12x12 Art Quilts Acquired by the International Quilt Museum
Four of my art quilts are now part of the collection of the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska!
The art quilts were part of a collaborative project from 2007 to 2012 called 12x12: The International Art Quilt Challenge. Our project was an early (maybe the first!) collaborative art quilt project where each artist created a 12x12” art quilt on a specified theme and revealed them on our group blog. The artists that were part of the project are Deborah Boschert, Gerrie Congdon, Helen L. Conway, Kirsten Duncan, Terry Grant, Diane Perin, Françoise Jamart, Kristin La Flamme, Karen Rips, Brenda Gael Smith, Terri Stegmiller, Nikki Wheeler. Our entire project is chronicled and all the art quilts are pictured on our website.
My quilts that have been acquired by the International Quilt Museum are Seeing Through, Palm, Culmination and Crossing Good Hope.
Seeing Through, 12x12” 2009 This art quilt was part of the Windows theme. I explored layers, transparency and variety of texture using a grid format of windows in buildings.
Palm, 12x12” 2009 This art quilt was created for the Identity Theme. It’s loosely based on a line of scripture from Judges 4 about Deborah and how she "held court under the palm".. The scripture also mentions "hill country" and "tents" which show up on the horizon in my quilt.
Culmination, 12x12” 2010 This piece was part of the Purple and Yellow theme from the ColorPlay series. I made it while in the midst of moving, house hunting, house selling and anticipating getting re-settled — the culmination.
Crossing Good Hope, 20 x 12” 2012 This art quilt was part of the Map theme from our 2012 series. For this piece, I took inspiration from my neighborhood and the path that Benjamin and I walked to and from his school. One of the streets we crossed was called "Good Hope," thus the title of the piece.
The 12x12 International Art Quit Challenge started in 2007. This was before Facebook or Instagram but lots of art quilters were blogging about their work. There was a “blog ring” of art quilters and it was an exciting time full of enthusiasm, community building and conversations in the comments. Diane Perin saw the potential of the moment and invited a group of twelve artists to work on a project together. The theme for our first group of art quilts was Dandelion.
Dandelion Theme from the 12x12: The International Art Quilt Challenge Theme Series, October 2007
The “special sauce” of our project was that each of us worked individually to create our art quilts, then we put the images of the quilts together in what we called a mosaic. Noticing the similarities, differences and various interpretations of the theme made these mosaics unique works of art as a whole. Each artist is always represented in the same spot in the mosaic grid. I’m in the upper left (since I’m first alphabetically by last name) and Nikki is always in the lower right. When viewing several mosaics together, it’s cool to notice each artist’s voice by spotting her work in the same spot for each theme.
We worked on the Theme Series from 2007 to 2009 and explored the themes Dandelion: October, Chocolate, Community, Water, Illumination, Shelter, Mathematics, Chairs, Window, Identity, Passion and Twelve.
We revealed our quilts on our group blog. As our project went along, we gained lots of followers and the comment sections were full of enthusiastic and supportive readers and fans. Over the years, several groups took inspiration from our project and started similar projects of their own. It was a sort of magical experience. The artists — we call ourselves “the Twelves” — became really close. I still count them as some of my closest friends, professional collaborators and supporters. In October of 2022, I was in New Zealand and met Kirsten for coffee. She was the last of The Twelves I met in person and even ten years after our project ended, we were so happy to spend time together.
When we completed the Theme Series, we decided we wanted to continue creating together and we worked on the ColorPlay Series from 2009 to 2011. We created quilts inspired by Pink, BlueWhiteBlack, Kilauea, PurpleYellow, Lorikeet, Rusty, Eggplant, BlueBrownSage, Chartreuse, Spice, Gray and Orange. The International Quilt Museum actually acquired the entire Purple and Yellow mosaic from the ColorPlay series (less Françoise’s quilt since she opted not to include her work as part of the museum donation).
Purple and Yellow Theme Mosaic We’re delighted the International Quilt Museum opted to include this full mosaic as part of their acquisition.
We also published a book about the Theme series. Each of the Twelves wrote a chapter including personal narratives about our creative lives and artist statements for all the quilts. In 2017, we decided we also wanted to document the ColorPlay Series in book format and self published a book with all 144 quilts from that group. Both books are included in the museum acquisition.
We published a book highlighting our creative, collaborative project. All 144 quilts that are part of the Theme Series are included.
Our collection toured extensively to quilt shows and galleries around the world. The entire Theme Series and ColorPlay made up a special exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas in 2011. Nine of the Twelves were in attendance. It was a great weekend!
Nine of the Twelves attended the International Quilt Festival in Houston where both the Theme Series and the ColorPlay Series were on exhibit. We made signs with the faces of the missing Twelves.
In the years since we completed our project, we’ve realized what a pivotal, unique and important endeavor it was. Many of us have our 12x12 collections in our studio storage spaces. We were also expressing a desire to preserve and document them in some way. In November of 2021, I submitted a proposal to the International Quilt Museum offering to donate some portion of our collection. It took several months of working out the details, but ultimately the curators selected four quilts from each of the Twelves.
The pieces the museum selected made their debut as an exhibition in the Gough Gallery, the space the museum sets aside for educational exhibitions. You can view images of the exhibition at the museum website. Or if you’re in Lincoln, you can see it in person through May 11, 2024.
We had the opportunity to meet virtually with museum curators, staff and docents in April 2024. I gave a presentation reviewing our project’s history and sharing images of other quilts from our project made by each of the other Twelves. Several of the Twelves attended. It was so fun!
Nikki Wheeler, Deborah Boschert, Terry Grant, Helen Conway, Brenda Gael Smith, Kirsten Duncan, Terri Stegmiller, Gerrie Congdon, and International Quilt Museum meeting attendees at our March 26, 2024 presentation.
There was some trouble with the original museum recording of the presentation, so I re-recorded a version to have in my files. Watch below or on YouTube.
It is an honor to be part of the collection of the International Quilt Museum and I’m thrilled it’s these small art quilt collages that were deemed important and significant. They were certainly important and significant in my personal. professional and creative life. I am grateful to the fantastic museum staff for their work on this acquisition and to all the Twelves for working on this project together.