Calling Texas Quilters

From Karey Bresenhan

If you are a Texas quilter (living in Texas) who does pretty remarkable work (even if it's just in your own opinion!), then this message is for you. 

Nancy Puentes and I are in the final agonizing throes of selecting quilts for our third book with the University of Texas: Lone Stars--Texas Quilts Today. This will join the other two Lone Star books we've written, one covering 1836-1936 and the other covering 1936-1986. Despite the name, the books cover all types of quilts, not just Lone Stars. Texas Quilts Today will come out in the fall of 2011, to coincide with the opening of the new Texas Quilt Museum and to mark our Dequasbicentennial or the 175th anniversary of Texas' independence. (By the way, we hate that word--Dequasbicentennial--but it's the best we could find on Wikipedia, so if anybody has a good, easy to say, easy to spell alternative for 175th anniversary, boy, would we love to hear from you!)

We are looking for traditional quilts and art quilts. We already have made preliminary selections from the many wonderful pieces we have to choose from--a plethora of riches!--but we'll never be satisfied until we feel we have seen everything that's out there that might be eligible. We've reviewed more than two decades of quilts entered in IQA's annual judged show in Houston; we've reviewed many of the Texas quilts in recent special exhibits at one of our International Quilt Festivals; we have guild recommendations and have requested more...and now we are asking you. 

We cannot accept images of quilts that are Journal Quilt size--that's just too small for this book. We can accept mini-quilts, however, though they should be at least 12" on each side. Otherwise, there are no size limitations. We cannot accept garments. Workmanship will definitely be a consideration. (I know the argument that artists shouldn't have to concern themselves with workmanship...I just don't personally agree with it...and since this is Nancy's and my book, we get to make the rules!)  

If you have any particularly nice quilts that you made IN TEXAS (required), why don't you email me digital images right away? Email images to: spexhibits@gmail.com  (We are using that address because we do not want our regular emails to crash from an overabundance of incoming images. That's a problem for us, but it's a bigger problem for you if you are trying to send us an image and find it impossible.) If you made the quilt in Texas and then moved out-of-state, it's still ok to enter the quilt. But if you lived elsewhere when you made the quilt, and then moved to Texas, then it would not be eligible. Quilts must be MADE in Texas. We are looking for pieces made between 1987 and today.

We need full size and close-up shots, with the year it was made and measurements, plus  the name of the quilt, your name, and where the piece was made. Please put that information in one line to make it easy for us to copy and put under the quilt as a caption. You do need to send only your very best, because what we already have is pretty terrific. And the only promise I can make is that we will carefully consider everything that's sent to us before July 12.  Remember to use only the email address we have set up for this project:  spexhibits@gmail.com  

If there are other really, really good Texas quilters whom you know, work with, admire, etc...please help us spread the word. Suggest that they send digital images of their work to us, following the guidelines I mentioned above. Again, tell them to use the special email address: spexhibits@gmail.com 

My instinct tells me that there are super quilts out there that we are not seeing. This whole selection process is so challenging that I almost hope I am mistaken and that there are NOT these wonderful quilts out there...but I don't think I'm wrong. Remember July 12 is the deadline and spexhibits@gmail.com is the email address to use! I look forward to seeing what you send us. 

Karey Bresenhan spexhibits@gmail.com