Synergistic Visions

In a dusty attic at the age of 10, Steve Traudt chanced upon some old darkroom items belonging to his father. He ordered fresh paper and chemicals from the "Monkey Ward" catalog and a lifelong interest was soon born.

Raised in Nebraska, Traudt moved to Grand Junction in 1987 where he and wife, Fay Timmerman, established Quilt Junction and Gallery 412 which they operated for 9 years. Steve taught for 18 years at Mesa State College. Steve also conducts a variety of photography workshops and classes. He presents his SynVis photo seminars around the country. In addition, he is a certified scuba diver, a writer and a pharmacist.

He's exhibited photographs extensively around the world while earning many awards. Steve has led photo trips to such exotic locales as Costa Rica and the Galapagos. His articles and images have appeared in various magazines, calendars and books.

Traudt calls his photographs Synergistic Visions. He explains synergism as the cooperative interaction of several elements to yield a superior result. For Traudt, photography is synergism of such elements as the brain, emotions, vision, lenses and the camera. Since photography is both art and craft, Traudt views this synergism as a marriage of left-brain and right-brain activities.

Interested in a variety of subjects, his current work explores the form and texture of urban and natural landscapes. Traudt enjoys documenting the incongruities of everyday scenes and also employs various techniques to create emotive abstractions. His photographs are available as archival prints and canvas giclees.

Fay Timmerman-Traudt has always loved the feel of fabric. She began stitching at her grandmother’s knee at four-years-of-age.  She later was inspired by Amish women’s use of bold colors and dynamic lines in their quilts.   She has been creating and collecting quilts since 1985.

Moving to western Colorado in 1988 changed her view of the world and her quilting style. The sandstone patterns, unending vistas, unexpected colors and texture of sagebrush and cactus influences her awareness. The Petroglyph artwork created by the early Americans continues to inspire her work. She creates intuitively and is often surprised and delighted with the finished piece.

Fay and her photographer-husband, Steve Traudt, lived in the incredible high desert of Glade Park, Colorado amid the solitude, landscapes and abundant wildlife, an influence which continues to shape her esthetic.

Much of Fay’s work is innovative art quilting.  She hand-dyes, dye-discharges and hand stamps and paints many of her own fabrics.  She also teaches and designs in hand-made paper, doll making, embroidery and wearable art. A founding member of the Colorado West Quilters Guild and The Art Quilt Association, she owned and operated Quilt Junction in downtown Grand Junction, Colorado for eight years. 

Her quilts have won prizes in Road to California, Quilt Japan and the Colorado Quilting Council’s competitions.  Fay’s creations hang in collections in Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, California, New York and Japan.  Her quilt “Ancient Messages” was featured in the 2000 American Quilter’s Society’s Art Quilt Engagement calendar. Fay’s art piece, “Desert Blooms” was included in the 2010 “500 Art Quilts” published by Lark Books.

More recently, Fay has expanded into oil painting, a natural extension to her love of fabric.