Under Drifting Stars tours with Quilt National to Minnesota this summer

 Quilt National 2023 is currently touring the USA.  The original exhibition has been divided into three parts, and Judy Martin's large lightweight cotton quilt is in Collection A.  

Under Drifting Stars   very lightweight cotton with a silk batt, embroidery floss, wool and silk thread, hand stitched and hand quilted,   86 x 91 inches, 2022

Collection A of Quilt National will be on view at the Historical Society of Clay County,  Moorhead, Minnesota from July 1 until September 30, 2024.

Each quilt that goes into a Quilt National exhibition must have the title and name of the artist sewn onto a label on the back of the quilt.  The images in this post show how the artist made an embroidered label and added extra embroidery to the hanging sleeve that blended with the stitching on the back of the quilt.  For more images of the finished quilt, visit Judy's website.  judithemartin.com  

Under Drifting Stars tours with Quilt National 2023

 

Under Drifting Stars 
 2022  very lightweight organic cotton quilt with a silk batt,
surface treatment is natural tannin with iron water painted dots
hand embroidery-quilted.  86 x 91 inches

Most of Quilt National 2023 is currently on exhibit in the Canton Museum of Art in Canton Ohio from November 21 2023 - March 3, 2024.  This is an international exhibition of art quilts, with work from 13 countries on display.  For more information please click here.

People's Choice award: Quilt National

Trees at Dawn  by Shin-Lee Chin  (detail image)  

Forest of Season by Diana Fox    

Mimi, Mimi, Mimi by Heide Parkes  (detail image)

Under Drifting Stars by Judith E Martin (detail image) 

summer garden by Hilde Hoogsworth  (photo taken from the catalogue)

These are the five leading quilts for people's choice award at Quilt National 23.  If you visit the show you can vote for this award. Check this link to see how your favourite quilt is doing.  The list is updated every Friday. 

EDIT UPDATE:  The top quilt in this post, Shin-lee Chin's Trees at Dawn won the People's Choice award, announced on September 11.   Judy's quilt remained in the top five until the end of August.

Quilt National 23 opens in Athens Ohio May 26, Judy Martin wins the Handwork Award

Judith E Martin with Under Drifting Stars,
 painted and hand embroidery-quilted cotton quilt, 86 x 91 inches 2022

Quilt National 2023 opened in Athens Ohio, May 26, at 4 pm.  Awards were given out at 5:30 pm.

There was a banquet afterwards for the artists and their guests.

Click here to read the names of the jurors, who was selected, and information about the awards.  

Not Enough Time , mixed media by Mary Mattimoe, winner of Best of Show

Conversation 1 stitched and quilted, by Susan Byrnes, winner of Emerging Artist Award

Judy Martin had many people come up to her during the opening of Quilt National to tell her how much they loved this gentle and soft quilt.  She brought a chair over to the quilt so that she could sit beside it and reconnect.  The quilt was made in the summer of 2022, and then almost immediately shipped to Athens.  Quilt National runs until September 11 at the Dairy Barn in Ohio and then it will tour for two years.  It might happen that this quilt will sell to a collector during that time.  This quilt will be an heirloom.  For more images of this quilt, please visit New Work, here.

It was nice that Under Drifting Stars was hung away from the wall, as the second side is worth peeking at.  The display card has the materials, techniques and also Judy's poetic statement.

A world of spirit thinly veiled, a secret mystery.

Our cosmos, our day and night, the sun and the moon, and also the stars.

Childhood and also eternity.  Also emotions.  Also dreams.

I make quilts that are large enough to cover a family. 

juried into Quilt National 23

 Sheguiandah quilter Judy Martin has had her newest work selected for an international show.

Under Drifting Stars iron water on cotton, hand stitched, detail  

"My newest quilt, "Under Drifting Stars" has been juried into Quilt National 23.  This is my fourth Quilt National and the thrill is just as strong as it was the first time," stated Judy Martin. 

"One reason that I called my newest work Under Drifting Stars was to describe the feeling you get when you pull the blankets over you at night.  This quilt references that private space where you feel safe and begin to dream." Ms. Martin explained.

A total of 81 quilts were chosen this year for Quilt National.  There were 647 entries, most from the USA, but 20 of the successful entries are from other countries.  

Quilt National is based in Athens, Ohio in what is literally a renovated dairy barn.  "The show opens in May 2023, running to early September, at the Dairy Barn in Athens Ohio.  After that, the show travels for two years," explained Ms Martin.  "Usually, they divide the show into two or three different parts to be displayed in various museums and galleries,' said Ms Martin who pointed out that Quilt National is a biennial exhibition and has been mounted every second year since 1979. 

Under Drifting Stars, detail of the horizon line, the dots above the horizon are outlined with black or brown quilting thread, the dots below the horizon line are embroidered over with cotton floss. This embroidery acts as quilting stitch in that it shows up on the back of the quilt as well.  

