Quilt National Stats

I got my Quilt National catalog a couple of weeks ago and I've been studying, pondering and enjoying it. I am a member of a small art quilt group and we are planning to discuss the show at our meeting tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to that.


As I was looking through the collection, I thought it might be fun to pull together some random thoughts in the form of statistics. This is what I came up with. These are just categories that popped into my mind because they focus on techniques or materials or concepts that I use in my own work. Nothing is hard and fast here. I'm not making any claims of accuracy. Just my thoughts from flipping through the book.

Total quilts: 85

Countries represented: USA, UK, Australia, Japan, France, Germany, Canada

Artists I know personally: Naomi Adams, Benedicte Caneill and Katie PM,

Artists I kinda or should know personally: Mary Beth Frezon (we almost connected at the Sacred Threads opening), Judy Kirpich (she lives very nearby), Barbara Lange (she's a member of the same small art quilt group I was a member of in Dallas, but she moved to Germany before I moved to Dallas), Dominie Nash (also lives very close)

Quilts that include digital imagery: 12

Quilts that include images of people: 13

Quilts made with old fabrics: 4

Longest side: 108" (54x108)

Shortest side: 13" (13x48)

Seemingly smallest pieces: 18x18" and 27x27"

Other unusual materials: clothing, mesh fruit bags, chocolate wrappers, plastic bags, maxi-pad wrappers, bed sheets, card board, wool blankets, handkerchief, dish towel, copper wire, copper mesh

Primarily pieced (no surface design or other techniques): 15

Whole cloth: 11 (I'm guessing... or going with quilts that probably could have been whole cloth)

Irregular edges: 17

Main focus is dyed fabrics: 7 (the fabric almost stands on it's own)

Quilts with words on them: 8

Insane amount of hand stitching: 11

I could go on and on coming up with crazy categories, but I'll leave it there for now. Was that as interesting to you as it was to me? (I won't be offended or surprised if you say no.)

Vivien blogged her thoughts about the book here. Linda Teddlie Minton's thoughts here.

Quilt National 2013 Stats

I got my Quilt National catalog this week. Quilt National is a very prestigious biennial exhibit of art quilts. The catalog is a feast for the eyes... inspiring, provoking, deep and delightful!

As I did with the catalog for the 2011 QN, I thought it might be fun to pull together some thoughts about the 2013 QN in the form of statistics. These are mostly the same categories I used last time. They focus on styles and techniques that are particularly interesting to me.  I'm not making any claims of accuracy. Just my thoughts from flipping through the book.

Total quilts: 85

Countries represented: USA, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Switzerland, England, Germany, Belgium

Quilts that include digital imagery and/or digital printing: 21

Quilts that include images of people: 25

Quilts that include images of buildings: 15

Quilts that include images of plants: 22

Truly abstract: 18

Quilts made with old or recycled fabrics: 5

Longest side: 97" (Brook Atherton's "Springfield" is 32x97" and Best of Show.)

Shortest side: 21" (Cris Fee's "Contemplating Self" is 27x21".)

Seemingly smallest pieces: 22x26",  24x23" and 27x21"

Guestimate of average size: 45x70ish (Maybe when my daughter gets home from soccer camp, I'll task her with compiling some size stats. She's my math girl!)

Incorporating found objects: 3

Unusual materials mentioned: paper maps, plastic bags, barricade tape, vintage linens

Quilts that mention Spoonflower in the description: 3

Primarily pieced (no surface design or other techniques): 4

Whole cloth: 15 -- very subjective... it's hard to tell

Irregular edges: 10

Main focus is dyed or painted fabrics: 8 (the fabric almost stands on it's own) 

Quilts with words or letters on them: 25

Hand stitching or hand quilting: 20

Insane amount of hand stitching: 3

Social or political statements: 8

Mostly black, white and gray: 14

Quilts that include ladders: 2

Quilts that include severed body parts: 2

Interesting techniques: burned, basketry, words cut from magazines, glue transferred, stiffened, fabric aged over a winter in my back yard, cut with a soldering iron, direct writing, tied, thread drawn, sanded

Artists I've met in real life: Katie PM, Cathy Kleeman, Karen Rips, Susan Callahan, Judith Plotner, Marianne Williamson, Joan Schulze, Elin Noble, Benedicte Caneill, Deidre Adams, Paula Kovarik, Kate Themel, Natalya Aikens

It's interesting to compare these past two collections. 

