Local Quilters Create Quilt to Benefit Guilford Art Center
"Sisters in Cloth" Donate Art Quilt For Raffle in Honor of 'Craft Expo' 50th Anniversary

The shoreline-area quilters group "Sisters in Cloth" have created a handmade art quilt commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Guilford Art Center Craft Expo on the Guilford Green. The quilt will be offered in a raffle to be held during the months of June, July and August, including during Craft Expo, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, July 12, 13 and 14. Raffle proceeds will benefit the Guilford Art Center.

The brilliantly-colored quilt is based on a Victorian-era pattern that emulates cut crystal, with its facet-like shapes, according to Diane Wright, a member of both the "Sisters" and the Guilford Art Center board of directors. The design incorporates a block that is a variation of "Orange Peel", "Indian Wedding Ring" and "Pickle Dish," a layout created by internationally known fiber artist Karen Stone, called "Indian Orange Peel".

Wright explains that volunteers from the 12-member group collaborated to create "a design that could be seen as a celebration of a town green and the long tradition of public use, that would reflect the energy and excitement of the Craft Expo, while also suggesting 'trees,' 'green,' 'sky,' 'sun.'" The back of the quilt includes fabric designed by Guilford Art Center faculty artists. Last September, after the "Sisters" exhibited their work at the Center, they decided to make a raffle quilt for the Craft Expo. "It was a wonderful way for us to thank the Center for the exhibition opportunity," says Wright.

"Sisters in Cloth" has shown their work as a group for several years, including at the Guilford Free Library and at the Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library in Stony Creek. Rather than concentrating on traditional quiltmaking, the "Sisters" practice a more innovative, abstract quilting technique that has become known as "art quilting." The group began as a small gathering of quilters new to the area, originally part of the Guilford Newcomers' Club. Members now are mostly from Guilford, but also come from as far as New London and West Haven.

"We are grateful to the 'Sisters' for donating their hard work and energies, in the form of this beautifully designed quilt, to the Guilford Art Center in honor of this important anniversary," says Jean Perkins, the Center's executive director. The quilt will be displayed at the Guilford Art Center beginning in June. It will also be on view at Craft Expo on the Guilford Green, Thursday through Saturday, July 12-14. Raffle tickets are $5 apiece, and are available at the Guilford Art Center, 411 Church Street, Guilford (exit 58 off I-95, then 200 yards north on the right-hand side) and at Craft Expo.

For more information call the Guilford Art Center at 203-453-5947.