QUILTS | Kate Lynch

Ode…this is one quilt in my new Ocean-Science Quilt Series. This next series focuses on coral reefs and microphytoplankton. I carve hand drawn images that I create based on enlarged microscopy of coral, diatoms and dinoflagellates.

Having completed the twelve quilts in the Tide Quilt series (seen below) I am currently busy in the studio working on new work:

My new series, Microphytoplankton Quilts, continues my exploration of ocean-science, moving from the telescopic to the microscopic. Ode to the Diatom, the second quilt in the series, was recently exhibited at the juried exhibit Impressions and Imprints (2026) at Hui No’eau on Maui, HI. The third textile in the series Coral Nursery Nursery Quilt is on view at Hui No'eau as a part of the juried exhibit Mālama Wao Akua through November 6, 2026. The fourth quilt in this series, Microphytoplanketon Patchwork Quilt, has been choosen to be in the juried exhibit Artists of Hawai'i Biennial 2026 on view at Downtown Art Center in Honolulu. In this series I lino-cut and block print my own designs on fabric before designing and sewing the one of a kind quilts. I continue with this series to share my awe and gratitude for the ocean while honoring the scientists who sensitize us to the complicated and inter-connectedness of earth’s workings.

Please email me if you would like to see the work in the making.

One of my pieces from my new series is a part of this juried show. Thank you DAC and juror Trisha Lagaso Goldberg!

Below are the twelve quilts in my completed series Amplitude and Frequency I-XII

MACC Biennial 2025 Juried Show at The Schaefer International Gallery

I hand piece, hand appliqué and hand quilt science/art quilts based on plot points of tidal ranges on a given day, specifically along the coast of the North Shore of Maui, where I live. The quilts I design and construct are for beds and they range from 6x7 feet to 4x4 feet.

When I began to research tides five years ago, I had no idea that my curiosity would be insatiable.

My most recent work is a twelve part Quilt Series based on Tide levels affected by Earth’s rotation, as well as its position to the Moon and Sun… and about four hundred other factors. When I began this study, the first quilt I made was a depiction of a tide chart, slightly abstracted. Sixteen quilts later, my most recent quilt explores amphidromic circulation as well as my evolving understanding of the equilibrium theory of tides and the dynamic theory of tides. Each quilt in my series represents a deepening of my understanding.

Though I use my computer for research I use no machines to make my quilts. I machine pieced the first few, but when my machine broke I was liberated into the slow and very gratifying life of all hand sewing. My original designs, in the form of sketches as well as my slow-sewing, is my own form of resistance to the tsunami of technology and our growing addiction to bigger, better, faster. Connecting to the ancient dance of the Moon, Sun and Earth’s oceans-a dance as old as our solar system- by creating original designs sewn by hand, feels like my way of paying homage to the very real history of our collective home: Earth and her Ocean.

I call the body of work consisting of twelve quilts, “Amplitude and Frequency I-XII”