About the artist

The name Connie Bloom is familiar to newspaper junkies who have perused her byline atop news and feature stories for more than three decades.

While she is probably best known for her inimitable prose, her passion for the written word eventually took a back seat to her compulsion for fabric. She embarked on divergent career path when she took a studio at Red Light Art Galleries in Akron's Northside District, switching from ink-stained wretch to uncomplaining starving artist. (The gallery is located at 111 N. Main St., next door to Luigis, 330-472-0161.)

Connie's award winning art quilts, which look like paintings but are made of fabric, beads, thread and sundry other embellishments, have been featured in local and regional galleries and festivals and one-woman shows. Many of her pieces employ fabrics she has hand-dyed, painted or printed and combined with commercial cloth. The end results, both representational and abstract, are evocative and fearlessly vibrant, teeming with lyrical motion and technical aplomb. A consummate animal lover (and former pets columnist), Connie has crafted many pet portraits for doting human parents.

Connie also specializes in memorial art, made from the clothes, ephemera and jewelry of a beloved person who has left this good earth. The finished artwork becomes a family heirloom to be passed down through the generations. Clients literally bring her trash bags full of clothes and possessions, which Connie mines for elements of her emerging masterpiece.

Tribute art quilts are made the same way, but from the clothes, toys, shoes and slippers of children who have outgrown them. What a wonderful way to decorate their rooms, with storybook artwork containing their christening gowns, onesies, booties and toys. Please click on the Memorial/Tribute quilts tab of this website for photos and more information.

Connie keeps informal hours at Red Light Galleries. You can often catch her there weekdays and during Artwalk, the first Saturday of every month from 6-10 p.m.

It's a good idea to alert her before you come, just in case, or to arrange a meeting at other times, by calling 330-472-0161.