QUILT FESTIVAL LONG BEACH SPECIAL EXHIBITS

Discovering an extraordinary quilt from Connecticut in an online quilt history forum, quilting friends from northwest Washington began the journey of The 1876 Centennial Quilt Project. Years later the journey continues, attracting new members who are creating more quilts. Enjoy their extraordinary efforts as they showcase and celebrate the challenge of replicating this significant and unique antique quilt.

Whatever your style…quilt colorfully! This annual judged competition is open to quilters working in any style, and who like to play with color to create a vibrant work! A $1,000 Best of Show Award and three $500 prizes each in Traditional, Modern, and Art categories will be awarded. Quilts are hand or machine, appliquéd, pieced, or wholecloth.

Karey Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant have been collecting quilts for the IQF Collection for decades, including many traditional and antique quilts. Many of them are on display in this exhibit which highlight the rich traditions of quiltmaking.

Inspired by geometric designs, streamlined forms, and sometimes offbeat colors, the Art Deco movement was stylish, influential, and omnipresent from 1925 through the 1940s. Art Deco was reflected in paintings, crafts, fine arts, and even architecture. Quilts here were inspired by this much-beloved style.

From the 1880s until World War I, western Europe and the United States witnessed the development and ascent of the Art Nouveau style. Taking inspiration from the unruly aspects of the natural world, Art Nouveau influenced art and architecture, the applied arts, graphic work, and illustration. Some of its best-known practitioners include Toulouse-Lautrec, Tiffany & Company, Alphonse Mucha, and William Morris. Quilts here reflect Art Nouveau themes and style.

For more than 30 years, Karey Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant Puentes have been purchasing studio art quilts for the IQF Collection. The artists range from some of the most popular and well-known to the up-and-coming names of today. The themes/styles are as varied as the artists—landscape, color abstraction, narration, and interpretive.

Artitude is a group of members of the Mountain Art Quilters in Nevada City, CA. They are an eclectic group of artists who create innovative fiber art. This exhibit started with the Long & Winding Road, a collection of quilts inspired by songs of the Beatles. They decided to add other works to represent members; individual art styles.

Even before social distancing to slow the COVID-19 pandemic, we find ourselves in a trying time where social and political issues have divided us, and sometimes personal connections to those around us are hard to establish. That momentary connection when eyes meet reignites the spark of humanity that connects us all. This exhibit invites you to lift your head, gaze into someone’s eyes, and make a connection to help bridge the distance.

Frank Klein is a Texas art collector with an emphasis on the art quilt. His love of family, photography, and nature have developed a collection of fine art quilts that inspires the nature lover in all of us. The collection represents some of his favorite quilts collected over the last decade. The catalog for this exhibit will be available at the commemorative booth.

Explore the beauty of award-winning quilts from the artist Zena Thorpe. Her hand quilted and appliqué quilts have been exhibited around the world and she has been recognized as one of the hundred best quilters in the 20th century.

A “Welcome Back to Long Beach” collection by Quilts on the Wall Textile Artists expressing the beauty of the Southern California beach lifestyle. Each piece is an original one-of-a-kind design. Quilts on the Wall is an association of textile artists whose work appears in national and international galleries, museums, magazines, and traveling textile quilt shows.

Hollywood’s rich artistic history has inspired moviegoers and fed their fantasies ever since the Silent Era. And everyone seems to have their own list of favorite films, actors, actresses, and directors. These quilts are inspired by those celluloid dreams—and the people who helped make them come to life across the decades.

Children are the future of the quilting industry. The students of Onalaska Middle School, Onalaska, WA, have learned to design, piece, quilt, longarm, and hand finish their quilts. They are proud to present their work for the world to see what this young quilting generation can accomplish.

Quilters have long used blue to symbolize trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. These new and antique blue and white quilts revisit the chosen gems that celebrated the 45th anniversary of the International Quilt Festival.

Quilt collectors Karey Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant Puentes took a trip back in time when they selected these antique pieced quilts from the International Quilt Festival Collection to showcase! Spanning generations of quiltmaking, these selections include everything from a Strippy to a New York Beauty from a mariner’s Compass to a Whig’s Defeat, and much more!

POW! BAM! BIFF! Quilts in this exhibit are based on any aspects of comic books, science fiction, fantasy, and pop culture. Did you grow up watching Batman, Superman, or Star Trek? Love the Avengers or Star Wars movies? Dug into the Harry Potter books? Are you playing your children’s video games when they are at school? Now’s your chance to create a quilt that portrays your love of superheroes, villains, fantasy, comic book, or anime characters.

Los Angeles-based, Houston-born artist Troy Murrah cuts thousands of fragments from reclaimed materials and discarded furniture to construct elaborate wall-hangings that replicate traditional quilt patterns. Adorning these wallhangings are painted details and laser engravings of patterns and illustrations––illustrated and designed by the artist using imagery influenced by the past. He grew up around quilts as the son of the late Judy Murrah, quilt/wearable artist, teacher, author, and VP of Education for Quilts, Inc. This exhibit is a complement to Murrah’s first book, Wood Mosaic Projects (Fox Chapel).

In today's fractured, divisive world, connections —both intentional and accidental—are more important than ever. We are bound by love, rituals, family, and faith. We are also connected to our past, our community both near and far, and to nature. This exhibit celebrates what it’s like to be connected and find commonalities with others.

Our known world stretches far beyond what we can see with the unaided eye. Microscopes, magnifying glasses, and virtual imaging techniques reveal a world of great beauty and complexity beyond regular vision. These tiny details can provide us with an abundance of artistic inspiration. In this exhibit, artists were encouraged to explore a corner of the world at high magnification, capturing tiny wonders at the microscopic level, or by zooming in on a larger object to show its smallest details.

Laurene Sinema, an international teacher, quilt judge, fabric designer, and author of nine books, opened The Quilted Apple in 1978. It was the first quilt shop in Phoenix, Arizona. Her boundless people skills, motivational teaching, and impeccable handwork changed the quilt world forever! This exhibit showcases her outstanding work.

When the incredibly talented Japanese quilter, Yukiko Hirano, passed away in 2010, her husband, Takeo Hirano, wanted to make sure that her work lived on for others to enjoy. These four incredible Baltimore Album quilts are on display together in a setting Mrs. Hirano would find fitting and complimentary for her exquisite work. Among the four quilts is Baltimore Album Quilt IV, which won Mrs. Hirano The Founders Award at the 2005 International Quilt Association Judged Show.