IYA Inspired Quilt Show, Santa Cruz, California

IYA-Inspired Quilt Show Planned
for Santa Cruz, California
Unbeknownst to many astronomers, quilters have been intimately involved with astronomy for years as evidenced by these three quilts and their stories.

NAUTICAL STARS, selected as one of the 100 Best Quilts of the 20th Century, was inspired by an anonymous pen and ink drawing at the Henry Ford Museum, possibly from the late 1800s.  It is thought to be a fraktur drawing–German fancywork—and who is to say it wasn’t created by a talented sailor with time on his hands who based his drawing on the heavens he observed nightly while sailing the seven seas?
VIEW FROM TABLE MOUNTAIN was created to celebrate a site in eastern Washington where many star parties take place and where the  quilt artist, her husband, and daughter go each August to watch the Perseid meteor showers. At an altitude of 6000 ft., the nights are usually cold and clear while overhead stars, planets, the moon, shooting stars and occasionally the Northern Lights fill the sky. Mt. Rainier and other peaks in the Cascades are visible on the horizon. The artist made this quilt for her husband, to honor his interest in astronomy and a special place in their lives.

SEARCHING FOR INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE is a humorist story quilter’s depiction of those thoughts we usually keep tucked away in the back of our minds about “little green men” being out there somewhere, and the idea that possibly, maybe even probably, we aren’t the only ones in this awe-inspiring endlessness we call space.  We know it is filled with a myriad of mysteries and marvels which those in the field of astronomy are working tirelessly to understand and interpret for us.

The Pajaro Valley Quilt Association, County of Santa Cruz, California, is grateful to IYA for the theme of our 2009 Quilt Show, The Universe of Quilts: Yours to Discover.  We look forward to having an outstanding array of astronomy-inspired quilts starring in our show and several faculty members of the UCSC Astronomy /Astrophysics Department will serve as judges to each select a quilt as their “Faculty Favorite”.  We are thrilled to be able to support the IYA in this manner, and if you happen to be in the Monterey Bay area on February 21-22, 2009, we invite and encourage you to attend our Quilt Show. For additional information, visit www.pvqa.org.
Legends for photos:
Figure 1 – NAUTICAL STARS by Judy Mathieson, Sebastopol, CA, 73” x 88” (www.judymathieson.com)
Figure 2 – VIEW FROM TABLE MOUNTAIN by Marie O’Kelley, Seattle, WA, 97” x 98”
Figure 3 – SEARCHING FOR INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE by ellen edith, Santa Cruz, CA, 45” x 45” (www.ellenedith.com)
Submitted by:
Iris Frank, Co-Chair
PVQA 2009 Quilt Fair
The Universe of Quilts: Yours to Discover
(Celebrating the International Year of Astronomy)
Phone – 831.475.0402
Fax – 831.475.0420
Email – iriscfrank@earthlink.net
Mailing address:
5023 Thurber Lane
Santa Cruz, CA 95065-1152