nina hand-sketched the design and then created the portrait with fabric and thread. The most difficult part was making sure that the cats’ true personalities were captured. The quilt itself took about a year to complete.
This quilt is not for sale, however many of Nina’s other quilts are available for purchase. If you are interested in seeing available quilts, please contact Nina at ninabk@rcn.com (a portion of sales will be donated to the Create Arts Center).
The Tamar Hendel Gallery at CREATE Arts Center is open to visitors every Monday through Friday from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm when exhibitions are running. If you have questions, please contact us at create@createartscenter.org or 301-588-2787.
CREATE Art Center has operated in the Silver Spring community for over thirty-five years as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to spark creativity, foster learning, empower individuals, and facilitate community connections through the visual arts. Named after CREATE’s founder, the Tamar Hendel Gallery opened in 2019. It showcases local artists who work in a variety of media.