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Coulter
Fussell

Coulter Fussell
Quilter
Water Valley, MS
2019 USA Fellow

This award was generously supported by Anonymous.
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Coulter Fussell was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia, an old textile town situated on the Chattahoochee River, on the eastern border of Alabama. The culture of Columbus and the surrounding river valley—including the neighboring military base of Fort Benning, housing Infantry and Airborne—play a significant role in Coulter’s work. Fussell’s father was an arts museum curator throughout her childhood while her mother is a life-long quilter and educator. Running through museum galleries on any given day after school and then going home to watch her mother sew for hours was standard. The combination resulted an early-developed artsview where craft and other arts are indistinguishable from one another. Painting, sculpture, and textile work became one solitary entity in her mind. From youth, the combination developed into an unintentional mash-up. Fussell relies on the no-holds barred nature of contemporary painting rules to free her compositions from the constraints of pattern. In turn, she simultaneously relies on the strict discipline of traditional craftwork to act as a self editing tool.

She now lives in Water Valley, a small town in the northern Hill Country of Mississippi. There, she runs her store and studio, Yalorun Textiles. Having been in the service industry for most of her life, Coulter is also a waitress in the neighboring town of Oxford, Mississippi. Fussell lives in Water Valley with her two young sons, Amos Henry and Booker, and their cat Janet.

Portrait photo courtesy artist.

coulterfussell.com
  • Artwork by Coulter Fussell
    Landfill Quilt, 2016. Found quilt from county landfill, house paint, fluorescent knit, house paint, cotton batting.
  • Artwork by Coulter Fussell
    Sunset Quilt, 2017. Spray paint, cotton, embroidery thread, Victorian Crazy Quilt.
  • Artwork by Coulter Fussell
    Color, 2017. Dropcloth, vintage Seminole patchwork, house paint, stretch neon, old quilt top, cotton batting. Piecework Collective Show.
Artwork by Coulter Fussell Artwork by Coulter Fussell Artwork by Coulter Fussell