International Quilting Bee
©2010 All Rights Reserved,
Through the Flower,
Judy Chicago,
Donald Woodman
International Quilting Bee
In 1980, Judy Chicago and Through the Flower invited the submission of
small, triangular quilts honoring women of the quiltmaker's choice. Since
that time, over six hundred of these colorful creations have traveled with
The Dinner Party and are now part of Through the Flower's archive,
catalogued by Dr. Marilee Schmit Nason.
Initiated by Judy Chicago when The Dinner Party was exhibited in
Houston, TX
in 1980, the International Quilting Bee commemorates over 700 individual
women and women's organizations standing as a monument to womankind by
honoring the accomplishments, personalities, individualism, and importance
of women throughout history and the world. The women represented are from
all over the United States and Canada, as well as from Mexico, Australia,
South Africa, Germany, Italy, Japan, Scotland, England, Lithuania, Russia, and France.
The women and institutions represented in the International Quilting Bee fall into several categories. Some are memorials to loved or admired individuals; others are testaments to the impact of The Dinner Party on the
quilters themselves; still others depict the impact of formal women's
groups, businesses, or organizations on the quilter. Regardless of the
content or context of the work, each honor quilt is an eminently personal
statement about the quilters themselves, about their friends and relatives,
and about historical figures who have captured the respect, admiration or
imagination of another individual. In a very real way, they are, as one
participant pointed out, homages to the "lost women" of history. Whereas on
one level the International Quilting Bee stresses the inclusive nature of
Judy Chicago's work by inviting any person moved by a woman and her
accomplishments to participate in this communal artwork, on another it
extricates individual women from anonymity by providing a structured context
in which to honor those whose achievements are admired by others.
After their initial exhibition in Houston, TX, the quilts accompanied The Dinner Party at fifteen venues in six countries. They have been displayed in Boston, New York, Cleveland, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles in the United States. In Canada they were exhibited in Montreal, Glenbow, and Toronto. They have traveled to Scotland; London, England; Frankfurt, Germany; and to Melbourne, Australia. At each venue, dozens more honor quilts were added to the collection. By the time The Dinner Party was put into storage in the late 1980's the quilts numbered nearly 700.
The uniformity of presentation shared by the quilts is due to general guidelines drawn up before the Houston show. The International Quilting Bee "kit", laid out the basic design elements for the pieces: Each was to be an equilateral triangle, a long standing symbol of the female, measuring two feet on each side, with each side displaying the name of the person on institution honored, the place of origin, and the country.
Working with these broad guidelines, individuals and groups have produced
quilts of incredible variation. The triangles combine a variety of media and
techniques. Some employ traditional quilting materials in tradition patterns
such as meaningful scraps of fabric gathered from family heirlooms and
pieced in log cabin, crazy quilt, or windmill designs. In addition, many
quilts use traditional decorative elements such as top stitching,
needlepoint, bargello, trapunto, and embroidery. Other quilts rely on
integrating mixed media in innovative techniques juxtaposing photographic
transfers, hand made felts, and hand made papers with wire, plastics,
ceramic beads, metallic meshes, glass, wood, shells, stones and feathers.
Several quilts are imaginative collages incorporating favorite items of the
person honored.
Some of the honor quilts are executed by professional quilters, seamstresses
and artists, but the great majority are made by inexperienced artisans who
bring together items of interest to them and their themes. Although often
naive in their elaboration, all are heartfelt representations of, and
memorials to, women that have touched those around them. Viewed
individually, many of the pieces are not quilts in the traditional sense.
But, when pieced together, they form a whole quilt by melding a variety of
materials in an overall, mutable, array of tributes to the significant
contributions of individual women, to the reaffirmation of women's
experience, and to the heritage of womankind.
Initiated by Judy Chicago when The Dinner Party was exhibited in
Houston, TX
in 1980, the International Quilting Bee commemorates over 700 individual
women and women's organizations standing as a monument to womankind by
honoring the accomplishments, personalities, individualism, and importance
of women throughout history and the world. The women represented are from
all over the United States and Canada, as well as from Mexico, Australia,
South Africa, Germany, Italy, Japan, Scotland, England, Lithuania, Russia, and France.
The women and institutions represented in the International Quilting Bee fall into several categories. Some are memorials to loved or admired individuals; others are testaments to the impact of The Dinner Party on the
statement about the quilters themselves, about their friends and relatives,
and about historical figures who have captured the respect, admiration or
imagination of another individual. In a very real way, they are, as one
participant pointed out, homages to the "lost women" of history. Whereas on
one level the International Quilting Bee stresses the inclusive nature of
Judy Chicago's work by inviting any person moved by a woman and her
accomplishments to participate in this communal artwork, on another it
extricates individual women from anonymity by providing a structured context
in which to honor those whose achievements are admired by others.
After their initial exhibition in Houston, TX, the quilts accompanied The Dinner Party at fifteen venues in six countries. They have been displayed in Boston, New York, Cleveland, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles in the United States. In Canada they were exhibited in Montreal, Glenbow, and Toronto. They have traveled to Scotland; London, England; Frankfurt, Germany; and to Melbourne, Australia. At each venue, dozens more honor quilts were added to the collection. By the time The Dinner Party was put into storage in the late 1980's the quilts numbered nearly 700.
The uniformity of presentation shared by the quilts is due to general guidelines drawn up before the Houston show. The International Quilting Bee "kit", laid out the basic design elements for the pieces: Each was to be an equilateral triangle, a long standing symbol of the female, measuring two feet on each side, with each side displaying the name of the person on institution honored, the place of origin, and the country.
Some of the honor quilts are executed by professional quilters, seamstresses
and artists, but the great majority are made by inexperienced artisans who
bring together items of interest to them and their themes. Although often
naive in their elaboration, all are heartfelt representations of, and
memorials to, women that have touched those around them. Viewed
individually, many of the pieces are not quilts in the traditional sense.
But, when pieced together, they form a whole quilt by melding a variety of
materials in an overall, mutable, array of tributes to the significant
contributions of individual women, to the reaffirmation of women's
experience, and to the heritage of womankind.