Babette Grunwald has a rich background, both from the point of view of places she has lived and traveled to and her professional experiences.
Babette is a citizen of the world: she was born in Paris, France, of Canadian and American parents and grew up in Switzerland, speaking French and then German. She married a Venezuelan/Swiss/German and they have lived in the Central Valley of California, the highlands of Central Mexico (where she learned Spanish), upstate New-York, Eastern Washington and now Oregon with their three daughters.
She received a BS and MS in plant science and agriculture from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (1990) and worked as a farm manager for an outdoor museum and then as an agricultural researcher in viticulture and later plant pathology.
As an American, she feels like a first generation emigrant, but is actually a descendant of Pocahontas. It was because of this feeling of needing to know more about America, that she decided to learn how to quilt. She made the switch gradually from science to art more than a decade ago: quilts, then art quilts and now more contemporary art and received her MFA from the University of Oregon in 2007.
Babette is an award winning artist and exhibits internationally in galleries and museums. She has taught at many different levels, from beginner quilt classes to master art classes in her studio, for high school as well as college level classes at the University of Oregon. Her work is published in several books including “Lament” by Babette Grunwald, Terminal Project Report, U of O library collection; MFA Terminal 2007: Exhibit Catalog; "Masterpieces: Art Takes Shape" Husqvarna Viking Gallery of Quilt Art; "Shoreline Quilts", edited by C. Rymer - C&T Publishing; "Wine Country Quilts" by C. Rymer and J. Rounds - C&T Publishing.
Living in many highly aesthetic countries has given her a deep appreciation of nature and diverse ecosystems. She creates “paintings” inspired by the environment she lives in and the accumulated knowledge she has acquired. Her paintings are often abstract, giving the feeling of natural systems. She uses encaustics, which is painting with pigmented bees wax, and textiles, both natural and man-made fibers, which she dyes, paints, tears, burns, fuses or sews together. She is interested in surfaces and textures, from almost transparent surfaces, forming webs and connections, to built-up layers that are rich in disturbing histories and a language of their own.
Babette is a citizen of the world: she was born in Paris, France, of Canadian and American parents and grew up in Switzerland, speaking French and then German. She married a Venezuelan/Swiss/German and they have lived in the Central Valley of California, the highlands of Central Mexico (where she learned Spanish), upstate New-York, Eastern Washington and now Oregon with their three daughters.
She received a BS and MS in plant science and agriculture from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (1990) and worked as a farm manager for an outdoor museum and then as an agricultural researcher in viticulture and later plant pathology.
As an American, she feels like a first generation emigrant, but is actually a descendant of Pocahontas. It was because of this feeling of needing to know more about America, that she decided to learn how to quilt. She made the switch gradually from science to art more than a decade ago: quilts, then art quilts and now more contemporary art and received her MFA from the University of Oregon in 2007.
Babette is an award winning artist and exhibits internationally in galleries and museums. She has taught at many different levels, from beginner quilt classes to master art classes in her studio, for high school as well as college level classes at the University of Oregon. Her work is published in several books including “Lament” by Babette Grunwald, Terminal Project Report, U of O library collection; MFA Terminal 2007: Exhibit Catalog; "Masterpieces: Art Takes Shape" Husqvarna Viking Gallery of Quilt Art; "Shoreline Quilts", edited by C. Rymer - C&T Publishing; "Wine Country Quilts" by C. Rymer and J. Rounds - C&T Publishing.
Living in many highly aesthetic countries has given her a deep appreciation of nature and diverse ecosystems. She creates “paintings” inspired by the environment she lives in and the accumulated knowledge she has acquired. Her paintings are often abstract, giving the feeling of natural systems. She uses encaustics, which is painting with pigmented bees wax, and textiles, both natural and man-made fibers, which she dyes, paints, tears, burns, fuses or sews together. She is interested in surfaces and textures, from almost transparent surfaces, forming webs and connections, to built-up layers that are rich in disturbing histories and a language of their own.
