By Patricia Belyea
KAPITI COAST, NZ Eight years ago, Lisa Call journeyed to New Zealand and Australia to teach week-long Fibre Arts workshops. A successful quilt artist from Colorado, this trip completely changed Lisa’s life.
The crux of the story — Lisa met someone. Not only did Lisa fall in love with a Kiwi, she fell in love with New Zealand. She extended her work visa twice. After one year, Lisa decided to make New Zealand her home.
When Lisa picked me up at the Paraparaumu train station, she drove us straight to her local beach. The bountiful beauty of the region was undeniable.
Next stop was Lisa’s home, with lemon and orange trees growing in her huge yard.
We stepped into her living space where a quilted pentaptych told the story of her first Great Walk in New Zealand.
Onward through the kitchen area to her studio with multiple design walls, two small sewing machines, a huge rack of thread, and non-stop projects in various stages of progress.
Lisa dyes the fabrics for her uber-stitched quilt compositions. She commented that her dyeing process is cavalier. Lisa never tries to precisely produce more of a certain color. Instead she wildly wields her dyes — enjoying an approach that’s the exact opposite of her rigorous quilting technique.
We continued to Lisa’s office where one wall was filled with artist tools and sketchbooks. Sketching plays an important role in Lisa’s artist practice. She fills notebooks with ideas, colors, and forms, with no definite purpose but to just create.
Across the room sat a desk topped with two large computer screens. A woman with a Masters in Computer Science, Lisa has expanded her artist practice online with coaching and teaching.
As a certified co-active coach, Lisa developed in-depth artist programs for others to grow their studio practices. Her MakeBigArt community is the starting point for artists to join Lisa on a transformative creative journey.
Lisa’s focus on project management and staying accountable appealed to me. I really liked her chart for logging studio hours throughout the year. Seeing the hours visually looked very helpful.
Lisa is a brilliant quilt artist. And, she is a brilliant teacher and coach. New Zealand should be pleased to welcome Lisa as its newest citizen on September 20!
To visit Lisa’s website +click here
To visit the MakeBigArt website +click here
ABOUT US: Okan Arts, a petite family business, is co-owned by mother-daughter duo Patricia Belyea and Victoria Stone. Patricia and Victoria sell Japanese textiles online, host creative quilting experiences, and lead quilting & textile tours to Japan.
FOLLOW OKAN ARTS ON INSTAGRAM @okanarts
