A visit to Quilt National

I made my first visit to Quilt National, the “Academy Awards” for Studio Quilt Artists.
Quilt National was started by Nancy Crow and others because art quilts were not being accepted into traditional quilting shows. It premiered in 1979.
First Art Quilts rocked the world of traditional quilts, then artists continues to innovate and expand the definition of “a quilt.”
Quilt National’s definition is more conservative that SAQA’s (Studio Art Quilt Associates).
Here are both of them:
Quilt National: It must be predominantly fabric or fabric-like material and must be composed of at least two full and distinct layers — a face layer and a backing layer — that are held together by hand- or machine-made functional quilting stitches or other elements that pierce all layers and are distributed throughout the surface of the work.
SAQA defines an art quilt as “a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure.”
While staying within the narrower QN definition, some of the innovation was toward more 3 dimensional work. For example Diane Nύñez cleverly used fabric strips, altered and quilted, strung on aluminum tubing like abacus beads. It isn’t on her website yet, but there is a similar one. http://dianenunez.com/portfolio/?cat=quilts
Ever innovative, Betty Busby formed her quilt into the shape of a Chinese ginger jar for a full sculpture.
Betty’s isn’t on her website yet either,  but here are some other of her vessels http://www.bbusbyarts.com/faces.html.  While you’re there, check out her whole website.  It, and she, are bursting with life, color and energy.
Both piecing and applique continue to be popular. I don’t know if there is MORE hand stitching this year, but what there was really popped out for me. Helen Geglio’s “Femoral Fracture: A Fall” was a piece she stitched by hand as she sat with her mom for hours after a fall and hip fracture.
Here is a detail I took (sorry Helen if this isn’t legal, but I couldn’t help myself . . .)

Another piece that blew me away was Diedre Adams’ “disruption.” Here is her list of materials: Commercial cottons, acrylic paint, paper from various sources: dictionaries, text books, maps, sheet music,novels, and other found materials.  Machine stitched, hand painted, layered papers peeled and torn.
I have been using papers too, and was so happy to meet and speak to Diedre. This piece is somewhat similar, and on her website. http://deidreadams.com/tracings-series/
And this was a detail I took of “disruption,” again with my apologies, Diedre. 
As a political statement, I thought Kristin La Flamme’s “‘Murica” was very powerful. She says, “Part of my Security Blanket series, this flag expresses America’s obsession with guns as a (false) sense of safety and comfort.”
And, thank you Kristin — the picture IS on her website.
http://kristinlaflamme.com/index.php/nggallery/image/69?page_id=4429
Judy Kirpich’s “Conflict No. 6/ Mugging” was inspired by a personal tragedy. Darn, I can’t find a website for her. The quilt is big (77 x 60”), and black, white and grey with red bars about two thirds of the way down, referencing how her daughter was cut in a mugging. She pieces everything — which I have never learned to do well!
Finally I want to mention Patricia Kennedy-Zafred’s “Tagged.” It has personal meaning for me as my best childhood friend is Japanese-American, and her family experienced this black mark on American history first hand.
Here is the image, on her website. http://pattykz.com/home.html
A number of pieces are a little smaller this year.  I guess collectors’ wall spaces are filling up with this wonderful art.  I was glad to see a more manageable scale represented, as I find it hard to work really big.
Here is Quilt National’s website: http://dairybarn.org/quilt-national/.  The show is a biennial, so the next one will be in 2017. This time I am going to submit!