Like everybody else, I've become increasingly fascinated by the computer's ability to divide reality into an endless series of ones and zeroes. Perhaps more spiritual than I gave myself credit for, I used to resist computers -- too rational, too predictable, too boring. But they just kept gobbling up the universe, and when I finally started cracking open their cases, revealing a miniature world of bits and bytes, resistors and transistors, RAM and ROM, I quickly learned that computers are more mysterious than I ever would have imagined.

A quilter for 15 years, I was always on the lookout for patterns, and what I began to notice was that the really interesting patterns -- to me, anyway -- were now coming from the computer realm: circuit boards, chip designs, even code, with its orderly arrangement of tabs and indents. Alas, it got harder and harder to express those patterns in the quilt medium, and so I started thinking about crossing over to the other side. I'm now learning Photoshop and Illustrator, two image-processing software applications that, in their sheer intricacy, rival the Talmud. The goal, having set quilting aside, is to capture the patterns of our time using the tools of our time.

I remain influenced by modern art and design, from Japanese woodcuts and Bauhaus weavings to Op Art and the Pattern and Decoration Movement. I also remain influenced by the century-long tradition of modern abstract art, from Piet Mondrian to Ellsworth Kelly to Bridget Riley and beyond. Add to these an interest I've always had in the built environment, from glittering skyscrapers to rusty storm drains, and you start to get an idea where I'm coming from. Hopefully, the images will speak for themselves. If not, I'm sure Google is working on an algorithm that will explain everything.