Sally Manke’s mission is to delight others with textile art that exemplifies her passion for joyful, creative expression through color and texture. Sally creates her art quilts and fiber art in her home studio in Arcadia, Michigan. Nature is a theme in her work, as the  wildflower-dotted woods, Lake Michigan shoreline, snowy trails, and country roads that surround her home often inspire her contemporary art quilts. When Sally’s not quilting, she’s spending time with her grandchildren or hiking, walking on the beach, cross country skiing, and cycling near Arcadia or on far-flung family vacations.
Since childhood, Sally has harbored an affinity for creativity and fabric, creating her first pattern on newspaper and sewing her first garment on a Singer Featherweight around the age of 8. One undergraduate degree in home economics, a master’s degree in art, and a 25-year career teaching art and life skills later, Sally’s perfect day is still one spent in her home studio with fabric spread far and wide, where ideas and possibilities to create abound.
Sally enjoys crafting traditional quilts, coiled rope baskets and all forms of fiber art, but her passion is art quilts. She particularly enjoys confetti quilts that unite color and texture using precise quilting skills and artistic creativity. Thousands and thousands of bits of batik fabric are “painted” on quilt batting and backing before quilting to stabilize and add fine details.
Sally’s work has been featured at juried quilt shows throughout the U.S including the American Quilter’s Society shows and International Quilt Festival. Her innumerable awards include a blue ribbon at Quilt Week in Paducah, Kentucky – ostensibly the Red Carpet of quilt guild shows – and a Red Hot Best nod as Northern Michigan’s Best Visual Artist in 2016. She enjoys sharing her expertise through trunk shows, classes, and workshops at quilt shops and guilds.