Kestrel Michaud: AI Generated Art and Quilting

Kestrel Michaud is pioneering the use of technology in quilt design and creation. Artificial intelligence (AI) generated art is a new technology that has taken the world by storm. Yet this new method of quickly creating works of art is controversial to say the least.

In 2023, Kestrel’s article, “Artificial Intelligence: Made For Inspiration,“ was published as a feature article in the SAQA Journal (SAQA member login required).

Kestrel’s lecture on the use of AI in art is drawn from her research and experience. In this lecture, you will learn:

• What AI generated art is
• How AI art is made
• What the wider art community thinks about AI art
• The controversy surrounding AI art generators
• Challenges facing the quilting community due to AI art
• Kestrel's recommendation for ethically using AI art in quilt design

Kestrel Michaud is a classically trained, imaginative realism fine artist with a passion for illustrating in fabric. Kestrel attended the Ringling College of Art and Design and in 2010, she graduated with honors and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration, having gained an extensive understanding of how to create captivating works of art out of fabric.

All of Kestrel’s quilts are in the style of imaginative realism. Kestrel combines the lessons about visual storytelling she learned in college with her talent working with fabric to create quilts that tell stories from this fictional realm in a visual style that makes the imagery look real, even though it’s not.

Her process for creating her work is entirely self-developed. She draws her designs on an iPad, develops a full pattern in Illustrator, uses a Cricut cutting machine to cut her fabrics, and developed a method to entirely prevent the fabric from fraying. She has also invented a process to accurately select fabrics for her digital designs using self-created paper color swatches. More about Kestrel 

Artist website and/or social media:

https://kestrelmichaud.com/

https://www.facebook.com/kestrel.michaud

https://www.instagram.com/kestrelmichaud/

https://www.youtube.com/kestrelmichaud