Kim Eichler-Messmer
Kim Eichler-Messmer is an Associate Professor of Fiber at the Kansas City Art Institute, where she has taught surface design, quilting, and natural dye since 2008. She grew up in Iowa as an only child to two creative, nature-loving parents. She received a BFA in studio art from Iowa State University where she studied engineering, Spanish, Portuguese, drawing, and printmaking before finally realizing her love of textiles in a yardage screen printing class. She went on to receive an MFA in Textiles from the University of Kansas. She teaches workshops on dyeing and quilting regularly around the United States and her hand-dyed, one-of-a-kind quilts have been exhibited nationally and internationally in numerous solo and juried shows. Kim is the author of “Modern Color: An Illustrated Guide to Dyeing Fabric for Modern Quilts” and her work has been included in “Quilting with a Modern Slant” by Rachel May, and “The Uppercase Compendium of Craft and Creativity” by Janine Vangool, among others.
In her artist statement, Messmer shares, “In my work I explore the tension between order and disruption, the rigid and the organic, the grid and the gesture. As quilts, these works hold the softness and familiarity of textiles while asserting their presence as considered visual objects. Quilts carry associations of comfort, protection, and intimacy, yet here they also serve as arenas where structure is questioned and reshaped. My relationship to structure runs deep. My father was a carpenter, and I grew up surrounded by the habits of careful craft, where “measure twice, cut once” is a way of life. I began college as an engineering major, drawn to problem-solving, systems, and the elegance of order. These influences continue to shape how I think about form, composition, and construction. Equally important to me are mystery, chance, and play. Seeking poetry over perfection, I sew fabric improvisationally, embracing the unexpected that emerges when my brain quiets and my hands take over… The quilt format, combined with my visual vocabulary, becomes a self-portrait. Each piece reflects a balance of opposites: hard and soft, serious and playful, rigid and open, capturing the dualities that shape how I see and engage with the world. Through this interplay of structure, color, and texture, the quilts reveal both the discipline I carry from a life shaped by careful craft and structure, and the improvisation, mystery, and whimsy that allow the work, and myself, to breathe.
