Background


Dena Crain came to Kenya in 1990 for a teaching position at Egerton University outside Nakuru, Kenya. She has spent most of her time since then living on the shore of Lake Baringo, two hundred miles and a five hour drive north of Nairobi, with her life partner Jonathan Leakey, eldest son of Louis and Mary Leakey, renowned palaeontologists.

Dena is a devoted stepmother to Jonathan’s four grown children and their families, one Dalmatian, seven cats, and a large aquarium full of platties, not to mention an orphaned hippo named Cleo (now living with Owen and Mzee at Haller Park and a troop of about seventy vervet monkeys!

Baby hippo Cleo helps Dena Crain make patchwork quilts

Baby hippo Cleo helps Dena Crain make patchwork quilts

Early in her life in Baringo, Dena saw patchwork quilting as a way to employ local women, taught herself the basics and began a small production quilting business in her home. With advanced degrees in design, anthropology, and textiles, she was uniquely positioned to help. As her experience and confidence increased, she began producing “one-off” works of art. Since then, she has studied art quilting in the USA and South Africa.

Dena has a strong sense of responsibility and is committed to supporting local business. She purchases only fabrics and notions made and sold in Kenya. Finding solid color cotton materials unavailable, she took up fabric dyeing and printing. She uses ecologically friendly fiber reactive dyes to avoid using precious charcoal and firewood, thus helping to conserve Kenya’s rapidly vanishing forests.

With Canadian quilter Anne Mains, Dena helped found the Kenya Quilt Guild. She continues to be active in the Kenya quilting community, assisting with the work of the Guild and teaching classes to other quilters. She helps educate members of the society at large about quilts as art. She has written magazine articles and lectured at non-quilting functions. She is the Africa regional representative for Studio Art Quilt Associates.

Dena’s quilts have been the subject of several solo art exhibitions. In 2004 Dena joined the faculty of Quilt University, an online educational facility for quilters. At present, she teaches six classes twice each year. Teaching online compensates nicely for her relative isolation in the Kenyan ‘upcountry,’ allowing Dena to interact in a personal way with students from more than twenty different countries. Teaching in Cape Town, South Africa, for the Good Hope Quilters Guild National Quilt Festival in July 2002 moved Dena into the ranks of international quilting teachers.

 

RÉSUMÉ

Education and Training

Exhibitions

  • “The Quilts of East Africa,” Ailsa Craig, Canada, Oct. 2008
  • “Transformations ’07: Reverberations;” juried exhibition opening at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England at The National Exhibition Centre, August 16-19, 2007 and traveling internationally for the following year
  • Kuona Trust Exhibition at The Go-Down, Nairobi, Kenya, Dec. 2006
  • Bizarre Bazaar, Langata, Kenya, Nov. 2006
  • Piecing a Quilt of Life, York County Museum, Rock Hill, North Carolina, Sept. 2003-April 2004
  • Jamhuri Christmas Craft Fair, Nairobi, Kenya Dec. 2003
  • Village Market Exhibition Hall, Nairobi, joint exhibition with potter Larry Oughton, October 2003
  • 10th Carrefour du Patchwork , Saint-Marie-aux-Mines, France, September 2003
  • Legend House, Wilson Airport, Nairobi, solo exhibition, June 2001
  • South African National Quilt Festival, Johannesburg, South Africa, September 2000
  • Kenya Quilt Guild Exhibitions, Village Market Exhibition Hall, Nairobi, annually from 2000-2006
  • Karen Country Club, Nairobi, November 2000
  • Product Design and Development Centre, Nairobi, solo exhibition, April 2000 (held over)
  • Village Market Exhibition Hall, Nairobi, solo exhibition, October 1998
  • Karen Country Club, Nairobi, April 1997

Art Quilts in Public Places

  • “Guardian,” “Jua Kali,” “Conversation Piece,” and “The Future Is Now,” commissioned works, The Rockefeller Foundation, Nairobi, 2004
  • “Doorway to Africa” and “Mednat,” US Embassy to Kenya, Nairobi, 2001
  • “Tribute to Ethiopia: Axum, Gondar, Harrar, and Lalibela,” commissioned 4-panel work, Aksum Lounge of the Nairobi Serena Hotel, 2001
  • “Terminal Smoking May Be Hazardous to Your Health,” commemorates the life of the artist’s mother who died of lung cancer in 1999, Oncology Wing of St. Luke Hospital East, Ft. Thomas, Kentucky, 2000
  • “Aftermath,” commemorates the bombing of the US Embassies to Kenya and Tanzania, US Embassy to Kenya, Nairobi, 1998

Online and International Teaching Experience

Professional Affiliations and Awards

Lectures

Publications

  • “Quilts Around the World,” Spike Gillespie, Voyageur Press, China, 2010 (ISBN 978-0-7603-3744-8)
  • “500 Art Quilts: An Inspiring Collection of Contemporary Work,” Lark Books, 2010 (ISBN-10: 1600590586; ISBN-13: 978-1600590580)
  • SAQA Journal, Vol. 18, No. 3, Summer 2008, p. 22-23
  • New Zealand Quilter magazine, Issue 62, January 2008, p. 39
  • Cotton Spice e-zine, June 2007 (Quilt Pattern) and October 2007
  • From the Sewing Room e-zine, “That’s My Story . . ,” October 2007
  • Studio Art Quilt Associates’ “Portfolio 12,” October 2005; “Portfolio 13,” October 2006; “Portfolio 14,” October 2007; “Portfolio 15,” October 2008
  • “Crossing Continents,” by Elizabeth Fuchs, “Popular Patchwork,” October 2004
  • “From the Bedroom to the Boardroom,” Executive Magazine, Nairobi, 1999
  • Various articles for the Kenya Quilt Guild monthly newsletter, dealing with issues of interest to quilters
  • “Symmetry Analysis Applied to Textile Design,” with Ira Block, Ars Textrina, Vol. 16, December 1991

Personal

 

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