The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, in Sisters, Oregon, is the largest outdoor quilt show in the country, an annual event that drapes the little town at the foot of the Cascade Mountains with more than twelve hundred quilts, or roughly one per resident.
Every second Saturday in July – a day
chosen by organizers because it has one of the least statistical
chances for rain – an army of volunteers wake before dawn and begin
hanging the quilts from every downtown storefront, fence and
available public space.
While the spectacle attracts thousands of visitors for the one-day event, there are other numerous other quilting-related activities, including classes, contests and specialty shows. One of the more recent additions growing in popularity is the postcard show, featuring quilts the size of a four by six inch postcard.
In 2008 roughly 1,000 postcard quilts were submitted for the show, according to organizers. Of those, 73 were selected by a jury to be framed and then put up for bid at a silent auction to raise money for a local cancer charity.
“The postcards are wonderful,” said Sally Rogers, a resident of nearby Redmond, Ore., who on a whim last year purchased one of the postcards at the silent auction for $100. It was a take on the American flag stitched by a well-known local quilter.
“It was just something that went with my house … but also a good way to raise money, and, of course, the framing is wonderful,” said Rogers.
It’s no secret to artists that a custom frame complements a painting or photograph and adds value, something Myrna Dow, a co-owner of High Desert Gallery in Sisters, knows well.
In 2007, the first year of the postcard
quilt show, Dow was disappointed to see that the juried pieces were
framed with generic, mass-produced frames. She approached the
organizers and asked if they would be interested in custom framing
each juried piece for the following year’s show.
They liked the idea but were certain the show, which is run as a nonprofit, wouldn’t have the money necessary to pay Dow for her work. So she offered to donate the time and materials.
The decision made a difference. In 2007, the show’s silent auction raised $6,000. In 2008, helped by Dow’s custom framing, the silent auction raised $11,400.
“When Myrna put them in frames, they just looked fabulous,” said Ann Richardson, the executive director of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. “The custom framing really made a difference and added a quality that caused sales to almost double.”
Custom framing 70 miniature quilts was no easy task – there were deadlines to meet and technical challenges to overcome – but Dow proved up to it.
Knowing she’d have little time between when the postcard quilts would arrive at her shop and when they had to be delivered, Dow started by building frames. Choosing from the more than 2,800 molding samples in her shop, Dow and an assistant began building different frames, each 10 by 12 inches, despite the fact they had yet to see the postcard quilts.
When the organizers finally dropped them off, roughly a month before the show, Dow began matching them to the frames.
“What was fun was to be able to use
stock on hand to create different approaches, from fun and festive to
elegant,” said Dow. “We had such a wonderful gamut of frames, it
made each frame look like the postcard was picked for it.”
Next, each postcard quilt was mounted. Adhering to strict archival standards, no glue or adhesives were used, enabling the pieces to be easily removed if required. Pieces with finished edges, such as a border, were suspended by stitching the corners to a backing material. If the piece was flat and without finished edges, it was placed in a similar sized hole in the backing material, also called a sink set.
Many of the pieces featured 3-D relief, due to beads, buttons or other fabric forms stitched into the postcard quilts. Dow used foam core spacers in addition to double and triple matting to keep the pieces from touching the frame glass.
The end result was 73 custom framed postcard quilts, each one of them different.
“We didn’t just slap a frame on them,” said Dow. “Each piece had character and we were able to pull it out. We made them special.”
And that mattered to the show’s organizers. The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show has been around for more than three decades but the postcard quilt show has given a new meaning to the show. The silent auction benefits Wendy’s Wish, a nonprofit based in nearby Bend, Ore., that provide education and promote the early detection of colorectal cancer. It is named after Wendy Huntley, a Central Oregon quilter who contributed to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.
“It’s added an element of visible
community support,” said the show’s executive director, Ann
Richardson. “It’s also added that art element. Because we’re an
outdoor show that doesn’t attract what you would consider art
quilts because people don’t want those hung outside, this show is
indoors, on a small scale … it gives us an expanded dimension of
the art side of quilting.”
Alma de la Melena Cox, a Sisters fiber artist who had a postcard quilt in the 2008 juried show, was also appreciative of Dow’s efforts. The frames were perfect, she said, and made a significant impact on the show.
“What I found to be incredible was how valued the postcards were,” said Cox. “People were standing next to them at the silent auction in order to outbid others because they were so passionate about the pieces. It just seemed like people were not even thinking about the money aspect, they were just drawn to something they wanted.”
Dow is again preparing to donate her time and materials for this summer’s postcard quilt show. It’s a worthwhile effort, she says, but also helps give her business exposure as well as inspire visitors as to what is possible with framing.
“What I love is we were able to use our skills and showcase what framing can do for art and it’s for a good cause,” said Dow. “It’s a win for everyone.”
The 2009 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show will be held Saturday, July 11 in Sisters. For more information, visit: Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.
Andrew Moore - April 2009
Gary Miller, Photographer.
Additionally published: Decor Magazine -- May 2009 Retailer Focus
The framed stitches are really beautiful. Art works like these are really a must have. I wish that your silent auction will yield more than what you had in the past years.
Posted by: April Brown | May 24, 2009 at 04:25 PM