John Lefelhocz

Lefelhocz's quilted work debuted in Quilt National '99. “I was naive and didn’t realize when I entered Quilt National how large the art quilt world was or how much respect there is for the Quilt National brand,” he recalled. “I just thought it was another art show with regional jurors, but the people who select the works for QN are chosen from far-reaching geographic localities and artistic backgrounds to ensure that new and cutting-edge approaches to the quilt making are discovered and recognized. Each time I’ve been accepted in Quilt National, it has opened up my art to a much larger audience and has given me greater confidence to explore more innovative ideas in future artworks.”

The Ohio Arts Council Quilt Barn Impact Study published in 2008 highlights that beyond the purely artistic importance of quilt barns, they have great value for the Appalachian Ohio region in terms of the economic, social, and cultural strengthening of the region.

John Lefelhocz has also drawn from his knowledge of Athens County roads through cycling, his work with traditional quilt patterns, and his design skills to contribute to the Quilt Barn Tour: A Patchwork Path Through Athens County. This project took shape in 2005. "The project began as a part of a Regional Flavor Initiative, whose aims paralleled those that Donna Sue Groves of Adams County, Ohio had set forth as the goals for the barn quilt project ...by creating opportunities for tourism and entrepreneurship that emphasize each region's historic and cultural assets."

Lefelhocz says of his early quilts, "I was hand stitching with dental floss through window screening. There's an Appalachian culture here in Southeastern Ohio, where you ...make what you've got work". In Ohio Star Bar, a work to commemorate Ohio's bicentennial (2003), Lefelhocz brilliantly references both traditional quilts and landscape with imagery created in part on the computer. He says, "From a distance it looks like a traditional quilt, and I really enjoy that homage to my culture...I like including that lineage because it has meaning now, and it is going to have meaning further down the road."

The materials chosen for each of Lefelhocz's work in this style further add to the overall concept. Based on a traditional Double Wedding Ring quilt pattern is the piece titled "Match Schticks" (73" x 62";2002).Instead of cloth, though the top is pieced from printed paper bonded to nylon net. The paper shows repeated images of wedding cakes, corsets, and dollar bills tied in the shape of bow ties. The surface of the work has extensive embellishment, including over three thousand kitchen matches. Lefelhocz points out,"I was aiming to point out the parallels between passion, fire, love, power, and combustibility by using the matches...The wedding cake is the symbol of sweetness and consumption. The corsets are dual symbols of feminine power and constriction. You have to be attractive for the attention, but you may suffer for it. The money bow ties are a masculine counterpart to the corset. You may have to have money to get the attention, but it might choke you"

In the late 1990s Lefelhocz steered toward a style with greater priority on the broader use of multimedia art. This style includes, but is not limited to, the use of digital paper prints, painting, needle work, and a refined use of found objects, frequently assembled in bas relief. These objects create a narrative through the use of metaphor and abstraction.

John Lefelhocz ("lěf-ä-hōlts") (born 1967 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American conceptual artist primarily known for his works in the textile arts, specifically art quilts. He attended Ohio University (in Athens, Ohio). Since college, he has owned and operated Cycle Path Bicycle Shop in Athens, at the same time establishing himself as an artist. His art gained higher recognition in the late 1990s. This can be attributed to inclusion in several Quilt Nationals. He has subsequently shown his works throughout the US and abroad.

When the Athens County quilt barn committee first met, they intended to create a quilt barn trail using traditional quilt blocks. However, when, at their second meeting, artist and quilter Lefelhocz presented his idea for a quilt block based on the design of Star Brick, clay brick manufactured in nearby Nelsonville, Ohio during the late 1800s, the committee knew they were on to something. As Lefelhocz explained, it snowballed: “Then it was like ‘If we do that, we should do several others that represent Athens.’ We went through all the various things Athens County could represent . . . I brought sketches of those to the next meeting. And Sally Dunker, of the travel and tourism office, was like, ‘Wow, this is great.’” Even the traditional quilt blocks chosen for the Athens County quilt barn trail were carefully selected and adapted to highlight the culture of the county". Lefelhocz designed several original patterns used in conjunction with traditional blocks to represent Athens County, Ohio.