A Million Little Choices: Sami Lange

In her intricately colored and textured paper quilts, artist Sami Lange delves into the often heavy, powerful, and beautiful loads women and parents carry. The volume of stitches and thousands of hand-cut, hand-dyed individual paper pieces in each work represent the overwhelming number of choices we each face on a daily basis. The layers of imagery represent the sometimes unconnected and jarring roles in our varied identities. Minor decisions in our everyday lives lead to a woven and quilted life, made whole by the small moments, healthy relationships, and supportive circles we build for our families and communities. In the spirit of finding joy and staying within the boundaries of lightness, the work focuses on the freedom we feel when little decisions allow us to make choices and create paths that resonate with our core identities.

Artist Bio

Sami Lange is a paper dye artist living and working in Phoenix, Arizona. Her artwork consists of hundreds and often thousands of hand-cut and dyed paper circles and shapes stitched together. Each shape is hand-cut by Sami with scissors, dyed multiple times in water baths, and then dried, taped, and stitched together.

Sami has a BFA in Printmaking and advanced degrees in education, library science, and leadership. She weaves together a life of motherhood and academic librarianship, creating paper art and reflecting on the many dual roles in her work. Her work is in permanent collections worldwide, including the Learning Connexion,  Wellington, New Zealand; the Kyoto Seika University Print Collection, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto; the Doyle Collection, Santa Rosa, CA; and the International Museum of Collage, Santa Fe, NM. She has had solo shows in Petaluma, CA, and Cookeville, TN, at Santa Rosa Junior College and Tennessee Tech University.

Image: Sami Lange, Life of Colors (Detail), Paper, dye, tape & thread, 36″ x 24″

Closing Reception

Friday, September 13, 6 – 8pm

Help us celebrate the end of A Million Little Choices! Join artist Sami Lange for a closing reception on September 13.

Exhibit Photos