DEADLINE: August 30, 2024 (ONLINE)
QUILT NATIONAL ’25: The Best of Contemporary Quilts
The Dairy Barn Arts Center
Athens, OH
May 24, 2025 — September 1, 2025
Quilt National is a biennial international juried exhibition of contemporary innovative quilts. Quilt National ’25 is the twenty-fourth in the series of international juried exhibitions dedicated to promoting the contemporary quilt by serving as a showcase for NEW artwork that provides the viewer with an appreciation of the variety of techniques and innovative trends in the medium of layered and stitched fabric.
RULES AND REQUIREMENTS
QUILTS ARE DEFINED BY THE FOLLOWING
● The artwork must possess the basic structural characteristics of a quilt.
● It must be predominately fiber or fabric-like material and MUST be composed of at least two full and distinct layers – a face layer and a backing layer.
● The face layer may be described by any or a combination of the following terms: pieced, appliquéd, whole cloth, or stitched/fused to a foundation.
● The face and backing layers must be held together by hand or machine-made functional quilting stitches or other elements that pierce all layers and are distributed throughout the surface of the artwork.
● At least some of these stitches or elements should be visible on the back of the artwork. As an alternative, the artwork may be a modular construction (an assemblage of smaller quilts.) Each individual module, however, must meet the above structural criteria.
ELIGIBILITY (truncated)
Any eligible quilt:
● All entries must be NEW artwork – completed on, or after, September 8, 2022.
● Has no vertical or horizontal dimension of any single piece or group of pieces exceeding 100 inches (254 centimeters).
● Has not and will not appear prior to May 23, 2025, in any local, regional, national, or international exhibition, including but not limited to group, solo, curated, invitational, and juried exhibitions.
● Has not and will not appear prior to May 23, 2025, in a print publication that has national or international distribution; this restriction includes SAQA publications.
JURORS
Martha Sielman, Ellen Blalock, LUKE Haynes
These talented individuals possess a wealth of knowledge about contemporary textiles and fine art with decades of collective experience in the artistic, technical, and academic aspects of this exciting art form. The jurors will select artworks that represent unique approaches to the medium and demonstrate the breadth and variation of contemporary expressions.
PURCHASE AWARDS
The purchase awards will be given on opening weekend, and the quilts will tour for two years and then be placed in the International Quilt Museum’s Quilt National Collection for exhibition, study, and research.
- Best in Show, $7,500 USD cash purchase prize
- Award of Excellence, $5,000 USD cash purchase prize
- Most Innovative Use of Material, $5,000 USD cash purchase prize
- Emerging Artist, $2,500 USD cash purchase prize
CASH/TRAVEL AWARDS
These cash and travel awards will be awarded to Quilt National ’25 participating artists.
- People’s Choice Award, $150
This award is given to the artist with the piece receiving the most visitor votes during the exhibit.
- Juror’s Award, $300
This award is determined individually by each of the three Quilt National jurors.
- Persistence Pays Award, $400, sponsored by Marvin Fletcher
This prize is given to the artist who has submitted to Quilt National the most times without being accepted until their first successful submission.
- SAQA Award, $500, sponsored by Studio Art Quilts Association
The SAQA Award is awarded by the jurors to a quilt that is compelling, dynamic and progressive.
- Best International Artist Award, $500
This prize is granted to an accepted artist who is neither a US citizen nor a US resident (i.e. does not live in the US).
- Quilts Japan Prize, sponsored by the Japanese Handicrafts Association.
This prize is granted to an American artist as an expression of gratitude for the teaching and guidance that American quilters have given to Japanese quilters. Recipients will travel and teach in Japan.
- Young Emerging Artist Award, $500, sponsored by Katie Pasquini Masopust
This prize is granted to an accepted artist who is under the age of 35.
- Outstanding Machine Pieced Quilt Award, $500, sponsored by Crow Timber Frame Barn, LLC
This prize is granted to an accepted artist whose piece demonstrates excellence in machine piecing.
ENTRY FEE
A non-refundable entry fee of $50.00 (fifty US dollars). This fee includes the entry fee and the online submission of the full view and detail images of up to three quilts. Each artist will pay the entry fee once to submit up to three artworks.
Visit website for complete details including FAQs: https://dairybarn.org/quiltnational/
Download Prospectus: QN25-PROSPECTUS_April-2024.pdf
Apply Online: https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/CxHrGNJn3ilBNWUDFm-6IA
QUESTIONS
Please direct questions to:
Keri Wolfe
Quilt National and Exhibitions Director
The Dairy Barn Arts Center
740-592-4981
exhibitions@dairybarn.org
