Antique Quilts and Special Exhibits

As always, VQF’s antique and special exhibit quilts promise to be well worth the price of admission. Whether you’re a strict traditionalist or a no-holds barred experimenter, we’re sure you’ll find something to like in these exhibits; there’s something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue! Here’s what you can expect.

Antique Quilt Exhibit:

“Hurrah for the Red, White and Green!”

Curated by Donna Bister, Priscilla Hatch

and Richard Cleveland

Sponsored by Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine

and Yankee Pride Quilts

The curators of this year’s antique exhibit have reached into public and private collections from New England and New York to come up with 62 quilts spanning the century from 1840 to 1940, and in one of the most popular color combinations in American quilting history. The various combinations of the three colors, es­pecially of the three together, produce an eye-popping show that will definitely make you sit up and take notice. (Miller North)

Quilts by Nancy Chong, Janice Lee Baehr,

Janet Fogg and Nancy Prince

The Festival is fortunate to be able to offer quilts by three tal­ented teachers whose work represents some of the techniques popular in quiltmaking today. Oregonian Nancy Chong special­izes in Hawaiian appliqué, following in a tradition nearly 150 years old; Florida resident Nancy Prince is a thread painter, a specialist in a technique descended from the crewel work and embroidery of the 19th Century; and Janet Fogg, another Oregonian, works with traditional patterns, but takes them in new directions.

The three women will be represented by a total of approximate­ly 30 quilts in separate exhibits.

Janet Fogg

From a life long love of sewing and a career in art direction, Janet has combined her two creative passions and immersed her­self in the world of innovative quilt art. Deeply rooted in tradi­tional design, her body of quilt art displays the many ways that traditional quilt blocks can be used innovatively. Her success in the competitive quilt arena is paralleled by the satisfaction and reward she gets from helping other quilters achieve their goals in her classes.

“Thread Painted Landscapes”

Nancy Prince

Thread is the tie that binds in this collection of thread painted landscape quilts by award winning quilt artist, teacher, lecturer and author Nancy Prince. Nancy began thread painting eight years ago and with each new competitive quilt her objective was to stretch her creativity in order to take her quilting to the next level. That entailed tweaking established thread painting techniques and trying designs she knew were problematic. Each quilt has its own personal story to tell as Nancy incorporated a part of her past, including her growing family into her quilts. Her most recent quilts allow the viewer to step back in time to another and perhaps sim­pler way of life and hopefully to envision the lives of the families that lived in the 19th century towns.

Nancy’s quilts have won numerous awards and have appeared in national magazines and the 2009 calendar from the International Quilt Festival.

“A Class Act”

As it’s done for three years now, the Festival will offer a preview of work by teachers who will be at the show next year, in this case, 2010. Look up as you come into the main entrance, and you’ll see the quilts flying overhead. Our show catalog will describe each and provide a background on the teachers, allowing you to get a feeling for the work of individual teachers and helping you to make decisions about classes for the following year. (Main Lobby)

“Faculty Showcase”

For more than two decades VQF has exhibited quilts by its cur­rent teachers, the people who draw so many of our registrants to the show. Each of the teachers gets to show an example of her (or his) work. The items on display (and not all are quilts) repre­sent the diversity of the quiltmaking tradition in the 21st Century. (Miller South)

“Tropical Treats”

Nancy Chong and Janice Lee Baehr

A stunning collection of Hawaiian quilts made over the past three decades by famed quilting sisters Nancy Lee Chong and Jan­ice Lee Baehr, owners of Pacific Rim Quilt Company. Hawaiian quilts are an archive of Hawaii’s rich culture, and feature island-inspired appliqué motifs using techniques brought to the Islands by missionary wives nearly 190 years ago. While living in Hawaii, Nancy became obsessed with making Hawaiian quilts, and when she returned to her hometown of Seattle, she taught her sister, Janice. Even though Nancy and Janice have ventured into many other quilt-related techniques, Hawaiian quilts remain their pas­sion. Their quilts are steeped in, but not bound by, the Hawaiian tradition.