Below is an article I'm thinking of putting in my the guild newsletter...I'm looking for come comments and critique of the piece...
I'm hoping it's working here as it wasn't showing up on the blog for some reason.
Thanks!
Teri
In just two months time the quilt show will be in full swing. All of the planning and hard work of countless members will come to fruition. Quilts will hang, vendors will set up their wares for purchase, raffle tickets will be sold and guests will come to view our quilts.
As I reflect on the last year and a half of preparation many things come to mind…countless hours on the phone with Susan, ideas brought to our meetings, discussed and decided on in hopes of this show being successful. As this reflection deepens bits and pieces of conversations committee members, guild members, specifically with Mary Anne and Anne about our quilts and why we may or may not enter into local, regional or national shows.
Each of us quilts for one shared reason, we love to quilt. For each of us the process from design to the final stitches of the binding bring a sense of joy and accomplishment that will wrap someone we love, and perhaps someone we don’t even know in person who has been struck with some tremendous tragedy in life, in a warm hug that no other form of art can accomplish. Other forms of art bring joy and beauty in our lives, but not like a quilt, a quilt is different.
A number of members have shared with me that they or friends and fellow guild members won’t enter their quilts because (imagine a list of reasons a hundred miles long, two columns, single spaced with hand written notes on the side). . . I understand the reluctance it is part fear, part anxiety of what other people will think of or say about our work. Hearing others comments about our quilts can be disconcerting, particularly because we invest so much of ourselves into a particular piece.
Anne F. is a new quilter. Over the years she has participated in other hobbies including needlepoint, counted cross stitch and drawing. Recently Anne chose to make a quilt and enter the Hoffman Challenge, her desire is to get feedback from the judges and grow as a quilter. I’ve seen the quilt, it’s beautiful and I hope she does well.
Several years ago I entered two quilts into the NSQG show with the sole desire of having the opportunity to have the judges give me feedback. This feedback allowed me to re-evaluate where I was as a quilter, where I wanted to go and how to make those changes. Prior to that show I was mainly a hand quilter and since then I’m primarily a machine quilter, though I still have some hand quilting project at the ready for when I’m sitting in doctors’ offices and the like.
Most of you know I entered my NY Beauty at the NSQG Show in May solely for the judge’s comments to know where and how to grow technically as a quilter. Those feelings of anxiety that I had entering my first quilt was still there, however not nearly as intense as I knew what to expect. The judges rate the quilt on its merits: color, quality of piecing and quality of quilting, overall impact. They then will give a positive comment on something they like about the piece and a comment to help the quilter grow. I took these comments, along with some members of the Pelham Quilters and did some more machine quilting over the surface, entered the quilt in the Maine Quilts Show and won a second place ribbon. What I learned from both experiences helped me to see those areas where I can grow as a quilter. The judges from both shows were particularly helpful in helping me grow.
Mary Anne enters for many of the same reasons.
Then there are the comments that other quilters make about the quilts as they meander through the rows of quilts. The comments seem snarky and shrewish and sometimes downright mean. When we hear them we resist the urge to put that person in their place and tell them to go find another quilt show to attend that would be more suited to their own tastes and style. I want to offer a slightly different take on this – perhaps the quilter is learning what’s working, what’s not working (for them) what would make this quilt work for them.
I recently attended a quilt show where, if just snippets of the conversation with one of the quilters were overheard we would have sounded awful! Mean, horrible, so much so that you’d want to find a member of the quilt police or deputize yourself and kick me out on my bum and tell me to turn in my thimble and not call myself a quilter anymore, however if the entire conversation was heard my friend and I were going through a learning process that was invaluable to both of us. She’s a fairly new quilter and as we talked we both learned a lot about how quilts work visually. This doesn’t include all of the love and hard work the quilter put in, nope that’s a whole different area where I would never want to go.
Linda said I've entered a couple of times in a local show. One time it was judged by a single woman, who is regarded "professional." She left lengthy critiques that were quite interesting and helpful. The other shows were simply "view judged;" People could vote for their favorite quilt in each category. There were lots of entries, probably because it was far less threatening! Our area does not have a guild, and my sewing group is relatively unexposed to constructive criticism. I think you have to have a relatively "thick skin" and realize there is always room for improvement. Well-judged shows are a tremendous growth opportunity. However, there is the matter of personal taste, and sometimes you might decide to totally disregard someone else's opinion! For the most part, entering our small shows has been rewarding for me. I once overheard someone actually making COMPLIMENTARY remarks, and I was on Cloud 9!! I've only gotten 2nd or 3rd place ribbons, but felt validified, never-the-less. I thank you
