Quilt National '01

Quilt National '01

The whole collection is documented in The Best Contemporary Quilts: Quilt National 2001 published by Lark Books.

Six hundred and seventy artists submitted 1,411 works. Jurors Jane A. Sassaman, Melissa Leventon and Arturo Alonzo Sandoval selected 88 quilts by 92 artists. The exhibitors represented 23 states and 9 foreign countries. There were 7 awards granted.

Best of Show
Noël M. Ruessmann
Autumn Leaves Triptych, ©NR
61 by 76 inches. Silk and linen fabrics; hand quilted and hand embellished with painted cotton and linen leaves
Artist's statement: It is late autumn at dusk. Here and there an individual leaf captures the day's final slanting light and is briefly illuminated. The burnished gold is contrasted by the deep purple of the shadows. The oriental influence in my work is apparent--the three hanging panels are meant to suggest a kimono.

           Award of Excellence
Ruth Garrison
Floating I, ©RG
83 by 41 inches. Cotton fabrics (some hand dyed and screen printed); machine pieced and machine quilted.
Artist's statement: Two sets of strip-pieced fabrics that are different in character are brought together in this piece. The high contrast allows the frenzied strips to float above a calm sea of blue-green solids.

Most Innovative Use of the Medium
sponsored by
Friends of Fiber Art International
Pat Kroth
Revisiting Jackson, ©PK
104 by 65 inches. Hand-dyed and commercial fabrics embellished with a variety of materials, including buttons, cording, rickrack, lace, coins, stamps, paper clips, safety pins, candy wrappers, toys, and other found objects; fused and machine appliquéd, stapled and machine quilted.
Artist's statement: I have created a series of fiber-fragment quilts by working in a fairly random and spontaneous manner. I'm constantly reminded of the simple beauty of found objects, recycled materials, and castoffs. From my background in abstract painting, I recently remembered how much I enjoy Jackson Pollock's work. Now I feel as though I'm truly painting with fabric and thread.


           Cathy Rasmussen Emerging Artist Award
Sponsored by
Studio Art Quilt Associates
Dale Fleming
Corporate Attire, ©DF
46 by 62 inches. Silk ties and other silk fabrics; machine pieced and machine quilted.
Artist's statement: The impetus for this quilt was my husband's decision to discard a number of silk ties after he had cleaned out his closet. These ties with their rich colors, wonderful textures, and intricate designs just begged to be used. This quilt flows from a single square into a design-as-you-go quilt that plays with color, texture, value, and shape.

Domini McCarthy Memorial Award
Robin Schwalb
Heroic Optimism, ©RS
60 by 82 inches. Photo-silk screened, stenciled, overdyed, and commercially available cotton fabrics; painted polyester, machine pieced; hand appliquéd and reverse appliquéd, hand quilted.
Artist's statement: This is the third in a series of quilts inspired by a 1996 trip to Russia. Much residue, both physical and figurative, remains after the fall of communism. A quote from David K. Shipler's book Russia: Broken Idols, Solemn Dreams plays out across ripped wall posters on the crumbling faces, contrasting the party line of a social realist cityscape with the rich interior lives of its inhabitants.


Quilts Japan Prize
Linda MacDonald
Into the Tornado, ©LM
44 by 48 inches. cotton broadcloth that has been dyed, airbrushed, and brush painted with fiber-reactive dyes; whole cloth construction, hand quilted.
Artist's statement: I'm working on a series of quilts and drawings concerning what happens to trees--to northern California, it is quite an issue because they are disappearing. Do they dance away, fly, burn up, travel to Europe, or what? These trees have gone up through the funnel in a rare California tornado.

Lynn Goodwin Borgman Award for Surface Design
Jan Myers-Newbury
Icarus, ©JM-N
55 by 65 inches. Cotton muslin fabric hand dyed using arashi shibori technique; machine pieced and machine quilted.
Artist's statement: For the past eight years, I have been creating quilts by 'forming relationships' among patterned fabrics. In most cases, these relationships are the indistinct patterns created by arashi shibori. Often the piece begins with a fabric that has a particularly demanding 'voice' that I try to add to as I orchestrate the interplay. The story of Icarus is spiritual and universal--it is about the value of striving upward, even if it is for the ultimately unattainable.

People's Choice Award
Rebecca Rohrkaste
Full Circle, ©RR
80 by 80 inches. Commercial cottons; machine pieced and machine quilted.
Artist's statement: I was spurred to undertake an immersion in red through a friend's commission for a quilt. This quilt is about color, repetition, contrast, and playing my intuition against the basic geometric structure of a good old traditional quilt design. Even though it is nonobjective and abstract, it is full of personal history, symbolism, and emotional experience.