Way way way more use of digital images and digital printing this year. Also far more quilts incorporating words or letters.

Overall... I'd say there are is more representational work this year. 

Unlike several previous QN collections, almost all the pieces in the 2013 collection appear to be three layers held together with stitching. In my opinion, there are no ragged, conceptual, or avant-gard pieces this year. Also fewer pieces using unexpected materials. Or is that just that the unexpected has become more standard? 

I think it's a great collection and a great catalog. One more thought... as beautiful as the catalog is, there is no substitute for seeing art in person! 

What other stats are you curious about from the QN collection?

All The Art Quilts I Made in 2017

It's not likely I'll finish anything else in the next three days, so here's the collection of art quilts I made in 2017. I'm posting them here without much commentary, review or introspection. Not all the pictures are great. It's just a tally.

At the very end, I've included what I consider small, medium and large and how many I made in each category.

December

White Dog with Purple Sprouts, 6x6


White Dog Under A Green Sky, 6x6


White Dog with Orange Posies, 6x6


This White Dog series will be available at the "Think Pawsitive" fundraiser at Craft Napa in January.

In A Moment, 12x9



To the Light, 12x9


Everything At Once, 12x9


This series of bowl quilts were made to illustrate an upcoming article in Quilting Arts magazine.

A collection of 5x7s made throughout the year

























Several of these 5x7 pieces will be available at the Artist Market at Craft Napa in January and in my Etsy shop after.

November

Flourishing Framework 1, 12x12


Framing Flourish 2, 12x12


Framing Flourish 3, 12x12


These three pieces were made as part of the Cloth Paper Scissors Art Lesson Expressive Surface Design which includes a video tutorial. (It's only $3.99! Check it out here.)

October

Spiral and Seedling, 18x18


Beetle Pincushions

Several of these will also be available at the Craft Napa Artist Market.

Small Favors, 20x20


September

Tiny Treasures, 3x5






These small decorative fabric collages were created for the Cloth Paper Scissors Art Lesson "Tiny Textured Treasures" which includes a video tutorial of some of my favorite embroidery stitches.

Sun Rises. Tree Grows. Door Opens., 20x20


June

Eight Design Guides program example, 8x10

This small piece was made for a program to illustrate how I use the Eight Design Guides from my book, Art Quilt Collage: A Creative Journey in Fabric, Paint, and Stitch.

Rising Resting, 40x40


May 

Nourishment, 6x6


Moonlit Grove, 18x18


Cultivate, 7x5


Nourish, 7x5


These two pieces were made for a fundraising auction for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.

April 

Wiggly Tree, 8x8


March

Wings and Leaves, 8x6


Cup of Comfort, 8x5


These two pieces were part of the Spotlight Auction at the SAQA Conference.

Captivating Compositions workshop samples, 6x6

I don't really consider these "finished" art quilts, but it's a great teaching tool and definitely something that got "done" in 2017.

February

untitled, 12x12


Light as a Feather, 16x20


Both of these pieces were made as demo samples for my appearance on The Quilt Show.

Cultivate and Climb, 20x20


January

Cup of Kindness, 48x32


38 Small -- Less than 9" on all sides

13 Medium -- 9 to 30" on all sides

2 Large -- greater than 30" on any side

Total: 53, not including the beetles!

Other statistics I could tally, but not right now...

How many were made for specific calls for entry or publication
How many were made mostly to sell
How many am I really really pleased with
How many do I consider very weak
How many have sold
How many were made for charity

12x12 Stats

This week I have been working on my chapter for our 12x12 quilt with Lark Books. Each of the twelves will have one of her quilts as the focus of a chapter, one chapter for each of our original 12 themes. She will also write the chapter including thoughts about her inspiration and technique for that theme and any number of other ideas about the project that she wishes to share. It's going to be so interesting!As part of my writing process, I compiled these statistics about my 12 collection.

Hand embroidery: 10
Stamped Circles: 7
Sequin Waste as a stencil: 3
"Traditional binding" (meaning a separate piece of fabric somehow encasing the edge): 6
Words: 3
Free motion quilting: 9
My beloved landscape compositions: 3
My beloved shrine compositions: 2, maybe 3
Beads or other three dimensional embellishments: 6
Surprisingly least used color: purple
Surprisingly most used color: black
Use of sheer fabrics: 7
Paint: 11

We'll be revealing our "blue, white and a bit of black" quilts on March 1. Thankfully, that's a few weeks away.