Laughing Dragon Gallery reflects a newly-emerging mainstream art form: textile art. The site will reveal neo-illusionary textile pieces as artist Salli McQuaid creates them. She calls her unique vision as expressed in this latest series of her art "Cosmic Illusions," which is apparent in the work.

"I am expressing a new reality," she said. "It doesn't exist in life as we know it on this planet, although it may exist in other areas of our vast universe...."Maybe I'm predicting the future [inter-planetary travel]," she said. "Just think. My work could be like Brave New World, only in fabric."

McQuaid holds a Master's Degree in Art from San Jose University and a black belt in Kuk Sool Won. She began making art as a toddler and attended University of Oregon (Eugene) art classes with her father at age 7. Throughout grade school and high school she continued to make art and work with textiles.

Salli McQuaid's art resides in national and international  collections. In the three years she has made fine art quilts, they have been consistently selected for exhibitions. The current work Cosmic Illusions is, like her past art in other media, carefully crafted and finished ready to hang. A fine art quilt is displayed just like any other piece of two-dimensional art, but tends to be warmer because of its textures and physical depth.

Due to the quilt genre of which the textile artworks are an extension, they will instantly acquire an historical (Salli

 likes to say "hysterical") value that can be passed on to future generations.

explore this site to find out why the art is created

Here, you can see textile artwork that Salli McQuaid creates, or -- discretely, by contacting the artist (artistwriter@oplink.net ) -- acquire your own piece. (Please note: if a quilt is placed for sale in an exhibition, the quilt will never be sold at a lower price, although its price probably will go up.)

Through her Artist's Statements, you can learn about the artwork -- its construction, influences, conflicts, and/or resolutions, first-hand.

McQuaid shares practical information in Salli's Secrets. This page will share techniques to  help make your ideas work, or to make creating quilt art, easier. If you have an idea, please submit it. Credit will be given.

Salli does not measure the value of her work in time spent, but in love: love of the materials, the process, and the theme she expresses. She spends untold hours making each Cosmic Illusion. She considers the work finished only when it tells her it is done. "You can't hurry a quilt," she said.

come back

Laughing Dragon Gallery has been up since 1999. Since McQuaid has made art in various media for over five decades, creativity is now her first nature. Return to this site to see what new challenges she encounters and to follow the direction of the work. Since McQuaid is both experienced and educated in creating art, her neo-illusionary art explores in an informed manner mainstream pictorial art concerns.