I am Carol Hancuh.
My career in art began with acrylics, pen and ink, watercolors, and a few years majoring in art in college. I dabbled in computer mask layout design to bring the bacon home for myself and my son.
After retiring and picking up my paint brushes more regularly again, a cousin of mine introduced me to quilting (in 2011). She made fairly non-traditional quilts, without patterns or kits. I was quite impressed. She invited me to a meeting of quilters in my home town of St. Paul, Minnesota. Enchanted by all the beautiful contemporary quilts women were showing and discussing, I was instantly hooked.
I went home, bagged up all my fabric that I used for making clothes, gave almost all of it away, and started shopping for cottons for quilts.
The first quilt I made was King-sized of 3” squares. This would have been boring to a traditional quilter, but I was caught up in the colors of fabric. Having an art background, it was all about the colors.
I was trading paints for fabrics to create my own quilts.
Kits and patterns are a helpful entry into quilting. To me, though, after years of painting and drawing, they felt like paint-by-number. I didn’t want to do that; my only desire was to see how colors worked together to create interest. Through these last 10 years, I’ve found the importance of detail and subject matter in quilts.
In September of 2013, I took a quilting workshop in Tuscany, Italy, taught by Esterita Austin. She introduced me to the art of fusing. It opened up a whole new dimension in quilting for me.
My first fused quilt – a wall hanging – was a face and, from then on, the challenge has been finding those faces hidden within batiks.
Some of my favorite projects have been a quilt called “Feed My People”, aimed at raising awareness of hunger within the United States. Every time I quilt, I look for a new challenge. In “Spilled Vase,” I created an effect of falling water. In “The Galveston Quilt,” a quilt I made for the Galveston, Texas Salvation Army silent auction, I did thread painting for the first time, depicting Galveston in all its glory.
I’m drawn to the topic of social justice and have created “Missing”, a child being pulled away from his parent at the border. A stream of full-sized “people” in “The Voting Line” is really 25 quilts depicting 27 people standing in line waiting to vote. They were meant for the Minnesota Quilt Show of 2020 to be shown to encourage everyone to vote in the National election in November (they will come back in 2024).
I live with my husband, Lowell, two cats, and mounds of fabric in a suburb of Eagan, Minnesota.
Hi Carol,
Thank you for coming to St Peter again! I am a big fan of your art quilts as well as your faith perspective. My quilts are starting to get more artsy, so I was very excited to see your demo last night. I have found my passion in quilting only 13 years ago, and the best thing about it for me is learning new things! I recognize that parts of your approach are not so different from those of Melinda Bula. Making one of her flower patterns this year was a great learning experience, but not anything I have any interest in repeating. I have been involved with the National Quilt Museum Block of the Month program for the last 5 years, and get to learn something new every month. Thanks again for taking the time to share with us!
I am interested in contacting you directly to see you are interested in speaking at the Dakota County Star Quilters show in April of 2024.
I would like to contact you about speaking at our Ladies of the Lake Quilting Society. We meet every Tuesday afternoon in White Bear Lake.
Several of us attended the Dakota County Star presentation in April 2024 and would love to give our entire group (and possibly even invite
other area quilting groups) the opportunity to view your art firsthand. I’m currently looking forward to seeing your display in Duluth in June.
Thank you for considering this request.
Hi Lynn, Please email me at cookiemaker1420@gmail.com Carol Hancuh 6/20/2024
I attended a large quilt expo in Cleveland recently and was fortunate to experience your amazing Voter line exhibit. In 2025 my organization will be producing an international fiber art show in Cleveland and I wanted to reach out to you for a number of reasons. My name is Darl Schaaff and I run a museum and a theater in Cleveland. Your work is so powerful and I would love to work with local agencies (public library, Cleveland Foundation ) to bring the exhibit back and put it on public display. Not certain if you do that but wanted to start a conversation.
My contact:
Darl Center for the Arts
5437 Broadway Ave
Cleveland, Oh 44127
darl@darlcollection.com
I’m enjoying The Voting Line in the Minneapolis airport this morning, so I looked you up. Love your work!
Walking in the hallways at MSP, a line of interesting characters caught my eye, and I was intrigued and delighted by The Voting Line. What diversity, and what peace your work shows – it gives me hope.
Hi Carol,
I work at MSP airport where I have the privilege of seeing your “The Voting Line” exhibit each day as I walk through. It’s marvelous, thoughtful, and of course ever so timely! Absolutely brilliant. I hope to see more of your work!
Hi Carol,
I was recently in the Minneapolis airport and came across your Voting Line Installation. I loved it and the sentiment behind it and decided to write about it on my weekly blog Things We Love–pamelasmilow.substack.com This is what I wrote but you will see it in its full glory on sunday with photos–feel free to edit it in any way and let me know if you want any changes..I will add links to your website of course:
Carol Hancuh’s Voting Line
I came across this really cool exhibit at the Minneapolis St. Paul airport recently on my way to a show in Boise, Idaho. A quilting artist named Carol Hancuh (I seem to be running into a lot of quilters these days), has a timely exhibit of life size Voters on Line to Vote. These full-size quilted figures represent Americans from all walks of life: farmer, yoga teacher, firefighter, housekeeper, nurse to name a few. She’s created a whole narrative around each, their background and what they do in life, and why they are standing on line to vote. As you walk to your gate at the airport, these life size figures are lined up in cases as if they are walking next to you.
I just revised it a bit myself and please send me your direct email if you want to receive my weekly blog I came across this really cool exhibit at the Minneapolis St. Paul airport recently on my way to a show in Boise, Idaho. A quilting artist named Carol Hancuh (I seem to be running into a lot of quilters these days), has a timely exhibit of life size Voters on Line to Vote. These full-size quilted figures represent Americans from all walks of life: farmer, yoga teacher, firefighter, housekeeper, nurse to name a few. She’s created a whole narrative around each, their background and what they do in life, and why they are standing on line to vote. She is as much a storyteller in words as well as images…As you walk to your gate at the airport, these life size figures are lined up in cases as if they are walking next to you.
The exhibit couldn’t come at a better time, especially now when we are reminded of how fragile democracy is and how important it is to exercise our ability to vote. Thank you Carol Hancuh for that important reminder!