Quilts are art! The amazing quilts shown here were exhibited at the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, the largest annual quilt show on the Eastern seaboard. These images offer a flavor of what this year's event-goers can expect to see in the upcoming show, February 27-March 1, 2020, in Hampton, Virginia. The 31st annual Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival will feature over 800 quilts and wearable art garments on display. The Merchants Mall includes hundreds of vendors featuring the latest sewing machines, quilting supplies, textiles, books, sewing related craft items, fabric kits and more! A variety of demonstrations of various types of needlecraft and traditional rug hooking will also be offered.
A recent study shows that even just attending one art exhibition annually could add years to our lives. A team of researchers from the University College London surveyed 6,710 adults in England, aged 50 or older, to test whether a correlation exists between arts engagement and mortality. The longitudinal study tracked how often participants went to museums, art galleries, exhibitions, theater performances, concerts, or the opera. They found that even those who had what was classified as infrequent arts activity (going to maybe one or two cultural events a year) had a 14 percent lower risk of early mortality.
Viewing beauty can lower stress and facilitate production of endorphins - enjoy these gorgeous works of art as you enhance your wellbeing!
A visitor checks out 'Between Heaven and Earth' by Audra Rasnake, which received a Judge's Choice ribbon.
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'Antelope Canyon Mosaic' by Kimberly Lacy won First Place in the Innovative Quilts category.
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Great Smoky Mountain National Park: Sunset by Katherine McNeese
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Kids love the vibrant colors and bold designs, my granddaughter, Myla, age 6, loved choosing her favorites. (She's wearing a quilted vest she made herself.)
The author's granddaughter with Rajah by Leigh A Layton. Six year old Myla is wearing a quilted vest she stitched herself!
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A visitor looks at quilts made in the Virginia Dept. of Juvenile Justice Quilting Program.
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Quilters have used quilts to express their political views long before women were given a voice, or the right to vote. Quilt patterns have been named after political parties, candidates, and political issues and conptmporary quilt shows always have a few politically-focused quilts.
Freedom from the Flames of my childhood' by Linda Salitrynski
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"Happy Little Trees," the Bob Ross Cherrywood Challenge, is one of the Special Exhibits at the 2020 show. It features seventy-five quilts selected from the the 200 finalists. A quilt challenge is a contest designed to "challenge" creativity within a limited size and range of colors. Guidelines for this exhibit instructed participants to create a 20" x 20" art quilt using only eight Cherrywood hand dyed fabrics inspired by Bob Ross's palette. The 75 quilts in the exhibit show an exciting range of creativity.
See you at the quilt show!
Myla studies Geese on the Farm, 94' x 104', by Pamela Leonard, Rising Sun MD
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The 31st annual Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, is being held February 27-March 1, 2020, in Hampton, Virginia.
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