Artist Bio:

Carl Brown is a fiber artist who has been sewing and quilting for approximately seven years. Like many artists working in fiber, he began with traditional quilt patterns before moving toward increasingly complex abstract and improvisational work based on his own designs. His practice is driven by a deep fascination with color, shape, movement, and narrative, with a particular love for curved improvisational forms.

Largely self-taught, Carl discovered his artistic abilities almost by accident. Without formal training in art, he developed his visual language through experimentation, persistence, and an ongoing willingness to push the boundaries of what could be done with fabric. His work is characterized by intricately sewn improvisational curves and complex compositions that evolve directly in fabric rather than from conventional patterns. One of his particular strengths is resolving disparate improvisational elements into cohesive, dynamic compositions.

Carl works primarily with commercial fabrics, occasionally incorporating fabrics he dyes by hand. He uses a range of techniques, including improvisational piecing, appliqué, domestic machine quilting, and long-arm machine quilting. He quilts the vast majority of his own work. His scientific background informs the structure of his process and approach, bringing an analytical sensibility to the challenges of manipulating fabric, alignment, tension, distortion, and composition.

In recent years, mythology and poetry have become important catalysts for Carl's work. These sources provide conceptual starting points that he translates through color, form, movement, and the physical language of fiber. His work often explores themes of identity, resilience, transformation, connection, loss, and the human experience.

Despite his relatively short time as a fiber artist, Carl's work has received national and international recognition. He was named an Emerging New Artist at Interpretations 2023 at the Visions Museum of Textile Art in San Diego. His work has been selected for numerous juried exhibitions, including QuiltCon, the International Quilt Festival, Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, UK, Quilts Unlimited, the International Quilt & Art Festival, Quilt Canada, Quiltfest, numerous American Quilters Society, and Salon Pour l'Amour du Fil in Nantes, France. He has also been a Road to California semifinalist and award winner and has received numerous ribbons and monetary awards for his fiber art.

Carl has presented individual exhibitions featuring 20–30 quilts at Road to California and Quilt Reno, with three additional solo exhibitions planned for 2027 and 2028. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Fiber Reimagined II, a juried exhibition and publication presented by Fiber Art Now magazine. Carl is one of 24 international artists in Soul Stories, a collective that uses textile art as a vehicle for personal expression, social reflection, and collective healing. The artists explore themes including identity, justice, resilience, mythology, archetypes, spirituality, hope, and struggle.

Before becoming a fiber artist, Dr. Carlton “Carl” G. Brown, RN, PhD, built a distinguished career in healthcare. He is a longtime oncology nurse, researcher, author, and healthcare executive who has cared for people with cancer for more than 30 years. He is also the editor of an award-winning oncology textbook. His transition from science and healthcare to textile art was unexpected, but the analytical discipline, curiosity, and problem-solving that shaped his professional life have become integral to his approach in the studio.

Carl lives in Palm Springs, California, with his husband and their Schnauzer, Pippin the Wonder Dog.