Eastern Cape fabric artists have wrapped the hall at Victoria Park Grey Primary School in Walmer in a kaleidoscope of colours, textures and patterns for the annual Diaz Quilters Guild Spring Show.
The show opened on Tuesday and runs until Saturday October 6 at the same time as a series of workshops are being held with visiting and Nelson Mandela Bay tutors.
In addition to the Diaz guild, others also contributed to the exhibition, including a Pan-African challenge led by the Good Hope Quilt Guild where South Africans were “twinned” with quilters in Zambia, Kenya, Namibia, Ghana and Zimbabwe.
“The fabric of our lives is woven with colour and texture and drawn together with threads of friendship across the miles and days,” GHQG president Renee de Beyer said when encouraging participation in the challenge.
As well as the international section, there was a strong showing by Port Elizabeth artists.
Petra van der Merwe, for example, won Best in Show and Best Machine Work for her “thread painted” art titled Beauty-Fix, but there were colourful rosettes pinned affixed to many creations, both large and small.
Yolande Swinford-Meyer’s Kaffe-Fassett inspired quilt won for Best Handwork, for example, in the open category, while master quilter Joy Clark took several prizes for a variety of work.
Guild chair Carole Green (another ribbon winner for her Birth of Blue quilt in the open category) said the quality was high – as it was every year.
Categories include appliqued and pieced bed quilts, as well as a variety of wall quilts. The open category is for quilts constructed by an individual as well as collaborative quilts finished by more than one person, using any technique.
There also was also a modern quilt challenge, which asked contributors to use solid or monotone colours, and a separate category for master quilters who have previously won a first prize at national festivals.
The quilt show’s hours are 9 to 5pm on Thursday, 9 to 8pm on Friday and on Saturday the show will end at 4pm.
Entrance is R20 (R50 for a week pass).
Inquiries: Carole Green, 076-026-7046 or e-mail: diasquiltersguild@gmail.com.