Ana Helena Abreu

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Contemporary quilts
2024
Artist's country: Brazil

Ana Helena Abreu teaches patchwork and quilting in the city of São Gabriel, a small town in the interior of Brazil, close to the border with Uruguay and Argentina.

Since childhood, unable to reach the sewing machine pedal, she was already sewing standing up at the age of four, encouraged by her grandmother. From an early age she has had a strong attraction to manual work, but officially started hand-quilting in 2002.

A scholar of patchwork history, she has great experience in creating specific projects for her classes at both basic and advanced levels. Her sought-after classes are both in her home studio or at the various quilt shows she attends, mostly in Brazil.

Her fascination with geometry is what characterizes her style, but all her works are usually made with the purpose to use them as examples for her classes, as she is a devoted teacher.

World of Illusions

Rombach-le-Franc

This exhibition is originally shaped by Ana Helena Abreu’s passion for geometry and 3D. These works are created with the purpose of teaching, to be executed by students, never intended as exclusive pieces but rather to share knowledge.

Her focus is always on how to teach something seemingly complex, aiming to demonstrate that the exhibited pieces have a secret only known by the artist, who makes them accessible to anyone with an advanced level of knowledge in patchwork.

World of illusions showcases the magic of quilts, with precise stitching, fabric and color choices, creating an illusion of depth. Works seen at a 60° angle transform into complex yet accessible pieces. These optical illusions play with our minds, turning flat works into three-dimensional images, enchanting their admirers with the sensation of looking at 3D objects.