Regina Durante Jestrow

Regina Durante Jestrow (b. 1978) is an Italian-American textile artist based in Miami, Florida. Working at the intersection of contemporary art and American quilt traditions, Jestrow redefines the visual and conceptual language of quilting through a rigorously material and process-driven practice. Her work engages the historical and cultural frameworks of quilt-making—long associated with domestic labor, communal knowledge, and feminist histories—while pushing the medium into dialogue with abstraction, painting, and spatial composition. Drawing from both inherited and vernacular textile traditions, Jestrow constructs her works through an intuitive yet disciplined process of cutting, piecing, and stitching, resulting in dynamic geometric compositions that oscillate between structure and improvisation. Jestrow employs a wide range of materials, including hand-dyed, sourced, and repurposed textiles, often manipulating surfaces through dyeing, staining, and layering techniques. Her compositions are marked by a sophisticated use of color and pattern, frequently informed by the visual rhythms and chromatic intensity of Miami’s built and natural environments. While rooted in textile traditions, her works extend beyond the conventions of quilting, operating as hybrid objects that engage with painting, relief, and installation. Positioned within a broader resurgence of interest in fiber-based practices, Jestrow’s work contributes to ongoing conversations around materiality, labor, and the revaluation of historically marginalized mediums. Her practice situates quilting within a contemporary art context, asserting its relevance as both a formal and conceptual framework for abstraction today.