Art quilter Brian Dykhuizen thought he might have good news when he found two large envelopes in his mailbox from the American Quilter’s Society international quilting competition in Paducah, Ky.

He had enough experience entering juried quilt shows to know that rejections usually came in small business-sized envelopes. Dykhuizen almost didn’t dare hope that the prestigious show had accepted two of his entries. It was the first time he’d entered the Paducah show.

As he tore open the envelopes, he discovered both his “Twists and Turns” and “Composition in Black and White No. 1” quilts had made the cut.

Judges chose Dykhuizen’s work from among hundreds of entrants from 46 states and 11 countries.

More than 30,000 visitors are expected in late April to admire creations by Dykhuizen and the other quilters. An elite show in the quilting world, the competition offers $120,000 in cash prizes with a Best of Show award of $20,000.

Because Best of Show winners at Paducah usually feature traditional themes with hand-sewing, Dykhuizen doesn’t expect to see a $20,000 check in the mail after the April 23 judging. But he hopes to place in categories friendly to abstract work.

“I think my design has a wonderful impact. I think my work is good, but it’s so different,” he said. “I think the acceptance of the art quilt is still relatively new as an art form.”

Both of Dykhuizen’s quilts feature optically stunning designs in mostly black and white. As a design concept, his “Twists and Turns” idea dates back to 2008 when the Flathead Quilters Guild chose “Optical Illusions” as the fall show theme.

“There’s a book called ‘Log Cabin with a Twist,’” he said. “I got the idea for the block from that book, but the pattern is my own.”

Executed in mostly black and white Pimatex cotton, the quilt incorporates Dykhuizen’s own hand-dyed red fabric in the center of the squares and around the thin inner border. He sewed the intricate quilt intermittently between May and November of 2012.

“I couldn’t work on it for a long period of time,” he said with a laugh. “My eyes would go buggy.”

His other completely black and white quilt also leaps off the wall with an almost hypnotic pull upon the eyes. Both defy traditional quilt genres with their striking abstract and geometrical designs.

Dykhuizen’s work would never be confused with anyone’s grandmother’s work or any other quilter. He also stands out as the lone male member of the Flathead Quilters Guild and the only man in his two sewing circles.

He said his wife, Susan Ross Dykhuizen, doesn’t mind his passion for a traditionally female craft, describing her as a very confident woman who also assumes a nontraditional role.

“She runs the family’s (Ross) construction business,” he said.

The two have three children, Wyatt, Cole and Sophie. Dykhuizen said their many activities and his job as a school bus driver keep him from devoting as much as time as he would like to his art quilts.

He descends a staircase along a wall he painted in a quilt-like pattern to reach his work area off a family room.

“When we built the house in 2002, I told my wife I need my space,” he said, smiling. “So I guess this is my man cave.”

Dykhuizen first dabbled in quilting when he made one as an assignment for a fiber arts class when he majored in art at Dordt College, a small private college in Northwest Iowa. After moving to the Flathead Valley in 2001, he joined Flathead Quilters Guild and went to work at the Quilt Gallery on U.S. 93 South.

“I learned by making traditional bed quilts,” he said.

Although he enjoyed making patterns created by others, Dykhuizen said his artistic drive led him into designing his own patterns. After taking a four-day fabric dying workshop, he fell in love with that art form, then incorporated his hand-dyed fabrics into art quilts.

“My early art quilts were strictly based on color,” he said. “I was taking a painterly approach to these quilts in that I looked at them as a blank canvas and I let the dye and the patterns that emerged speak to me or influence my decision.”

Dykhuizen evolved to cutting the dyed fabrics into strips or squares, flipping and/or reversing them until he found a design that pleased him. More recently, he develops a design first, then selects fabrics from his hand-dyed collection or buys batik-patterned or black-and-white solid fabrics to suit his design.

He uses a machine to sew his blocks and his own medium-arm machine to stitch in the quilt pattern. Dykhuizen’s quilting machine does not have the computer-guided function found in modern long-arm machines.

“I like the creative challenge that this sort of quilting gives me,” he said.

In 2005 he decided to take his art quilting seriously by entering juried quilt shows around the country. He submitted images of his work to a show called “Quilts=Art=Quilts” at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in New York.

“That was my first acceptance into a juried art show,” he said. “This will be my 17th national or international juried show. That doesn’t include the years I was showing with our local guild.”

According to Dykhuizen, the women in the Flathead Quilters Guild have played a large role in his creative development. Even though his work is different from most other members, he called their quilts and knowledge of the craft phenomenal.

“That’s very inspirational to me and to be part of that is just a real blessing,” he said.

In 2008, Dykhuizen took a first-place award at a show at Missouri State University in a competition called Thread Lines. He hopes the exposure he receives and possibly a prize from the American Quilter’s Society move him closer to his ultimate goal.

“I think it would be nice as an art quilter for my love of quilting to be able to support me,” he said. “I guess that’s the ultimate goal, that I can make a living doing something that I love to do.”

People interested in following Dykhuizen’s work may visit his blog at brianquilts.blogspot.com/. He also has a Facebook page.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.