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Quilts at the Mountain Culture Festival
June 2006
The 10th Annual Great Catskill Mountain Quilt Show at the Annual Mountain Culture Festival promises an exceptional display of talent, featuring the best of the quilted arts from all over the Catskill Region. More than 100 quilts and wall hangings comprise the exhibit, located at the heart of the festival in the Catskill Mountain Foundation Performing Arts Center Red Barn. The quilts pictured in the following pages exemplify the type of quilts that visitors will see at the quilt show—pictorial, abstract and traditional patterns.
In Colonial times, quilts were made from leftover fabrics from sewing dresses, shirts, trousers, etc. Families could not afford to discard even the smallest piece of fabric. The piecemeal nature of the materials, led to the piecemeal nature of the designs and a tradition was born. Today’s quilters are not limited in their choice or size of fabrics and so quilting designs have changed to embrace the wealth of materials available today. Sometimes, quilters will collect antique materials and incorporate them into a design of their own creation. Sometimes they will paint on or print on fabric which they will then use to make a quilt. Oftentimes, quilts are made for family members or friends, and that person will serve as the quilters inspiration for the design of the quilt. Contemporary American quilters have borrowed from many different, mostly European, quilting traditions, using sewing techniques and design ideas from a wide variety of cultures. The Great Catskill Region Quilt Show will feature a cross section of quilting arts from the re-creation of traditional patterns to unique personal designs.
In addition to showcasing quilts from the Catskill Region, a special feature of the Quilt Show is to exhibit a selection of quilts from another quilting tradition in another part of the world. This year, quilts made using Dutch motifs will be exhibited and a guest speaker will talk about quilting in the Dutch tradition. The Dutch quilting tradition incorporates its own unique fabrics, we well as vintage and contemporary patterns. Quilted items from the Netherlands will be displayed. Catskill Region quilters will also be making quilts inspired by the Dutch culture for display in the quilt show.
The show’s coordinators, “The Quilteeneers”, Frances Archibald, Ann Casey, Virginia Hull, and Betty Verhoeven, will be on hand to answer questions.
-Pam Weisberg, Director of Programming,
Catskill Mountain Foundation
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