Northern Star Quilt Show 2012 - Ribbon time :-)

So as always, the first weekend of May means the Northern Star Quilt Show in Somers, NY. 

This year, besides the normal show entries there was a special dedication to Mrs. Rose, the women the quilting world owes their gratitude to for the show "Infinite Variety:  Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts"  in NYC last March.  The guild had a red and white challenge, that resulted in an exhibit of 95 red & white quilts.  Our exhibit was hung similar to the way Thinc Designs hung the show at the NYC Park Ave Armory, with the quilts suspended and backed by other quilts.  It was a wonderful tribute.  I am just sorry that I missed the presentation by Mr and Mrs Rose and Tom Hennes from Thinc on Saturday.  But it was my birthday and my family had tickets to the Gladys Knight concert, featuring special quest Brian McKnight, at Foxwoods that evening, with dinner and an overnight stay in Connecticut planned.

But thanks to my friends, I didn't have to wonder as to how my quilts did in the show. :-).  Between Facebook posts and text messages, I knew that one of the two quilts I submitted had won a ribbon.  I didn't know which quilt, nor what ribbon until I got back into town late Sunday afternoon and made it to the show.  Yes, Ashante Rhythms won a 3rd Place Ribbon, in the wall art category of  "people, portraits, animals of other recognizable forms"

 It is always nice to win a ribbon, but this year, it was the judges notes on my comment sheet that really made me smile.  My quilt was held over for 'best machine quilting' judging....!!!!  While I totally understand why I didn't win (the quilt that did was exquisite) it was good to know that my quilting is starting to get recognized, not just the visual appeal my pieces have due to the vibrant colors.  I also appreciated the comments underneath the notation....  a few short thread tails on the back...  a skip an area thread not trimmed.... and lint on the back of the quilt.  (Black...  I lost points in the judging because of lint on the piece...  need to be more mindful of that in the future).  But notice the comments...  nothing about equal or un-equal stitch lengths, nothing about the regularity of the quilting, nothing about the density of the quilting...  NOTHING to indicate I needed to improve my machine quilting.  WOW was I excited.  All the comments were on the attention to detail, after you finish a piece.  OMG!!!! I can easily fix those problem :-).  Oh yes, I know that even if I didn't have any of those issue, I still would not have won. Believe me the quilting on the one that did, was absolutely breath taking.  But just to know that for once, the judges did not have a negative thing to say about my machine quilting.  In fact they thought it good enough to be held over for machine quilting judging.  Oh YES, I am happy :-).

Thanks to Jane Davila, I finally figured it out!

If you remember in March I did on post on Quilt Show Judges comments.  I had just received my quilts and comments back from the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest.  All in all the comments were spot on, but I just couldn't seem to comprehend what one comment was meant to tell me.....  "Your quilting was all the same size, flattening the otherwise very daring composition."  I discussed this comment with quite a few quilting friends and we all just scratched our head.  How would varying the size of the quilting improve the composition?  Especially when the design included trapunto and to see the full effect of the trapunto, you need tight quilting.  That is what helps make the trapunto stand out.

Well, last night Jane Davila gave a lecture to The Pelham Quilters on the "Elements of Design".  She discussed the principles of color, value, contrast, symmetry, repetition, scale......  and quite a few others and how they work together to help improve the design of the quilt and to tell the quilts story (oh..  I will share one quote in a bit, that really hit me in the face :-).   She shared some of her pieces, as well as those from family and friends to highlight how each of these elements improved the overall aesthetics of the quilt.  But notice the word SCALE.....  hmmmm...  the judges comment talked about how my quilting was all the same size.  Well, think about it, varying scale of objects in your quilt top, makes it more interesting...  your eye has to roam, move around the quilt.  The various size of objects help to make some more important or dominant in the quilt top, while allowing others to play back-up roles.  We do this all the time, without even realizing it.  All this I knew.......  But could this really be true with the quilting?  OMG yes!  The quilt in question, has 3 different size medallions, nested one inside the other, appliqued on a blue background.

Can you imagine the difference in this piece, if I increased the scale of the quilting as I came out from the center?  Since the colors get brighter as you work your way out of the center, just think if the quilting did the same... from tiny to small to medium to large!  It might even had an almost 3D effect !!!

Well, thank you Jane for my 'AHA!' moment.  Sometimes, we have to have a nail pierce through our outer protective layer and listen with no ownership for us to really understand things that can effect both our being and our art!!  I am glad, that I was at least open enough for it to penetrate, for that is how we grow, both as individuals and as artist.

Now for the comment of the night (at least in my humble opinion)....

"Art is a conversation between the artist and a viewer, so a piece is not finished, until it has been viewed by someone else besides the artist."

Cheers!

Quilt show judge comments

So my quilts came back today from The Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival. I was so happy to have them juried into the show, but getting them back was just as exciting. Why you ask? Because one of the reasons I wanted to enter such a large show and have my quilts judged was to start getting comments from some well known, international judges. I am emotionally ready to grow from comments/critiques made by 'the experts'.

Well I must say, I was a little disappointed. Yes, there was some constructive criticism if that is what you call it..... "Your quilting was all the same size, flattening the otherwise very daring composition.". So am I supposed to interpret this to mean that I executed the daring composition nicely, but ruined it by making all the quilting too uniform in size?

I did enjoy one comment on the same quilt, which read.... "Van Gough would have appreciated your choice of color, as he once said, there is no blue without orange and yellow".

I was disappointed reading the comments on my latest piece, "In the Spotlight". The only two comments read: like the boarder treatment on the ride and bottom, and like the subtle use of beads. It was is they didn't have time to provide real input, so they stated the obvious.

Yes, I know judging 200 quilts is a real daunting task. And no my work is not up to par with some of the internationally known Quilters who had quilts in the show, but I was hoping for either some real insightful comments or a number rating that would have given me a view of what they thought of where my work sat in areas of composition, choice of color and fabric, quilting, etc....

Oh well, they came back today and Saturday I take the same two quilts to be judged for the Empire Quilters 2011 Urban Inspirations Show, later this month at F.I.T in NYC.

Let's see if I am just expecting too much :-)

Night,

Renee