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About Monique

Baltimore County

Monique Crabb (b. 1982), a Mexican-American artist whose work represents an interplay of narrative, identity, and symbolism that speaks to the constraints of societal structures and of the human body. Her diverse practice spans textiles, installation, video, and photography, with a focus on traditional craft processes. Reshaping secondhand fabric and using colors extracted from organic materials she has foraged or grown, allows her the opportunity to materialize deep contemplations of the… more

View Monique's Resume
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Textile Work


Most of my pieces are made of second hand fabric that I dye with plants, wood, food waste, and minerals. I dye small batches of fabric in various tones of color from the same plant source. Most often I work intuitively and pull from my piles of naturally dyed fabric, and like a painter or collagest, will start cutting and arranging various shapes until everything fits the way I want it to, then I start piecing, machine sewing and finally hand quilting the whole thing to make one.






  • foraged black walnuts
    foraged black walnuts
    Black walnuts foraged around my home. Produce a beige to rich brown color
  • Plant dyed fabric
    Plant dyed fabric
    Various textures of cotton and linen fabric salvaged second hand and plant dyed
  • Plant dye process shot
    Plant dye process shot
  • Staghorn Sumac
    Staghorn Sumac
    Rich in tannins. Staghorn sumac dyes a tan color or can be used as a mordant to help other plant colors adhere to the fabric
  • Winter
    Winter
    86"x 90" Intuitively pieced using all naturally hand dyed fabric with the exception of a piece of salvaged denim. This quilt inhabits all of the natural dyes i've used so far. A real source of light during a winter season. Hand quilted using natural Japanese Sashiko thread.
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    • Dear You ~ A Story Quilt

    Dear You
    66" x 66"
    2018

    This project is about my brother, who has Bipolar Schizoaffective Disorder. It's my story about the seasons of his life that revolve around jails, hospitals, mental institutes, and halfway homes. Every symbol is naturally hand dyed with plants, wood shavings, and minerals that are hand sewn onto a larger naturally dyed piece of salvaged bedsheet. Short stories accompany various symbols.  Most of which I've been sharing on Instagram with #johnpaulcabreracrabb.


    • Dear You / process shot
      Dear You / process shot
      Fabric dyed with plants, symbols designed, cut and applique
    • detail shot
      detail shot
    • detail shot
      detail shot
    • Water Symbol Story
      A short story that accompanies the wave symbol
    • childhood window
      childhood window
      Detail shot
    •

    • Into the Blue

    Into the Blue
    55" x 65"
    2016

    In memory of my father's life I made a photo quilt using cyanotype coated fabric and exposed images with the light of the sun with negatives i made from scanned photos. The pattern inspired by newspaper layouts with the written story removed.  

    My father loved all things water. Fishing, owning a fish tank, swimming, the ocean, storms.... It took me 15 years to scatter his ashes at sea. 
    • Into the Blue
      Into the Blue
      detail of cyanotype images and hand quilting
    • Into the Blue
      Into the Blue
      cyanotype coated fabric exposed my handmade negatives from scanned photos
    •

    • Rose Garden

    Rose Garden
    90" x 88"
    2018
    • Rose Garden
      Rose Garden
      90” x 88” Over 100 hours of handwork this piece is constructed entirely of naturally dyed cotton and linen fabrics. All fabric was naturally dyed using cutch, madder root, quebracho rojo and avocado pits for the pinks and reds, fustic/iron for the green, and tannin for the beige. Machine pieced and hand quilted with natural toned quilting thread.
    • Rose Garden
      Rose Garden
      Installed in a group show, Common Axis, at Buoy Gallery in Kittery, Maine.
    • Rose Garden / detail shot
      Rose Garden / detail shot
    • Common Axis
      Common Axis
      Install shot
    •

    • Mexico City

    Mexico City
    72" x 66"
    2018

    My mother is from Mexico City and often as a child we spent months at a time visiting family there. The pattern for this piece was inspired by my memories of flying from Houston to Mexico City as a child. The way the city looked from above looked like scattered candy. 
    • Mexico City
      Mexico City
      Constructed entirely out of naturally dyed scraps of various textures of natural fabrics. The pattern ignites my memory of flights from Houston to Mexico City as a child and the way the buildings from above looked like someone had scattered colorful candy across the city. Made entirely of naturally dyed fabric. Hand quilted using natural toned quilting thread.
    • Install shot
      Install shot
      Part of a group show, Common Axis at Buoy Gallery in Kittery, Maine
    • detail shot
      detail shot
      repurposed fabric. dyed with plants. hand sewn
    •

    • Jenny

    Jenny
    86" x 90"
    2017

    • Jenny
      Jenny
      Jenny 86” x 90” Inspired by the paintings of a friend, Jenny McGee Dougherty, whose line quality I admire. For the front I combined black kona cotton, salvaged natural linen, naturally hand dyed fustic and iron for the army green and madder root for the vibrant pink. The back is composed of both naturally dyed fabrics along side a salvaged piece of bed sheet. The blue is dyed with indigo, the tans with onion skins and the pink with madder root.
    • jenny detail
      jenny detail
    •