Fine Art Quilt Masters at Festival of Quilts 2017 : Valerie Huggins
Many members of London Quilters were present at the meeting in January this year when our own Valerie Huggins gave a fascinating talk about her work and influences, especially the use of cloud imagery in most of her pieces.
We were delighted to learn that her work 'Cloud Seeding' was juried into the Fine Art Quilt Masters exhibition at the Festival of Quilts this year and wish her luck for the final stage.
Valerie was invited to write a short piece about this very newsworthy story and here it is:
We were delighted to learn that her work 'Cloud Seeding' was juried into the Fine Art Quilt Masters exhibition at the Festival of Quilts this year and wish her luck for the final stage.
Valerie was invited to write a short piece about this very newsworthy story and here it is:
I really hope none of the judges of this year's Fine Art Quilt Masters at the Festival of Quilts is a member of London Quilters.
I'm not being overly modest when I say that I was very surprised to get an email saying my quilt Cloud Seeding had been accepted for this year's juried section at the Birmingham NEC. Which is not to say, of course, that I'm not delighted. But as anyone who came to my talk "Quilts, Clouds and Other Heavenly Bodies" back in January knows - and any judges please stop reading here - I really struggled with it. And that's before a full glass of red wine was knocked over it just as I was, literally, tying up the loose ends.
I decided to enter it only because I had nothing to lose - and I would encourage anyone else to give it a go. (If it doesn't get accepted you can name another, unjuried category in which it will be shown and no one need ever know it didn't get past the selection process.) Certainly many of the wonderful, innovative and beautifully crafted quilts I saw at the Swiss Cottage Library exhibition could fill up the space all on their own
I'm not being overly modest when I say that I was very surprised to get an email saying my quilt Cloud Seeding had been accepted for this year's juried section at the Birmingham NEC. Which is not to say, of course, that I'm not delighted. But as anyone who came to my talk "Quilts, Clouds and Other Heavenly Bodies" back in January knows - and any judges please stop reading here - I really struggled with it. And that's before a full glass of red wine was knocked over it just as I was, literally, tying up the loose ends.
I decided to enter it only because I had nothing to lose - and I would encourage anyone else to give it a go. (If it doesn't get accepted you can name another, unjuried category in which it will be shown and no one need ever know it didn't get past the selection process.) Certainly many of the wonderful, innovative and beautifully crafted quilts I saw at the Swiss Cottage Library exhibition could fill up the space all on their own
Looking at the other quilts on the FoQ website, www.thefestivalofquilts.co.uk/things-to-do/the-galleries/fine-art-quilt-masters-2017, I see I will have stiff competition. I wouldn't go so far as to describe it as a lottery, but like the selection process a lot must come down to who's doing the judging, and what they're looking for (not red wine stains hopefully): there are almost-traditional, monochrome modern, printed, floaty, abstract, pictorial, political, personal, stark and pretty. And among them are ones I would be delighted to see win. No doubt whichever quilt is chosen there will be heated debate and some fierce disagreement, just as there always is. And that of course is half the fun.
Do I expect to win? No. (I had higher hopes when my triptych, Synapse, was selected a couple of years ago.) Although I've already started planning how I can spend the £5,000 prize just in case. Travel? Workshops? A gardener so I can concentrate on sewing? Botox? Prosecco? Whatever happens, I will go to Birmingham, enjoy the buzz and excitement, and look at my quilt with pride simply because it is hanging there in the white-walled gallery. Hope to see you there.
Do I expect to win? No. (I had higher hopes when my triptych, Synapse, was selected a couple of years ago.) Although I've already started planning how I can spend the £5,000 prize just in case. Travel? Workshops? A gardener so I can concentrate on sewing? Botox? Prosecco? Whatever happens, I will go to Birmingham, enjoy the buzz and excitement, and look at my quilt with pride simply because it is hanging there in the white-walled gallery. Hope to see you there.
