Sometimes Art Needs Some History

While I may be searching for the light switch regarding art quilts, I find that the history of quilts is also illuminating. A couple weeks ago I attended the American Quilt Study Group seminar in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. There, my friend and colleague Barbara Schaffer and I presented a study center on "The Characteristics of New Jersey Quilts", based on our previous book, New Jersey Quilts: Contributions to an American Tradition. We also led a round table luncheon discussion on Florence Peto, the subject of the recently published A Passion for Quilts, which I co-authored with Barbara, Rita Erickson, and Natalie Hart.

The first night was an "ice breaker" where lots of quilts were exhibited, including two of mine: The Presidents Medallion and Mannahawkin Album.

One of my favorites was a Hexagon/Mosaic quilt belonging to the Burlington County Historical Society. Talk about fussy cutting!

There were vendors with lots of wonderful things (including a quilt that came home with me), a silent auction, and a live auction. The paper presentations ranged from WPA projects to tivaevae from the Cook Islands; all well researched and well presented. And there was lots of networking.

A Passion for Quilts flew off the shelves.

If you want to learn more about AQSG, check out their website http://www.americanquiltstudygroup.org/. To see more pictures from the seminar, have a look at Barbara Schaffer's blog http://www.barbaradschaffer.blogspot.com/ and at Barbara Brackman's blog http://www.barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/.

If you'd like to know more about The Heritage Quilt Project of New Jersey, go to http://www.newjerseyquilts.org/ where you can also order a copy of A Passion for Quilts.