Gone Quilting with Fons & Porter: Episode 1
Ricky Tims
Ricky Tims has successfully blended two diverse passions into one very unique and interesting career. His skills as a pianist, composer and producer have been evident by the thousands who have heard his music. His success as a quilter is equally significant.
He is known in the international world of quilting as an enthusiastic and encouraging teacher, an award-winning quilter and a talented and spellbinding speaker. His innovative and entertaining presentations feature live music and humor, combined with scholarly insights and wisdom. His quilts have been displayed worldwide and are highly regarded as excellent examples of contemporary quilts with traditional appeal.
Ricky began designing and making quilts in 1991 and was recently selected as one of "The Thirty Most Distinguished Quilters in the World." He maintains an extensive international schedule of teaching and speaking engagements, hosts the week-long Rocky Mountain Quilt Retreat in Colorado Springs, and presents the two-day Ricky Tims Quilt Seminars in select cities throughout the United States. He also holds week-long retreats at his art quilt gallery in La Veta, Colorado, a tiny mountain town located in south central Colorado.
Ricky is passionate about quilting and is delighted to share his experience and enthusiasm with quilters of every level of expertise. He is challenged by creativity in all forms and encourages individuals to cultivate self-expression, reach for the unreachable and believe in the impossible. Quilting is a relatively new interest compared to Ricky's lifelong passion for music. He began formal music lessons at the age of three. He is a pianist, conductor, composer, arranger, music producer and performing artist. Tims' music is neither classical, new age, pop nor world, and yet it could fall under any of those classifications.
Sacred Age, Ricky's newest recording was released in January of 2006. The album project, featuring solo piano infused with Native American instruments, string orchestra and vocal orchestrations, was created to suggest the beauty, majesty and spirit of the Spanish Peaks region of Southern Colorado. Tims' music has wide appeal for a diverse audience has been described as "George Winston meets Carlos Nakai meets Yanni."
Ricky is proud to have implemented and conducted the 1998 concert "When We No Longer Touch," featuring the St. Louis Voices United Chorus and members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Passage, the CD recording of this unique concert, was released in December 1998. He has also produced several solo piano recordings. His blend of music and quilting is unique and remarkable.
