|
|
|
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
August 26, 2009
|
|
|
Contact: Amy E. Milne, Executive Director
|
|
|
|
AAQ Announces Winners
of the
Crazy for Quilts Contest
|
Asheville, North Carolina, August 26, 2009 - The Alliance for American Quilts (AAQ)
announces the winners of the "Crazy for Quilts" contest. The contest
celebrates the spirit of the crazy quilt, a genre of quiltmaking which began in
the United States
around 1880 featuring oddly shaped pieces of fancy cloth like silk and
velvet, often embellished with extravagant embroidery.
Crazy for Quilts entrants were
encouraged to draw inspiration from one or more aspect of the crazy quilt
style: design, color, fabric, surface embellishment, history or some other
aspect of this genre. All interpretations of the theme were welcomed -from
traditional approaches to art quilts. The only constraints were that the finished
quilt be 16" x 16" in size (2009 is the AAQ's 16th anniversary), and
the final result must consist of three layers. Two entry categories were
offered (Ages 30 and Under and Ages Over 30) with 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes
awarded in each category.
Contest sponsors include Moda Fabrics, Mountain Mist, Spoonflower, The
Electric Quilt Company, EZ Quilting/Simplicity Creative Group, Quilting Arts TV,
Dharma Trading Co., Embellishment
Village, Kreinik and Riversilks.
Visit the AAQ website for prize details.
 Alliance members voted for three winners in each category from the
84 quilts entered by makers that range from first-time quilters to professional
artists. In the Ages 30 and Under category, novice quilter Kelly Phelps of
Tennessee won first place with her quilt, "Creative Chaos" (pictured at right) and
Luke Haynes of California won both second and third place awards with his two
quilts: "But I Know Crazy" (a portrait of musician James Brown) and "Study in Squares [Ego of a Quilter]."
In the Ages Over 30 category, Kathryn Wagar Wright of Colorado, an art director for Quilters
Newsletter magazine, took the top prize with her quilt, "Crazy Cow Polarity"
(pictured below left). Wagar  Wright comments on her win: "I'm always looking for quilt
challenges and themes that are immediately visually inspiring, as the Crazy for
Quilts theme was for me. I am thrilled to win 1st place and so tickled that
everyone likes these Crazy Cows as much as I do." Michele Flamer of Pennsylvania
took second place in this category with her quilt "Obama Victory Garden"
and "Elements of a Homestead" by Patricia Ann
Hobbs of Illinois
placed third.
The contest brings together the work of quiltmakers from 29 US states as well as Canada,
Japan, and the United Arab Emirates.
In addition to the top prizes, twelve honorable mention awards were given to
quilts that were also singled out in the voting, including Dorothy Ann Thompson's "Bucolic Scene" (pictured below).
The Crazy for Quilts exhibition will be shown in four venues in 2009 including the
Virginia Quilt
Museum in Harrisonburg,
Virginia and the International Quilt Festival
in Houston, Texas. Beginning on October 26th the quilts
will be auctioned on eBay with proceeds benefiting the AAQ and its mission
to ensure that our nation's great quilt heritage is documented, preserved and
shared.
The 2010 quilt contest will be announced soon. Interested quiltmakers can
receive announcements by subscribing to the free AAQ eNewsletter.
|
|
The
Alliance for American Quilts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. If you no longer wish to receive e-mail from the Alliance,
please follow the SafeUnsubscribe link below. Visit our Constant Contact signup page if you would also like to receive the AAQ eNewsletter, or if you have been forwarded this email from a friend and would like to begin receiving AAQ press releases.
|
|
|
|
|
|