Images from QN '01 at the Dairy Barn

QN '79 QN '81 QN '83
QN '85 QN '87 QN '89 QN '91
QN '93 QN '95 QN '97
QN '99 QN '03 QN '05 QN '07
QN Prize Winners Home

Best of Show Noël M. Ruessmann Autumn Leaves Triptych, ©NR 61 by 76 inches. Silk and linen fabrics; hand quilted and hand embellished with painted cotton and linen leaves Artist's statement: It is late autumn at dusk. Here and there an individual leaf captures the day's final slanting light and is briefly illuminated. The burnished gold is contrasted by the deep purple of the shadows. The oriental influence in my work is apparent--the three hanging panels are meant to suggest a kimono.
	Award of Excellence Ruth Garrison Floating I, ©RG 83 by 41 inches. Cotton fabrics (some hand dyed and screen printed); machine pieced and machine quilted. Artist's statement: Two sets of strip-pieced fabrics that are different in character are brought together in this piece. The high contrast allows the frenzied strips to float above a calm sea of blue-green solids.
Most Innovative Use of the Medium sponsored by Friends of Fiber Art International Pat Kroth Revisiting Jackson, ©PK 104 by 65 inches. Hand-dyed and commercial fabrics embellished with a variety of materials, including buttons, cording, rickrack, lace, coins, stamps, paper clips, safety pins, candy wrappers, toys, and other found objects; fused and machine appliquéd, stapled and machine quilted. Artist's statement: I have created a series of fiber-fragment quilts by working in a fairly random and spontaneous manner. I'm constantly reminded of the simple beauty of found objects, recycled materials, and castoffs. From my background in abstract painting, I recently remembered how much I enjoy Jackson Pollock's work. Now I feel as though I'm truly painting with fabric and thread.
	Cathy Rasmussen Emerging Artist Award Sponsored by Studio Art Quilt Associates Dale Fleming Corporate Attire, ©DF 46 by 62 inches. Silk ties and other silk fabrics; machine pieced and machine quilted. Artist's statement: The impetus for this quilt was my husband's decision to discard a number of silk ties after he had cleaned out his closet. These ties with their rich colors, wonderful textures, and intricate designs just begged to be used. This quilt flows from a single square into a design-as-you-go quilt that plays with color, texture, value, and shape.
Domini McCarthy Memorial Award Robin Schwalb Heroic Optimism, ©RS 60 by 82 inches. Photo-silk screened, stenciled, overdyed, and commercially available cotton fabrics; painted polyester, machine pieced; hand appliquéd and reverse appliquéd, hand quilted. Artist's statement: This is the third in a series of quilts inspired by a 1996 trip to Russia. Much residue, both physical and figurative, remains after the fall of communism. A quote from David K. Shipler's book Russia: Broken Idols, Solemn Dreams plays out across ripped wall posters on the crumbling faces, contrasting the party line of a social realist cityscape with the rich interior lives of its inhabitants.
	Quilts Japan Prize Linda MacDonald Into the Tornado, ©LM 44 by 48 inches. cotton broadcloth that has been dyed, airbrushed, and brush painted with fiber-reactive dyes; whole cloth construction, hand quilted. Artist's statement: I'm working on a series of quilts and drawings concerning what happens to trees--to northern California, it is quite an issue because they are disappearing. Do they dance away, fly, burn up, travel to Europe, or what? These trees have gone up through the funnel in a rare California tornado.
Lynn Goodwin Borgman Award for Surface Design Jan Myers-Newbury Icarus, ©JM-N 55 by 65 inches. Cotton muslin fabric hand dyed using arashi shibori technique; machine pieced and machine quilted. Artist's statement: For the past eight years, I have been creating quilts by 'forming relationships' among patterned fabrics. In most cases, these relationships are the indistinct patterns created by arashi shibori. Often the piece begins with a fabric that has a particularly demanding 'voice' that I try to add to as I orchestrate the interplay. The story of Icarus is spiritual and universal--it is about the value of striving upward, even if it is for the ultimately unattainable.
	People's Choice Award Rebecca Rohrkaste Full Circle, ©RR 80 by 80 inches. Commercial cottons; machine pieced and machine quilted. Artist's statement: I was spurred to undertake an immersion in red through a friend's commission for a quilt. This quilt is about color, repetition, contrast, and playing my intuition against the basic geometric structure of a good old traditional quilt design. Even though it is nonobjective and abstract, it is full of personal history, symbolism, and emotional experience.
Images from QN '01 at the Dairy Barn