The Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) Annual Benefit Auction begins on Monday. In celebration of that event, I thought I would share the collection of art quilts I have purchased through this auction.

Here is the way the auction works. For the next three Mondays, an amazing collection of art quilts are offered for $750 each. As the days of the week go by, the auction price is lowered until on the final day, which is Friday, the pieces are available for $75 each. If you wait too long to place your bid, you might not get the piece you want. Each day I cruise the auction, looking at work and visiting artist’s websites. I pick my favorites and agonize over when to place my bid.

My collection is eclectic. I particularly like finding new artists, buying their work, and then tracking the future development of that artist. But if I am feeling flush, I might just buy an established artist’s work. All of the pieces are 12” by 12” which means they look fabulous hanging together.

A couple of years ago, SAQA member Cat Larrea offered to photograph my collection for a SAQA Alaska regional presentation. The first 15 pieces are photographed by her. Thank you Cat!

Here is the first half of my collection roughly in the order that I acquired them.

Misty Morning  by Eva Henneberry
This is my first SAQA Art Quilt Auction purchase. I was hooked! This quilt is featured in a Quilting Arts magazine article where Eva talks about her technique for making this type of quilt. Eva has since passed away, and I feel very fortunate to have one of her pieces.

Pair by Christine Sauer 
When I first purchased this quilt, Christine was just beginning to show her work. Now she has a website and is really doing amazing things. One of the things that drew me to this piece is the use of non-tradiational fabrics. I even got to meet Christine at the SAQA/ SDA joint conference in Philadelphia in 2012.

Spoken by Cindy Rinne
I really like the fact that Cindy uses words on her quilts. She also frequently makes her work on site–in nature. I used to teach a class called Artsy Journal Quilts. I would lead the students through a series of different quilt techniques. I used my SAQA art collection to show students different examples of how a particular technique might be used. Cindy’s quilt is an excellent example of collage work.

Still Life with Fish and Chips by Pamela Allen 
One auction season I was feeling particularly rich and purchsed four pieces of art at a higher price point than I can normally afford. Pamela is well known Canadian quilt artist. I love her use of found objects.

Urban Fragment 1 by Jette Clover
Jette has a very distinct style. The hand threadwork is particularly interesting to me.

Seam ’08 by  Connie Rohman
The quilting on Connie’s quilt is amazing. This quilt is part of series that uses patchwork to form words. At first this looks like an abstract piece, but if you look closely you will see it spells the word seam.

Robo Sapien: Agent 7 by Kathy Weaver
This piece is one from Kathy’s robot series. Kathy is very interested in technology and how it effects our environment. I was surprised to discover that she uses silk as her primary textile.

Senorita with Flowers by Sherry Kleinman
Sherry paints on canvas and then appliques her painting onto a base fabric and then quilts. She is know for her series of figurative work of woman in all sorts of situations.

Nature Kaleidoscope by Barbara Barrick McKie
Barbara uses printed photo images in her work. Most of her recent work is more recognizably about nature. This is an early example of her working in this way.

Up next, I will share the second half of my collection. I hope you have enjoyed seeing all this amazing art. I know I love having these pieces be a part of my everyday life.

31 Aug This entry was published on August 31, 2013 at 10:24 AM and is filed under Art in Place. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.