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Documenting, Preserving and Sharing the History of Quilts and Quiltmakers.
eBurst from the AAQ July 26, 2011  
 Merry Silber
Merry Silber with a selection of her quilts. This photograph was the first time a color photograph appeared in the Detroit Free Press.

  

In Memory of Merry Silber, Quilt Treasure, 1911-2012.

Merry Silber, artist, musician and quilt collector, died Friday, July 22 in West Bloomfield, Michigan. Merry was documented for Quilt Treasures, a project of the Alliance for American Quilts , the Michigan State University Museum , and MATRIX: Center for Humane Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences OnLine . This web portrait includes videotaped interviews with Merry conducted by Marsha MacDowell of the MSU Museum (with whom Merry and her husband Albert worked closely; the Silber family donated many significant quilts to the MSUM), a mini-documentary with excerpts from these interviews, a photo gallery of Merry's life and collection, a timeline of her life, a biography and bibliography. Click here to visit Merry Silber's Quilt Treasures web portrait.  

 

Merry, who was introduced to quilts by her daughter Julie Silber in the 1970's, is credited for the first exhibition of Jewish quilts and had an impressive collection of blue and white quilts. She also worked with the late Sandra Mitchell to produce a series of groundbreaking exhibits at the Somerset Mall in Troy, Michigan. Read more about Merry's incredible life and contributions to the quilting community.

 

Merry, along with other pioneers documented by the Quilt Treasures project like the late Cuesta Benberry, advanced the American Quilt Revival movement and with it helped to highlight the importance of quilts as historical documents about women's lives. Merry said "I collect quilts that tell me about the woman who made it."

 

One more week left to buy your tickets to the quilting events of the summer!

  

 

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The Modern Stories event on Friday, August 5 in Victoria Findlay Wolfe's loft is sold out as expected, but there are still tickets to both the Marianne & Jay on the Runway event as well as the cocktail party at The City Quilter. And to make it even easier to treat yourself to these events we're offering all tickets at member prices--$45 for Marianne & Jay and $100 for The City Quilter.
 You won't want to miss quilting legend Marianne Fon's lecture "Why We Quilt" and a chance to meet Marianne's effervescent daughter Mary (star of the new Quilty series) and see firsthand how our Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories oral history project works as AAQ board member and quilting icon Mark Lipinski interviews Jay McCarroll, Project Runway's Season One winner. Jay will also be bringing some of his clothing and accessories for show and tell!  
Join us that same evening for NY's Ultimate Block Party: Cocktails at The City Quilter. After the F.I.T. event we'll take a short walk to The City Quilter, Manhattan's biggest and best quilt shop (and a generous supporter of the AAQ!). We'll close the Noriko Endo exhibition, enjoy wine and light fare and premiere quilts made by AAQ board members in a special silent auction.

Visit our website for full details and ticket sales for these events.

 

Silent auction items donated by our sponsors for the Marianne & Jay event include these lovely items:   Go! Baby AURIfil thread Lipinski F&P DVD series 

And fabric goodies from our partners at: 

Benartex logo  

 And because we believe our events this August make for the perfect road trip for guilds and bees we've also made a special offer for guilds: purchase 10 tickets to Marianne & Jay on the Runway and we'll give you 1 free ticket. You can make a group reservation by phoning us at (828) 251-7073 or reserve your tickets individually online and be sure everyone in your guild who buys a ticket enters your guild's name when you register.  

 

As an extra incentive to guilds we'll be giving out two special prizes---one to the guild who brings the most members to our Marianne & Jay on the Runway event on August 6 at the Fashion Institute of Technology and one to the group (5 members or more) who comes from the farthest away to attend this event. Both winning guilds will receive a full-day program/visit for their guild by a board member of the Alliance for American Quilts. Not only that, we'll throw in a terrific door prize for your guild, which will arrive with your special guest presenter.

Marianne & Jay on the Runway:
A Quilter's Alliance of Fabric & Fashion
Saturday, August 6, 2011, 1:00-6:00 pm, $45/person
Click here for more information on this event.   

NY's Ultimate Block Party:
Cocktails at The City Quilter
Saturday, August 6, 2011, 7:30 - 9 pm, $100/person
Click here for more information on this event.   

 

The Alliance wishes to thank its incredibly generous and creative Gold Sponsors: New Track Media/ Creative Crafts Group/ Keepsake Quilting, AccuQuilt, AURIfil and Benartex; and our venue sponsors, The City Quilter, Bumble Beans Inc. and Kathryn Markel Fine Arts . 

 

       

New Track Media logoCCG logo   Keepsake Quilting logo

 

AccuQuilt logo  AURIfil logo  Benartex logo

City Quilter logo  Bumble Beans Inc.     Kathryn Markel Fine Arts logo

New Track Media, Creative Crafts Group, and Keepsake Quilting,"The most trusted names in quilting."

AccuQuilt, "Better Cuts Make Better Quilts."

AURIfil "Perfectly Suited for Every Quilt Project."

Benartex Fabric, "Fabric for Quilters. By Quilters."

The City Quilter, "A Quilting Haven in NYC and Home of the Only Art Quilt Gallery in NY."

Bumble Beans Inc., "Original and Custom Quilts."

Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, a New York gallery of contemporary painting and sculpture   

 

Those who attend any of the three events will have a chance to win awesome prizes from all of these incredible sponsors, and other fine items donated by our business members.

           

For a full list of prices and activities for the Quilters Take Manhattan benefit weekend, visit our website, www.AllianceForAmericanQuilts.org.   

Support our friends at SAQA!
SAQA logoEach year Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) runs an exciting Benefit Auction to raise money to support its traveling exhibitions, publications, and educational outreach. Last year's Benefit Auction raised more than $52,000.
Noriko Endo quilt
Noriko Endo - "Shimmering Reflections #1"

This year there are 309 wonderful art quilts up for bid - each approximately 12" square.  The fun starts on September 12th at 2:00 ET.  Come and bid on great artwork by artists such as Susan Shie, Jan Myers-Newbury, Noriko Endo, Judith Content and Katie Pasquini Masopust. Click here for more information.
Hope to see YOU (and cooler temperatures) in NYC next week!

If you can't join us to New York then please consider becoming a member online today. Your support makes a huge difference in our ability to document, preserve and share the rich history of this community! Click here to join online as an individual or business.

 


Gratefully,

Amy E. Milne, Executive Director
The Alliance for American Quilts
information@quiltalliance.org

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