Friday, July 6, 2012

Quilts in Long Beach

The International Quilt Festival, long a Texas event, now has a summer show in Long Beach!

On July 27-29 you can see these wonderful quilts at the Long Beach Convention Center. The fee is $10 for a day.

Last year, Long Beach drew over 15,000 people and had 300 booths. For 2012, there will be special exhibits of "West Coast Wonders"--quilts designed to interpret the beauty of the Pacific Coast area. And collections of prize winners, international entries, and several more. You can look at this multipage pdf to see the list and some examples of the quilts.

The quilt at left will be in the Textured Treasures exhibit. The artist is Brenda Gael Smith, and the quilt is titled Pohutukawa Taonga. Read about how the quilt developed and what it means here.

Modern quilts are an eloquent artistic expression, comparable to mosaics, imho. This year, a special exhibit will feature realistic and abstract black-and-white quilts.

Antique quilts--historic quilts--are important and iconic pieces of Americana in the same way that authentic Civil War uniforms or armaments are. Again, my opinion.

This 1890 quilt at left--from the Festival's website--is signed by Amanda M. No idea who she was, but it doesn't matter. Amanda, and possibly her friends, poured hundreds of hours into creating a quilt that would not only keep someone warm over the winter, but add beauty to a home.

One special exhibit at the show will be a collection of Log Cabin quilts.

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