Quilt National '85

Hilary Fletcher was the Project Director for the entire show.

The whole collection is documented in Quilts: The State of an Art published by Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

Four hundred and seven artists submitted 904 works. Jurors Lloyd Herman, David Hornung and Terrie Hancock Mangat selected 74 quilts by 65 artists. The exhibitors represented twenty-seven states and six foreign countries. There were five awards granted. Newcomers to the show included Sue Alvarez, Elizabeth Busch, Sylvia Einstein, Deborah Felix, Carol Gersen, Sharon Heidingsfelder, Nancy Herman, Holly Junker, Linda Levin, and Risë Nagin.

	Best of Show Veronica Fitzgerald Untitled, ©VF 168 by 90 inches. Machine quilted silks and cottons Artist's statement: Quiltmaking is my favorite way of inventing, discovering and solving problems. My eye is constantly searching for a new way to use an old pattern; for a more expressive color combination; for just the right juxtaposition of patterned fabrics; for an image that speaks. Tedium is interspersed with joy. Ultimate gratification comes when I see the finished quilt.
Award of Excellence Ardyth Davis Tied Bars/Red-Blue, ©AD 85 by 92 inches. Silk duppioni brushed and sprayed with dyes, pieced and tied with cotton thread. Artist's statement: My work in textiles developed from assembling individual elements into large dimensional pieces to using whole pieces of painted cloth, manipulated and tied to create textural fields.
	Most Innovative Use of the Medium, co-recipient Holley Junker Flowerseed Farm, ©HJ 54 by 71 inches. Pinked and layered cottons and chintz; machine stitched and hand quilted. Artist's statement: There is an area in Southern California where flowers are grown just for their seeds -- miles and miles of pure color. This place and my wonder at the way landscapes change and colors blend from above, come together in this quilt.
Most Innovative Use of the Medium, co-recipient Therese May Sawblade, ©TM 78 by 69 inches. Machine appliqué onto canvas; surface enhanced with areas of acrylic paint. Artist's statement: The basic idea for this quilt came to me when I saw a giant sawblade at our local county fair. The blade had a wonderful landscape painted on it. In my sawblade, I used a braided rug pattern instead of a landscape. When I was working on this piece I remember keeping track of how many pins I used (one for each patch), and it was a great number.
	Domini McCarthy Memorial Award Nancy Halpern Maple Leaf Rag, ©NH 74 by 71 inches. Cottons and blends; cyanotype, hand and machine pieces, hand appliquéd and quilted. Artist's statement: Begun as a winter jacket (the cyanotype strips were cuffs and facings) this evolved into a four-poster futon quilt -- a cross cultural blend of New England bedquilt with the strong diagonals and presence of a Japanese Kimono.
People's Choice Award Miriam Nathan-Roberts Lattice Interweave, ©MNR 80 by 80 inches. Cotton and cotton blends; machine pieced and hand quilted by Sarah Hershberger under direction of artist. Artist's statement: My aim in this quilt was to achieve a sense of three-dimensionality on a flat surface. I also wanted a contrast between the strong design element, devoid of color, against a background of color to make the grid appear to float in front. It reminds me of woven steel.

QN '79 QN '81 QN '83 QN '87
QN '89 QN '91 QN '95 QN '97
QN '99 QN '01 QN '03 QN '05
QN '07
QN Prize Winners Home