Culture
The Art of Quilting: 20th Biennial Quilt National Kick-Off
By: Emily Votaw
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Orbs in artfully crafted shades of crimson ricochet off each other, surrounded by undulating shards that disperse themselves – creating a visually stimulating scene that seems to hint at themes of recreation and battle.
It’s a quilt.
Made by Jean Howard, a licensed dietician based out of Auxvasse, MO.
The work, entitled Cellular Level 1: T-cells Attacking a Breast Cancer Cell, is a colorful take on an electron microscope’s photograph of t-cells actively destroying breast cancer cells.
“I really like science, and I really like to eat,” said Howard, who has been quilting for around four decades. “I’m fascinated by how to body works. When you look at the t-cells attacking cancer cells, it’s essentially the story of a hero, so I decided to make a quilt of it.”
Howard’s work is one of a select few from around the globe that was chosen to be included in the 20th biennial Quilt National exhibition at the Dairy Barn Arts Center. The exhibition includes 85 works by artists from 28 states and nine countries outside the U.S.
May 26 marked the opening of the exhibition, as well as the awards ceremony that named the various recipients of the prestigious awards associated with the exhibition.
This year’s best of show was created by Margaret Black. Entitled Line Study 17, the work is the first one a visitor to the exhibition will see as they enter the main gallery of the Dairy Barn. The Quilts Japan Prize, which allows the winner to teach in Japan for a week, went to Denise L. Roberts for her Finding Connections #8.
The Award of Excellence was given to Liz Axford for Shift 1. Jurors for this year’s exhibition named Sue Benner’s work in her piece Body Parts 3: Cuffed as the Most Innovative Use of the Medium. The Lynn Goodwin Borgman Award for Surface Design and Surface Design Association Award was granted to Judith E. Martin for Soft Summer Gone.
The McCarthy Memorial Award was given to Marina Kamenskaya for Squares #1: Red, Yellow, Blue. The Cathy Ramussen Emerging Artist Memorial Award was granted to Anna Brown for her Reflections Dusk #3. Pamela Loewen’s Butterfly Garden was named the winner of the Heartland Award & Hilary Fletcher Persistence Pays Award; and Eti David’s Orange Towers also received a Hilary Fletcher “Persistence Pays” Award.
This year’s Juror’s Awards of Merit were awarded to Karen Schulz for … and the Skeptic, Robin Schwalb’s Born Analog, and Gerri Spilka’s Conversations on Meaning.
The exhibition will be on display at the Dairy Barn Arts Center, 8000 Dairy Lane, Athens, until September 4. The center is closed on Mondays, and open Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is $10 for the general public and $8 for students; free for members and children under the age of 12.
