Domestic Partners

Following the success of her 2021 exhibition Great American Road Trip, the NEQM is delighted to welcome back fiber artist Dawn Allen. Her latest series Domestic Partners captures the relationships that humans share with their animals. Many of the images depict humans and animals together, illustrating aspects of their emotional connection. Others, which feature animals alone, invite the viewer to look into their eyes and contemplate their inner lives.

Using a digital painting process, Allen designs all of her own fabrics. Her works are finished using a “free-motion quilting” technique that often includes 100 different thread colors. The resulting portraits explode with personality created using color and texture to convey a dog’s inquisitive gaze, a rabbit’s soft fur, or the protective embrace of a human. Each of the 16 works featured in this exhibition are as unique as the individuals and animals they represent.