I love to enter exhibitions. Why? Well generally I like the use of a deadline for me to get something finished. Also sometimes a challenge category gets me going on an idea. Early on in my quilting career I entered my first two quilts into my local quilt group show. I didn’t think anything of it. It was the first time the group was exhibiting and I just thought that was what was expected of members. I had no self doubts about whether it was good enough or not, or I’m just a beginner or that the others are so good that no way should I put my quilt in.
Anyway enter I did and I soon found out that even though my quilts didn’t win any prizes they didn’t actually look out of place! I also found by doing duty at the show that the general public thought my quilts were fantastic. Asked did I have any on display I would show them and say I am just a beginner and they would answer that the quilt was great and they would never be able to do something like that. This gave me some confidence so I have continued to enter many quilt shows .
I always have a quilt or two for my local group show. To me being a member of a group has some responsibility and when it is show time I feel that I should support my group and enter the show. However I am finding that even my show struggles to get entries from members and its free to enter! When I ask people why they didn’t put their quilt in I get a range of responses; I’m not good enough, I forgot, someone else’s quilt is better than mine, people won’t want to look at my quilt. Well actually people do want to look at your quilts; you are good enough and no one is better than anyone else!
We are all at different levels of quilt making but like anything when quilts are hung together they tend to blend and tell an over all story of quilt making and this is what makes an exhibition so inspiring. 
Everyone viewing the quilts will see something different in each one and take different things away with them. Some will say I am going to go home and make that pattern; some will look at the colours and use them ; some (particularly me) will look at the quilting designs and see how I might use them; some will just go away and talk about the overall experience and how clever we quilt makers are. No one will walk away and say those quilts should not have been shown.
So this year quilters will be looking at the Palmerston North Quilt Symposium deadlines and categories and seeing what to enter like I know I am. Also there will be your local show that you should support and of course there are the Aotearoa Quilters challenges – GROWTH and a new colour challenge to be announced soon. Will you or won’t you enter any or these?
Tell us why you do enter exhibitions or why you don’t?
Catherine
To part of the quilt show you must follow same demants , ….and this is same time to much special if you are not going to win any price…
Catherine, we appear to share the same experiences. I’m sure there are many out there who will agree.
Any exhibition does not exist unless there are participants . . .no matter what level, be it local club, group, Symposium or international. An exhibit is a collection ranging from experience, ideas, size, theme etc. This is what makes it interesting, even though restrictions may be put in place ie: 12″ x 12″ red theme, as seen in the above photo of the amazing display by Aotearoa Quilters. Each entry is telling it’s own story to the viewer.
I am a member of a couple of clubs and have found the same things in each. There are many members who make beautiful quilts who don’t submit them for “show & tell” let alone for an exhibit. To show your creation, you also share your story, techniques, issues and successes. We all have one thing in common, and what beginners or less confident crafters forget is, the prizewinners have all started at the beginning. Only time, perseverance and experience has influenced their creations.
Everyone has something to offer within their piece and we all see something different that piques our interest.
Personally, it’s a great feeling to be having an active part in an exhibition or challenge with members friends and peers. Exhibitions provide a positive gallery in which to showcase our craft & creations and fill the viewer with inspiration, encouragement and pleasure and it is a great feeling to know your entry is a part of that. No matter if you are a beginner or an experienced creator. If awards / prizes are a part of the exhibition and your entry is selected, then that is a bonus.
Time permitting, I love to enter my local exhibits and challenges. I have learnt that I have something to offer and this year my personal mission is to decide how many and which of the exciting themes on offer at Quilt Symposium Manawatu 2015 I will enter and create. I am excited that we have amazing opportunities on our door step here in NZ in which to create and learn. Deadlines, criteria and conditions add to the personal challenge of planning & creating a piece and help to determine how it will all work together. Any where you enter a piece, it is all part of the community and spirit of quilting.
After writing last night, my mind was in overdrive again, contemplating ideas for your Growth challenge and I look forward to the new colour challenge to be revealed. When they are all displayed, it looks fantastic.
thanks Pauline for your thoughts. Yes I am working on the GROWTH challenge as well as a few different things for Palmerston North.
Any ideas on how we can encourage people to enter those beautiful quilts in to an exhibition especially for their own club?
I think most of us think our quilts won’t stack up with all the others, but once you have entered a few shows, you realise that, because they are all different, all the quilts fit together to make one big impression. Yes, participation is the key. My local Taranaki Guild has a show every two years and last time there was well over 300 entries and the space was pushed to the limit. However, I rarely see any of the Guild quilts at Symposium. Perhaps it’s more about originality – stepping out of the comfort zone of using designer patterns and such. The 12 x 12 challenges encourage us to try something new, different and original. Maybe we will have the confidence to step up to the national level of entering a show in future..
Exhibiting a quilt in a local show, is different to entering a challenge for me. A challenge gives me the opportunity to challenge myself to create something to meet the requirements of the theme within any given size restraints. The red and blue challenges offer the chance to try out ideas that I want to have ago at without a big investment in time and money. Exhibiting in local exhibitions gives the opportunity to let others see my work. I feel we spend lots of hours making our quilts so why not give others some pleasure in viewing them. To win an award is a bonus but knowing that many many people gain a lot of pleasure attending quilt shows and without our quilts there would be no shows.
