The Festival Gallery of Quilt Art:
Traditions

An international juried and judged exhibition of Art Quilts

Prizes are awarded based on the interpretation of theme, excellence in design, and craftsmanship.

FIRST PRIZE: $2,500 non-purchase cash prize, round trip airfare to International Quilt Festival 2013 in Houston, and hotel accommodations. There will be one first prize awarded. In the event you are awarded a prize that includes round trip airfare to International Quilt Festival 2013 in Houston and hotel accommodations in another contest, you may collect the travel/hotel portion of the prize only once.

RUNNER-UP PRIZE: $1,000 non-purchase cash prize, round trip airfare to International Quilt Festival 2012 in Houston, and hotel accommodations. There will be one runner-up prize awarded. In the event you are awarded a prize that includes round trip airfare to International Quilt Festival 2012 in Houston and hotel accommodations in another contest, you may collect the travel/hotel portion of the prize only once.

In the event that a Two-Person or Group quilt wins one of the two named awards, all prize checks will be issued in the name of the first artist listed for disbursement only. Only one artist will be flown to International Quilt Festival.

Exhibition theme: Traditions. What comes to mind when you think about "tradition"? A custom or ritual originated in your family? A personal belief or practice handed down for thousands of years? Holiday celebrations or clothing worn to important events?  Explore and share how tradition plays a part in your life in the Festival Gallery of Quilt Art 2013 contest. Entries are art quilts that speak to the theme. Any techniques—piecing, appliqué, embroidery, photo transfer, whole cloth and/or manipulated fabric, etc.—may be used as long as they are appropriate for the quilt (consisting of three layers) and the theme. Quilts must be made specifically for the contest and must not have been published in books, calendars, magazines, newsletters, web sites, blogs, or any other form of publication prior to November 2013.

Limit on entries: Each entrant may submit up to two works that must address the theme. Any materials may be used. However, the final result must be flexible in nature and consist of three layers.

Size of entries: Each work must measure at least 48 inches (122 cm) and no more than 92 inches (234 cm) on each side. Each entry must have a 4in (10 cm) finished sleeve or casing sewn to the top back edge of the quilt (please include a .25 in/.635 cm ease in the sleeve or casing). Sleeves should be secured with stitching at the top and bottom edge. A cloth label with the entrant’s name, address, telephone number, and e-mail must be securely sewn to the back of the quilt, bottom left side.

Jury: A qualified jury will select the works. The jury’s decision is final. Upon seeing the final quilts, the organizers reserve the right to decide which quilts will be included in the exhibition. The organizers reserve the right to refuse any work that does not match the slides or digital photos submitted to the jury.

Judge: A qualified judge will select the first and runner-up prize winners. The judge’s decision is final.

Who may enter: The entries may be the work of one person or more than one person as long as proper credit is given to all involved in the actual completion of the quilt. The person entering the quilt must have been directly involved in the quilt's creation. Limit two entries per person or group. Full-time employees of Quilts, Inc. are not eligible.

Copyright permission: Entry into the exhibition automatically grants copyright permission for the image of the quilt and/or all or part of the Artist’s Statement about the quilt to be used in articles, ads, promotions, catalogues, books, magazines, web sites (including any Webcast coverage), blogs, CDs, current event news coverage, television productions, and/or multimedia productions for and about the International Quilt Festival, International Quilt Market; or for and about the special exhibit “The Festival Gallery of Quilt Art”; or for and about quilting and developing creativity. The quilt artist retains copyright to the quilt and will be credited in any usage.

Visual Instructions

Please read carefully the information for your digital images. The complete instructions may be downloaded here. Visual Instructions (PDF).

Length of exhibit: The participating works must be available for two years, from August 2013 through August 2015. Quilts will be returned to entrants in September 2015.

Definite venues for the exhibition include:

  • International Quilt Market/Houston October 26 - 28, 2013
  • International Quilt Festival/Houston Ocotber 31- November 3, 2013
  • International Quilt Festival/Cincinnati April 2014
  • International Quilt Festival/Chicago June 2014
  • International Quilt Festival/Long Beach July 2014  

Entrants will be notified of all other venues.

Official language: The official language of the exhibition is English.

Selling Your Quilt: You may choose to offer your quilt for sale and, if you do, 12.5% of the selling price will be donated to the International Quilt Association (IQA) and 12.5% to the Texas Quilt Museum. Both of these are 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations.

SENDING QUILTS FOR EXHIBITION

Deadline for receiving quilts: The selected works should be sent by the participant, at his/her own expense, to arrive no later than August 2, 2013 (International shipments should be SHIPPED no later than July 14), at the offices of Quilts, Inc. in Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

Insurance: Each work will be insured door to door (from the time you ship it to us until it is returned to you) for $1000 maximum under the CNA Fine Arts Policy maintained by Quilts, Inc.

Quilts will be returned no later than September 30, 2015.

Timeline for quilt registration

  • Announcement and preview: August 2012
  • Registration open – March 5 to May 24, 2013
  • Notification by – June 28, 2013
  • Selected quilts arrive in Houston by – August 2, 2013
  • Quilts returned to owner – end of September 2015

Important Special Note to quilters shipping from foreign countries: While we encourage you to insure your work for its full value for insurance purposes, we must ask you to value it for customs declaration purposes only at no more than $50 (U.S.). A higher customs value may require an expensive bond that may not be refunded upon your quilt's return to its home country. Also mark the customs document with "for exhibition and return, not for sale, no commercial value." We hope you understand that this is for practical purposes only, and certainly does not reflect on Quilt Festival's estimation of your work. If you wish to claim full value for customs purposes, we recommend that you arrange a carnet A.T.A. for your quilt at your expense. If we incur customs expenses due to a decision on your part to declare the customs value of your quilt as more than $50, you will need to reimburse us for any such expense. If you claim less than $50 for customs purposes, and we still incur customs charges, we will pay those charges in full and will not expect reimbursement.

Entries selected from digital images are subject to additional evaluation when the actual quilt arrives in Houston. If the actual quilt is found to differ significantly from the digital image submitted for jurying, the selection committee reserves the right to reject the entry and override the jurors’ initial decision. The decision as to whether the difference is significant is entirely the prerogative of the committee.

Registration

Registration is now open. The last day to register is May 24, 2013 until midnight CDT.

To preview the registration forms, click here.

For Help with Resizing Photos or Filling Out Forms, click here.

Please use a standard browser (i.e., Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox) for optimum performance. We recommend Firefox and Safari as the most reliable browsers.

To submit your entry on-line, click this button to start:

When you have completed your registration be sure to print a copy of the confirmation page for your records.

For More Information

If you have any questions, please contact Carmen Beck, Special Exhibits Coordinator at 512.323.2255, spexhibits2@quilts.com or Amanda Schlatre, Special Exhibits Coordinator at 713-781-6864, ext. 104, spexhibits3@quilts.com.   If you have technical questions about the online system, please contact Lisa Ellis at lisa@ellisquilts.com.