Q = A = Q opens!

I had the honor and pleasure of jurying Quilts=Art=Quilts at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn NY this fall, and last weekend had even more fun when I went back to serve as the prize juror at the show opening.  What that means: in September Valerie Goodwin and I chose the pieces for the show, then I got to come back and look at all the accepted works beautifully hung at the museum, and select the prizewinners.

So when I write about the pieces in the show today and in subsequent posts, I won't have to say things like "why on earth did this piece win best in show?" as I have written while reviewing other shows.  (Well, I always try to phrase my comments more tactfully than that, but you get the gist.)  I can tell you exactly why the winners won!

The big winner was Kit Vincent, whose quilt was coincidentally hung in the most prominent spot in the gallery, visible even before you walked in the front door.  In that long view, at first glance it looked like a Jasper Johns painting.

Kit Vincent, Chaos: the butterfly effect, 65 x 65"

Jasper Johns, hatch pattern

Kit Vincent, detail

Closer up, you could see that the hatching was made by raw-edge applique of strips onto a pieced nine-patch background quilt.  Kit told me that this is a new series for her, with only a few quilts finished, and that she came at it from the direction of color studies.  This quilt's twin sister will be in Quilt National next year, and she's planning to move up to sixteen-patch backgrounds for even larger works next.

I loved the overall painterly effect, the masterful use of color, the combination of contemporary raw edges and traditional quilt block heritage.  I liked that it's big and bold and yells out "hey, look at me!"

More winners in tomorrow's blog post!