Encouraging participation to an exhibition/challenege is the question many ask. In the early days of my quilting, I thought is was given that every one contributed to the exhibition and challenges. I remember one night at a local club, the committee showed their first and most recent quilts. It was great. We enjoyed seeing how trends, quality and colours had evolved through the years. They each showed they had started at the beginning.
Challenges can be unpredictable. Entry numbers vary with theme, style & quantity of fabric provided, deadline or restrictions.
An exhibit doesn’t exist without something to view and the more it is talked about, the more anticipation and momentum it gains.
In an odd way, it relies on marketing and promotion.
I personally have never showed a quilt that I have made in a quilt exhibition. The reason is mainly that I lead a busy life and the quilts that I do make are generally gifts and are made and given for a purpose or used in my work. I have made quilts based on techniques shown at workshops but have never been happy to enter them. This year I will be exhibiting a quilt I have designed, but someone else has done the sewing so that probably doesn’t count.
Even at club level there seems to be a reluctance for people to show quilts, some of these people are master quilters, and no amount of encouragement seems to tempt them.
Its a pity that there isn’t some system of head hunting for quilts, where peoples quilts can be nominated for the National / Regional shows? Many people don’t have great confidence in their own talents, they need to be encouraged and if need be enabled ( mentoring given where and if needed)
What an interesting read – thanks Catherine for your article, and then for the comments.
I have just finished several months of work being the Show Co-ordinator for Western Quilters’ annual show. Once again a very successful show, many said it was our best ever. I have been helping with the organization for probably 16+ years, and I love it. I have been a member of the club for 21 years, and have exhibited for about 20 years (I have been quilting for 30 years).
Every year I wonder if we will get enough quilts and wall-hangings. We advertise that there will be over 100 quilts and wall-hangings on display, and on Hand-in Day we always get about 100 quilts and wall-hangings. We particularly encourage new members to put a piece of work into the show. I know from experience that there is nothing quite like the adrenalin rush you get when you view your quilt from a distance in a hall.
There is a lot of work in running a show and some members suggest it should be a biennial event but with the profusion of members’ work, there would be too much to display if our show was not an annual event.
I believe the secret to our Show’s success is the fact that, apart from an award for a quilt started in a club’s workshop/club’s Block of the Month (to encourage members to complete a project), there is no judging in our Show. The viewers decide on the prizes, 3 for bed quilts and 3 for wall-hangings and other items.
We do have some members who have never exhibited, some of them because they only make quilts as gifts. However, many of them will show their work in our Show & Tell section of our monthly meeting, before the quilt heads off to the lucky recipient.
I also try to encourage members to participate in exhibitions and challenges outside of the club, and in our monthly newsletter, I always list the latest competitions available. As a competition junkie, I thrive on the latest challenge, the awful challenge fabric, the theme of the challenge, the deadlines. When I saw the list of categories for the Palmerston North Symposium, I was in seventh heaven, jotting down ideas beside each category. Do I have time to make something for every category….??! I wish….
Challenges are fun. I enjoy each year making at least one special quilt for an exhibition , but each time, the pain of making special labels, those velcro-attachments for a hanging sleeve, finding someone to help photograph and then put on a CD the required quilt photo, and working out how the photo of a king-size quilt can be fitted into the very small area on the entry form, and then finding posting bags, etc, as well as the entry fee,… every time I feel I’ll never do it again.
I hope I will.
Catherine, like you I like working to a deadline, I do struggle a bit at time, but seem to get there in the end. Challenges offer an opportunity to do something I might not ordinarily work with, so an opportunity for growth and developing my quilting skills. I always attempt to have at least one quilt to put into a challenge or an exhibition, and feel that overall, it has helped me in my patchwork quilting in general. I have a couple of challenges/exhibitions on the go at the moment and intend to enter this years challenge, Growth, this year. I really identify with the theme, as challenges are all about growth as a quilter and person.
great comments everyone. Like Juliet I have my mind in overdrive thinking about the Palmerston North Categories. While there has been some debate about them I have finished my first piece! I made the quilt (only small) because I wanted to try something and when I looked at the categories I thought that category will fit nicely. It may have had some influence on my quilt who knows.
I understand the hassle re the Velcro, labels, photos etc and I am usually last minute with everything but get there in the end. In 2003 I enjoyed a week long class with Nancy Crow (hosted by the then NANZQ ie now AQ) and one thing Nancy said was we have to value our own work because if we don’t then no one will. This makes sense to me and as a result I always put things in exhibitions. They are never perfect and often there are stunning quilts alongside them. This doesn’t get me down rather it encourages me to do better next time. Also there is always someone who likes your quilt and finds something special in it.
And remember that if people don’t enter their quilts there won’t be any quilt shows to go to. How sad would that be!
I’m so addicted to entering shows that I’ve overextended myself on several occasions. And this year is shaping up no different! But what a rush to see your work hanging up on a wall in public! So I guess I can’t comment on why people don’t exhibit because I’m not one of them. If I’ve put in the effort, I like to be acknowledged for it, and showing is one way to do that.
Now I’m a ‘younger’ quilter so is this an age thing? Do some of the older quilters still suffer from NZ’s never show off/tall poppy syndrome? And is this changing with younger quilters coming through? Would be interesting to survey based on these questions….one day when I have more time 😉
But Catherine’s comment about velcro and labels etc makes me wonder if my club needs a class on this, or a club day before our yearly exhibition where we all get together to sew on hanging sleeves etc, now there’s an idea!
Looking forward to entering and seeing the Growth Exhibit – thanks Bernina for an awesome prize!