Sunday, October 29, 2017

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner—Quilts=Art=Quilts 2017

I did not win one of the awards presented opening night at the Schweinfurth, but (especially after seeing the show in person) I feel like a winner by being juried into this show. The competition was REALLY steep! I sat at the artists’ brunch today with two Quilt National artists. One of them was this year’s Quilt National Best of Show winner. Esterita Austin, Betty Busby, Shin-hee Chin, Patricia Kennedy-Zafred, Kathy Nida, Wen Redmond, and The Pixieladies all had pieces in this show. (I specifically mention these artists because they are artists I have followed for awhile now.)

My husband attended this show with me. He is beginning to realize I might have some artistic ability. I heard him say to one of his friends, “We’re in Auburn, NY. Beth has a quilt in a big show here. It isn’t the “Superbowl of Quilting,” but it is like the playoffs!” I remember telling him about Quilt National. When I realized he didn’t quite “get it,” I told him it is sort of like the Superbowl of Quilting! He got that and is now using sports analogies to explain to his guy friends about our travels to exhibits I’m in.

And now for the winners...(I lifted these words from Pam Holland’s blog. The images of the quilts are not for publication by anyone viewing this blog, please respect the rights of the original designers and creators. I’m sharing them for your sheer enjoyment.)

Best of Show—lots of surface design work (as you can see in the detail photo).
First Prize—lots of thread on this piece.
Second Prize—great movement in this piece.
Third Prize—lots of color in this piece.
Schweinfurth Award for Excellence—I had to take extra pics so you could see that this is three dimensional. The artist hand dyed the batting (which is the color you see in this piece).
Award for Surface Design—loved the graffiti on the buildings.
Catherine Hastedt Award for Workmanship—Full picture on the left and detail on the right. The beauty of this piece was not apparent to me when I first took a look at it (from afar). The stitching detail was wonderful upon closer inspection.
Shirley Hastedt Award—I know you can’t tell from this picture, but these pieces were Huuuuuuge!
There were three Juror’s Choice Awards
These pieces were each very different. I loved the color of the bottom two. The intricate piecing on the middle quilt was fascinating. I was lucky enough to sit by Julia at the artist brunch, so I got to hear a bit more about this piece.

If you get a chance to see this exhibit in person, do it! You won’t be disappointed. I’ll be posting some more pictures from the show later this week, so stay tuned. There are some FABULOUS quilts to come.
 

5 comments:

Robbie said...

Wow, wow, wow!!!! Thanks so much for adding the detail pic and artist statement. You don't appreciate some of the work if you don't see all the detail! Just stunning work!!! I'm actually going back to look at the pics closer!!!! And congrats for being included in the show!!!!

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Oh my gosh, these are great. You should feel mighty proud to be there with your quilt. I am glad Nate finally got it.

Andrew said...

Thank you for posting! I am not able to attend the show and am very curious about the other artists and quilts. I wish they printed a catalog.

Linda Steele said...

Thanks for the photos, it looks like a wonderful show

dana said...

You did a wonderful service to us who cannot attend the show by taking and posting these pictures. I'm certain all the pieces in this show were all winners! I've never imagined myself of anything but a "traditional" quilt maker but one did give me inspiration to "maybe" try one.