Dozens learn about the art of ‘quilling’

By Adam Wolfe

Dozens of Maricopa residents attended the Maricopa Center for Entrepreneurship’s reception for local quilling artist Deborah Jay Wednesday night.

The exhibit displayed nearly fifty pieces of Jay’s work during the event. Each piece consists of small, rolled up pieces of paper of various colors that combine to form a masterpiece. Jay’s work ranges from images of animals to three-dimensional dolls. Each piece was framed for display, and patrons attending the event were able to purchase any pieces they awed by.

“I call myself a paper artist,” Jay said. “The very first thing I did was a heart, and after that I was hooked and I just started rolling paper. After I left my position back in Chicago, I came out here and started doing it on a daily basis.”

Her love of art doesn’t stop at quilling either. Jay loves to doodle, knit, crochet and dip her talents into other non mainstream forms of art.

“I love to Zentangle,” Jay said. “It’s a form of doodling that is now being displayed in art museums. You draw the same shape over and over until you form a masterpiece. It’s quite therapeutic.”

The quilling pieces will be on display at MCE for the month of September.