BILL STEARMAN
Bill Stearman didn’t come to quiltmaking by choice. In 2013, while looking for an alternative to mind numbing pain medication after a serious leg injury, someone suggested that he try making a quilt. It sounded strange but he gave it a try – and discovered that when he sewed he didn’t feel pain. Over three hundred quilts later, he’s still at it.
Stearman describes himself as self-taught, although in reality sought out every master quilter whose work he admired. Then, he travelled across North America and Australia to learn. The friendships developed through this process continue to inspire and motivate. He has lectured with his well-known “BackPack Show” across Canada, and now online around the world. Recently Bill retired as an in-class instructor at the Halliburton School of Art and Design. His quilts have been juried into 50+ shows across North America, including those in Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Chicago, Colorado, Virginia, Vancouver, Toronto, and Ottawa.
In 2021, Bill’s life and work underwent a dramatic shift – when he was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. Over seven months he went from diagnosis to an intense battery of tests and cancer treatments, to a miraculous surgery where he received a new liver from his daughter, to a prognosis increased by twenty years. This experience dramatically changed Bill’s outlook on life. He works with a renewed intensity driven by a desire to change the world. To make it a better place. And to speak his truth – even if his voice shakes.
Stearman’s work frequently deals with topics not normally associated with quilts. Sexual abuse, depression, illness, racism, sexuality and gender all have been subjects in Bill’s bold, striking, and often emotional creations.
Bill Stearman lives and makes quilts in Picton, Ontario.
Quilting designed by Bill Stearman and executed by Deanna Gaudaur. www.quintestudios.com
All quilt photography by Mike Gaudaur. www.quintestudios.com
BILL STEARMAN
2021
commercial cotton, cotton batik
72”h x 60”w
< Return to Full Collection
When doctors found a tumour in my liver it almost took over my life – and certainly did my focus. To counter that negativity, and to take away some of its power. I named my tumour Clarence. I gave him a personality and let him bring humour into my life. He was soon zapped and mostly gone. But for a while, we had fun with him.
BILL STEARMAN
2021
commercial cotton, hand-dyed cotton, cursive writing quilting
72”h x 55”w
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Shortly before Canada Day, 2021, the remains of 215 children buried on the site of Kamloops Residential School were discovered. This was just the beginning.
On July 1st, I couldn’t bring myself to decorate the front of our house with the usual red and white. Instead, I displayed this quilt
It is 215 pieces of orange fabric, quilted with the text from the United Nations definition of Genocide.
** The artist and the gallery will donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this piece to support
All Welcome Here, PEC.
BILL STEARMAN
2021
recycled fabric, recycled quilt top, commercial cotton, cotton batik
64”h x 62”w
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A friend gifted me an old, faded and somewhat ragged quilt top. It had obviously been made with love using recycled fabric, but never been finished into a quilt.
I knew that there was more to its story – its journey. And as I worked, its story began to include me.
Now, it’s about our journey.
BILL STEARMAN
2021
Japanese yarn-dyed cotton, commercial shot cotton, linen, silk, commercial cotton
66”h x 60”w
< Return to Full Collection
In the two weeks before my transplant, when I needed something to occupy my head, my heart and my hands... I pieced this quilt. I used primarily Japanese yarn-dyed fabric that I knew would soften and fray, and a technique similar to Boro mending.
While my daughter and I were in our surgeries, my quilter quilted it.
Indeed, washing softened and frayed it perfectly. There is comfort in this quilt.
BILL STEARMAN
2021
Japanese yarn-dyed cotton, commercial shot cotton, linen, silk, commercial cotton
67”h x 61”w
< Return to Full Collection
I used my head and my heart to calm my emotions during the weeks that I lived with a terminal diagnosis. While calming, they also brought me to a place of comfort.
I have loved, and been loved. Generously.
I have cared and nurtured, and I have experienced the same from others.
I have been kind and giving, and I have known the kindness of others.
In my life, my focus has been on creating positive energy, and positive people have surrounded me.
I have laughed lots, and I have made others laugh.
I have smiled whenever I could, and many have smiled back.
I have lived a happy life, and I think that I’ve made others happy.
I will be remembered. Fondly. I’m sure of it.
I will live on.
And I’ve become comfortable with the notion of dying, whenever that happens.
BILL STEARMAN
2022
commercial fabric, hand-dyed cotton
31”h x 31”w (irregular)
< Return to Full Collection
A year that I’ll never forget. COVID. A terminal diagnosis. Glimmers of hope. A generous gift. Life-saving surgery. Growing hope. Reclaiming love. Reshaping my life.
Always with gratitude.
BILL STEARMAN
2022
commercial cotton, shweshwe cotton
30”h x 40”w (irregular)
< Return to Full Collection
My beauty is about so much more than my body shape and size – and the clothes it fits into. I thank you for seeing just my beauty, and not what society has taught you to see.
BILL STEARMAN
2022
commercial cotton, hand-dyed cotton
116”h x 100”w (generous queen size)
< Return to Full Collection
I had so much fun working on this quilt. It’s another “word quilt” using Morse Code.
