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Quilt collectors play a critical role in the circle of life of art. When museums and collectors purchase a quilt, the work of the artist is immediately validated, and the quilt obtains a monetary value that did not exist before. This lecture will explore the collections of major antique quilt collectors such as Joanna Rose, Eli Leon, and Robert & Ardis James — and why their vision and passion are so important to quilt preservation. In addition, you’ll be introduced to the collections of Robert & Helen Cargo, Frank Klein, Jack Walsh, and Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi. Hear the stories of these collectors and how their passion spurred their hunt for quilts. ADD ON FOR MODERN GUILDS: A titanic shift in the Modern Quilt Guild has taken place in recent years as quilts exhibited at QuiltCon are acquired not only by big-time collectors and museums, but also by fellow MQG makers. Learn who is collecting whom and why this matters. Lastly, hear tips on how to have your own quilts acquired by collectors or museums.

Teresa Duryea Wong and David Owen Hastings will explore and dissect 10 influential modern, masterpiece quilts. You’ll fall in love with these quilts — and we’ll explain why.

WHAT MAKES A QUILT A MASTERPIECE? This is a great lecture to discover more about modern quilting, and how art and quilting are inextricably intertwined. We’ll reveal how five key qualities combine in different ways to create spectacular results: scale, color, subject matter, technique, and innovation. See masterpieces made between 1990 – 2015 and experience the genius behind these exquisite quilts. Plus, Teresa and David will share a flash review of a select group of winning entries from past QuiltCon conventions. Quiltmakers are Alabama quilter Yvonne Wells; consummate innovator Jacquie Gering; the incomparable Chawne Kimber; beloved mentor Gwen Marston; colorful Australian Brenda Gael Smith; Argentinian star Cecilia Koppmann; minimalist perfectionist Carson Converse; Japanese master artist Yoshiko Jinzenji; engaging and inventive Erick Wolfmeyer; and iconic Nancy Crow. If you didn’t get to hear our lecture at QuiltCon 2023 in Atlanta, this is a great way to bring the experience right to your guild. Contact Teresa or David to book and get two presenters for the price of one!

This lecture covers a tumultuous period in Native American culture beginning in 1880, when Native lands were taken away, buffalo herds were decimated, forced relocations were happening all over North America, and the educational system changed dramatically. Indigenous Americans spent the 1880s and next few decades learning to adapt. As Western missionary women made their way into the lives of American Indigenous communities, they introduced quiltmaking skills and provided fabric and supplies. Native American women with adept needle skills adopted Western patchwork quilts and eventually made quilts that reflected their own cultural heritage. These quilts provided an outlet for both art and survival. For the Plains communities in particular, the eight-pointed Star became a beloved and repeated pattern. Learn how the transference from sewing buffalo hides and other natural materials to quilting took place and see the beautiful quilts made in this period.

The three-layered quilt was imported from America to Japan. It was quickly adopted and adapted to become a favorite pastime for an estimated three million quilters in Japan today. Once adopted, Japan took this pastime seriously and systems were quickly built to teach adept and eager sewists how to make masterpieces. By the 1990s, Japanese quilt makers were world renowned for their traditional hand-pieced and hand-quilted quilts. Go inside the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival and learn how it became the largest attended quilt event in the world. Japan’s journey from importer to trailblazer is a fascinating journey through Japanese history, cultural expectations, and the process by which one is deemed a ‘master quilter’ or not.

Go back in time, to a fascinating point in Japan’s history when cotton & indigo – two epic plants – forever changed Japan’s textile world. Meet the masters who are preserving the old traditions of indigo dyeing and meet the quilters who have dedicated their quiltmaking to working with antique cotton. Learn the stories behind traditional cotton textiles such as kasuri, katazome and kimono cloth and how a handful of Japanese weavers are continuing these traditions into the 21^st century. Go inside Japan’s esteemed textile printing mills and hear why the finest quilting cotton in the world is currently printed in Japan.

Meet the Next Gen of Japanese quilt artists. Japan’s history and cultural norms set very clear rules for who is and who is not considered a Master and this lecture will explain why, and how, that happens. But in the Japan 2.0 universe, there is a community of quilters for the 21st century who are operating outside the rigid cultural lines of the traditional Master/Student relationship. They are creating original, modern quilts with a global eye while still managing to reference the Japanese aesthetic.