Asheville, North Carolina, June 29, 2016
The Quilt Alliance is delighted to announce the winners of its 2016 "Playing Favorites" quilt contest. Margaret M. Cibulsky of Port Washington, New York was chosen as the Handi Quilter Grand Prize winner by judges Marianne Fons, Mark Lipinski and Paula Nadelstern. Cibulsky's quilt (pictured below), titled "My Garden," is improvisationally pieced and machine quilted using 100% cotton fabrics and thread. |
| | "My Garden" by Margaret M. Cibulsky |
Marianne Fons, speaking on behalf of the judging panel said of Cibulsky's quilt, "We were all in agreement about the appropriateness of "My Garden" for this prize. The maker is clearly not stuck in any particular genre. Cone flowers and daisies bloom atop a somewhat "improvisational" background of random-size squares and rectangles, mostly-but not entirely-solids. The freeform flowers, though not ultra-realistic, are easily recognizable and nicely balanced. We love the lacy, embroidered stems and purple flowers that make up the lower third of the piece. Congratulations on a job well done!"
The 2016 Quilt Alliance contest theme was "Playing Favorites," and Alliance executive director Amy Milne says, "this year, we chose a very open-ended concept to honor the many techniques, materials, concepts and stylistic approaches favored in the quilt world today. We are proud to preserve a snapshot of the diversity, resourcefulness, humor and beauty seen in this collection of quilts, and to document the state of quiltmaking in 2016."
The Alliance received 66 entries, all 16" x 16" in size, from 21 U.S. states and five countries this year for its annual contest. Entries came from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Spain and the United States. Alliance members voted to select their favorites in the Members' Choice Awards.
The Members' Choice winners are:
First place (below left): "Roo to Roo" by Nancy Brown Second place (below center): "More Slices" by Betsy Vinegrad Third place (below right): "Hypnotic Love" by Mar�a J Gonz�lez Rico  
Honorable Mention went to:
Michelle Banton for "Manhattan Mayhem"
Pauline Salzman for "Not So Plain Jane" Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill for "Up and Away"
Michael Michalski for "Solar Flare"
Karen Grover for "Pink Exhuberance"
Sondra Millard for "Blue Muse" Maria F. Cousins for "The Cycle - Hawaii"
Katherine Dossman for "Katrina's Dream 2"
Sandi Goldman for "June's Garden"
Maude Haeger for "Go Fish!"
Judge's Choice Awards:
Chosen by Mark Lipinski: "Up and Away" by Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill (below left)
Chosen by Paula Nadelstern: "Follow Your Arrow" by Mary Kay Davis (below center)
Chosen by Marianne Fons: "American Foursquare" by Amy Munson
Margaret Cibulsky, the Handi Quilter Grand Prize winner, says "Holy Cow!!! You took me completely by surprise! My whole focus was in the making and then hoping it would be something someone would want to buy in the auction."
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Margaret Cibulsky
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Nancy Brown, First Place Members' Choice winner says, "I believe that the work that the Quilt Alliance does in celebrating and preserving quilters' stories is so very important and I wanted to support that work by making a quilt for auction. I am honored that it was voted to be one of the Members' Choice winners. Thank you to the sponsors for your generosity and thank you to all of the quilters that donated a quilt. I hope they all raise a lot of money for this wonderful organization." All of the "Playing Favorites" contest quilts were donated by their makers. After a national exhibition tour that begins in July at the Utah headquarters of Handi Quilter, Inc, and includes stops at the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo shows, the quilts will be sold via an online auction beginning Monday, November 14, 2016. The auction is one of the Alliance's most important annual fundraisers and provides crucial funds that support the operation of projects like Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories and Go Tell It at the Quilt Show! Complete details about the auction will be posted to the Quilt Alliance website in September. "Playing Favorites" contest entries will also be documented by the Alliance in The Quilt Index, www.QuiltIndex.org. The Quilt Index website provides centralized access to more than 75,000 records, including quilts from state or regional documentation projects, museum and private collections. The Quilt Index, launched online in 2003, is a joint project of the Quilt Alliance, Michigan State University Museum, and MATRIX: Center for Digital Humanities & Social Sciences at Michigan State University.
Above: quilts made for previous Quilt Alliance contests documented in The Quilt Index. Artists, left to right: Sandra Starley, Michael Michalski, and Ramona Bates.
The Quilt Alliance, a nonprofit organization, supports and develops projects with institutional and grassroots partners to document, preserve, and share the history of quilts and quiltmakers. www.QuiltAlliance.org. |