One side of the bedspread says TOP. The other side says BOTTOM. The word VERSATILE stretches across the top and the bottom borders.
Flip the quilt lengthwise on the bed and TOP and BOTTOM are flipped as well… on the quilt. 😉
And I love that it turned out to be a ‘generous queen’ size!
BILL STEARMAN
2022
commercial cotton, cotton batik
62”h x 53”w
< Return to Full Collection
“As I observed the loss of what I see as basic human rights and freedoms south of the border, I became filled with terror at the thought that this trend might spread to Canada.
In the midst of this feeling of terror, I watched a video of Patti Smith singing, “People Have the Power” (follow the QR Code). This song reminded me that stopping the trend, protecting our Canadian values, is up to us all!
We have the power. Let’s use it!”
BILL STEARMAN
2022
commercial cotton, hand-dyed cotton
63”h x 56”w
< Return to Full Collection
Sometimes, my bouts with depression bring dreams of drowning – the sensation of drowning.
I actually feel myself sinking deeper and deeper until there is barely a glimmer of light at the surface.
And it just feels right.
But only until my lungs swell and I think they’re going to explode.
Then terror sets in.
At what seems like the last minute, I am drawn to the light and I swim toward it.
First one kick and then another.
The kicks come faster as the light gets brighter.
And I break the surface gasping for air, sputtering out far more water than I thought I had swallowed.
Always it is just in time.
And always I am glad to be alive.This quilt is about the feeling of NOT drowning – of floating in the light instead. I know that I will sink again.
But I also know that I will again find the light and float above the darkness.For a while.
BILL STEARMAN
2022
commercial cotton
64”h x 55”w
< Return to Full Collection
This quilt is based on Brandi Carlile’s song “The Joke”.
My own life experience bears out the words from its chorus …“I have been to the movies, I've seen how it ends, and the joke's on them”.
This quilt is dedicated to the multitudes of us who made it – in spite of the teasing, the name calling, the put downs, the harassment, the bullying and the beating that we received growing up. Just for being different. Just for being us.
And it is a reminder to those going through it now that it gets better!
BILL STEARMAN
2021
unfinished quilt top, recycled work clothes, commercial cotton
65”h x 60”w (irregular)
< Return to Full Collection
The events of 2021 gave me a sense of just how brief my own life is in the continuum of time. I needed a context; some history to put my apparent insignificance into a bigger picture. I had started this quilt some time ago. 2021 convinced me to finish it.
The centre blocks were made by my Grandmother in the 1960s and early 1970’s. Each piece sparks a memory – a story. My part comes from adding tattered work clothes from my days as a sheep farmer. Some ancient Japanese fabric gifted by a dear friend adds even more depth.
I am just a tiny part of something so much bigger. And it’s important for me to remember that.
BILL STEARMAN
2020
hand-dyed cotton, silk, linen, wool, discharged fabric, marker, commercial cotton
72”h x 72”w
< Return to Full Collection
I will never again accept “tsk-tsk” from Canadians responding to racism in the US. Racism is alive and well in our own country, and we need to talk about it!
When I started this quilt, I knew that I wanted to address systemic racism – as I began my own education as a privileged, gay, white, male. I knew I needed to learn, and I needed to change.
In order to get a better sense of the Canadian reality, I purchased the audio version of Desmond Cole’s book, “The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power”. As I listened to him reading his book, I wept openly. Somehow, as an apparently well-informed Canadian, I had no idea that this is reality in my own country.
This quilt, and my shame, grew as I worked and listened to Mr. Cole’s words. Written on this quilt, are the names of the last thirty Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) individuals killed by police or who died while in police custody in Canada. In the bottom corner is a link to Desmond Cole’s blog where the names are listed, so that you can read their stories. Above that is a link to a CBC documentary by Charles Officer and Desmond Cole. Please follow the links. #saytheirnames #knowtheirstories #blacklivesmatter
BILL STEARMAN
2022
commercial cotton, raw edge appliqué
59”h x 59”w
< Return to Full Collection
This quilt is inspired by a recording of Milck singing her song “Quiet” with 1300 voices in a Choir, Choir, Choir YouTube video (follow the QR Code). The song deals with coming to terms with past sexual abuse. Speaking out about it. Healing from it.
Listening to this song inspired me to tell my own story. Through telling that story, I learned to see myself as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse after years of feeling a victim.
Talk about it, folks.
It might help others.
And it will help you.
BILL STEARMAN
2019
commercial cotton
63”h x 63”w
< Return to Full Collection
This quilt is one large, double disappearing, nine patch block. It is about the power of one and the responsibility to speak your truth, even if your voice shakes; to make a difference.
It also speaks to the rights of trans folk and the fluidity of gender. Trans folk are among the most “at risk” individuals in our community. Your voice can help spark change. Speak up for trans rights. Be inclusive in your language. Challenge transphobia.
It matters folks.
It really matters.
BILL STEARMAN
2020
commercial cotton, raw edge appliqué
63”h x 59”w
< Return to Full Collection