"What makes this show different is that the submitted quilts reflect contemporary life today much like how a poet - artist would" said Ms Martin. 

"In my case, I sent a large drawing that I painted onto cotton cloth with iron water (it has rust particles in it) and the cloth reacted to make dotted marks of inky black.  I then stitched over or around the dots with cotton thread."  The full quilt is a child-like image of sky and water with a horizon line dividing the two.  The lower (water) section dots have been embroidered and in the sky section, the dots are all outlined.  The quilt is 91 inches high and 86 inches wide.

Under Drifting Stars  91" x 86"  cotton painted with iron water then hand stitched with cotton and silk threads, 2022 by Judith E Martin

"It is very difficult to get into Quilt National," said Ms Martin.  "It was always something I wanted to do, and I've been fortunate to have my work selected"

Ms Martin was also accepted into the Quilt National 2017.  Her quilt entitled "Soft Summer Gone" won two awards for surface design (it was dyed with goldenrod flowers, and embroidered with wool and silk threads) that year.  "It was purchased by the International Quilt Museum in Nebraska (which is a huge honour) because the museum is in the process of creating a Quilt National collection.  I know how much care they take with the quilts..  It is a very beautiful museum."  She pointed out that the top three prize winners of the 2023 Quilt National show will be added to this museum's collection with purchase prizes.  

Ms Martin also has another piece showing in England at the moment.  The title of that quilt is "Underfoot the Earth Divine" and the exhibition is entitled Fine Art Textile Award (the short list).  There are 14 other pieces of art in this exhibition and her quilt was singled out as 'highly commended'.

This article by Tom Sasvari was published in the Manitoulin Expositor October 19, 2022.  It has been slightly edited by the artist.

For a list of all 81 of the accepted artists for Quilt National 23 please click here.

Also please note that the full image of Judith E Martin's quilt Under Drifting Stars was not published in the local paper because of Quilt National rules.  Social media publication is approved.  Also please note that the photo of the artist is an old one that the paper had on hand from a previous article about Judy. (She's much younger and more beautiful now) lol   

Prayer To the Sky is in Mystic USA

Quilt National 21 continues it's tour of the USA.  The original exhibition has been divided into three groups and Judy Martin's Prayer To the Sky is in the "B" group. 

For a list of these groups, please visit the quilt national website, here.

The exhibition opened at the Mystic Museum of Art in Mystic, Connecticut on March 18 and will continue on display until April 17, 2022.  

Quilt National asked each artist to send in a video clip about their process, and Judy made several small videos.  By clicking on this link,  the inner world  , you can see what Judy said in April 2021, about her intent and how looking at the sky can help us to access this huge space inside of us.  

Video of Judy click here  xo

Quilt National 21

 Prayer To The Sky

hand stitched wool quilt 60 x 64.5" 2019

included in Quilt National 2021

The inner world and Quilt National 21

Prayer To The Sky is included in the biennial exhibition Quilt National 21, Athens Ohio.

The exhibition opens in May and because of the pandemic, the opening reception is changing, most of the events will be online.

The director of Quilt National has asked the exhibiting artists to prepare videos of themselves speaking about the work that will be in the biennial exhibition this summer.  In her video, Judy speaks openly about her poetic vision and how her work in textiles might give us the feeling when we look at it as to how we feel when we are alone in nature.  She also speaks about the techniques she used to create Prayer To The Sky.  View that section here.   

Soft Summer Gone at Riffe Gallery in Ohio, the Quilt National 17 tour

Soft Summer Gone, plant dyed silk quilt, hand quilted with embroidery stitches, 100 inches by 100 inches, winner of two awards for surface design at Quilt National 2017.

Jane Forrest Redfern (director of the Dairy Barn art gallery in Athens Ohio, host of Quilt National) spoke about the quilts in the exhibition at the opening on January 25, 2018.  Soft Summer Gone appears at approximately the 32 minute mark of this 45 minute video.    Jane said that it reminded her of a chenille quilt from her childhood.  She remarked that it was hand stitched in a hoop.

Quilt National 17 is on exhibit at The Ohio Art Council's Riffe Gallery until April 14, 2018. 

video of Judy Martin speaking about Soft Summer Gone at Quilt National

Click here to see the you tube video that Quilt National made during the opening weekend.

Judy speaks about the central cross in this piece, right at the end of the video.  "That's the figure, that's you, that's me looking out across and towards the horizon, feeling the immensity within the self"....stuff like that.  

Quilt National 2017 opens today

Quilt National 2017 
opens to the public May 27
private viewing and celebration forthe artists - May 26
more views of Judy Martin's silk quilt,

Edited update:

Soft Summer Gone won two awards for surface design!!!!

Here is a link to see all of the award winners.