Visions Art Museum 2018 Quilts Japan Prize Winner Deborah Fell
For Immediate Release
Deborah Fell Wins Coveted Prize at Visions Art Museum
November 7, 2018
San Diego, CA
On October 20, 2018, at Visions Art Museum: Contemporary Quilts + Textiles in San Diego at the opening reception of Quilt Visions 2018: Connections, Deborah Fell was honored to receive the Quilts Japan Prize. This prestigious award is given by Nihon Vogue, a publishing powerhouse in Tokyo that is largely responsible for the popularity of quilting in Japan. A Quilts Japan Prize is awarded at Visions Art Museum, Quilt Visions and also Quilt National, as a way to strengthen the connections between US and Japanese quilters. The award: a trip to Japan, during which the recipient teaches a workshop.
The company started by publishing knitting patterns, in books and magazines, but in the 1980s Mr. Tadanobu Seto, the company founder, became aware of quilting and realized that it had a huge potential in Japan. He branched out into quilting books and magazines, and was rewarded by a growing popularity for the art form. Nihon Vogue (pronounced Nee-hon Voe-goo) also sponsors the prestigious Quilt Nihon show.
In 1994 Mr. Seto decided to sponsor the Quilts Japan prize, with the idea that it would be given five times at Quilt National and five times at Quilt Visions. But at the end of that time, he extended it and it continues today.
Deborah’s prize-winning
piece, A Place to Lay My Head, speaks to the world refugee crisis,
honoring the hardship so many of these people who have endured, using hand dyed
and painted cloth to symbolize their tattered and stained clothing as a vehicle
to help tell their story. To quote from Deborah’s personal statement,
“I am an artist because I believe art makes a difference in our world; it is a
gift we give ourselves and it is a celebration of our very souls.”
Visions Art Museum: Contemporary Quilts + Textiles is a program of Quilt San Diego, a non-profit arts organization founded in 1985 to promote contemporary quilt making as fine art. The mission of the Museum remains essentially the same as its founders wished in 1985. As formally adopted by the Museum’s Board of Directors in February, 2014, the mission of Visions Art Museum is to create an international community of quilt and textile artists, collectors and the public through exhibitions, education, and engaging programs that increase the appreciation of quilts, textiles and fiber as fine art.
