The Beginning

CQA was born in the fall of 1986, and by 1991, had grown to 70 members. The first major exhibition was in the Seattle Center Pavilion in May-June of 1991. This is also referred to as the Folklife Exhibition, as it ran through the time period of the Folklife Festival. The exhibition was dedicated to the memory of Sharon Pelton, a founding CQA member, and was partially funded by her family.

Our local quilt store, In the Beginning, then as now, was supportive of all forms of quiltmaking. Lorraine Torrence had begun teaching some contemporary design classes, which were considered fairly revolutionary at that time. In the spring of 1986, the store's owner, Sharon Yenter, along with Lorraine, organized a series of 4 lectures on the Art Quilt, which were attended by about 30 people. The speakers were Nancy Dice, Buff Hungerland, Suzanne Kjelland, and Laura Reinstatler.

At the end of the lecture series, people left knowing that they wanted to form a group. Art Quilts were just beginning to be defined at this time. The group wanted to work together to explore how to present and promote their work as art, and themselves as professional artists. In the Beginning donated space for the monthly meetings. The group initially called itself the Northwest Association of Quilt Artists.

There were 36 original members united by the desire to have the public understand artistic expression in the fabric medium. Members encouraged each other to develop their own visual style and language, and to work in a series. They developed artist statements. The very first exhibition was in the Edmonds Art Center. Jean Koskie was the first president. By January of 1988, there were elected officers, dues, a logo, and a new name, the Contemporary Quilt Association.

Non-profit Status

The group decided to apply for 501c(3) nonprofit status, which would allow them to apply for grants and receive charitable donations. This required developing by-laws, which took nearly a year's worth of work by a group of about 10 people.

The 1991 Folklife Exhibition was a turning point in that it gave the group increased visibility and credibility. The title of the exhibit was By Design: The Quilt as Art. Members rotated responsibilities and duties so that people could continue to spend time in their studios as well as doing work for the organization. Gretchen Echols was president during the Folklife show. After that show, CQA had a big influx of new members, as it virtually doubled overnight to approximately 76 members, half of which had not been present at the start.

Expansion

Growing pains ensued as CQA outgrew the meeting space in the store and had to find a new location. The new members did not necessarily buy into the goals of professionalism shared by the original core group. Karen Soma was president at this time and remembers that they had to endure the laborious process of re-writing all the bylaws, which were originally the "generic" ones required by the state in order for the organization to gain status as a non-profit. The revisions were geared toward making the bylaws specifically tailored to the group and its goals.

In July of 1993, the name of the group changed again, from the Contemporary Quilt Association to the Contemporary QuiltArt Association. At the same time, the logo was developed, letterhead stationery was printed, and the group got a PO Box of its own. (These tasks were not as simple as they sound here!)

Some of the things that we take for granted now, such as the information in the new members packet, all had to be developed during those early years. For example, Jean brought in the idea of educating the members on the best long-term solutions for preserving flat textiles, such as rolling them instead of folding them, and using archival materials to prevent damage. This is one of the informative pieces of the new members information that remains relevant many years later.

Showcase

The transformation of Show and Tell to Showcase was another important step in the development of CQA. The members didn't want to simply hold up their work like kindergartners and have it praised by the others. They wanted to learn to present their work as art and to talk about it as art. The idea was that they'd practice doing that in front of a friendly CQA audience, so they could do it in public. Developing a system to hang the quilts and stand back from them was a detail, but an important one as it provided some emotional as well as physical distance between the artist and the work.

First Symposium

CQA put on its first Symposium in October of 1993. The speakers were Patricia Malarcher, Nancy Erickson and Lynn Basa. It was held at Seattle Pacific University. That symposium was called Difference: Fuel for Creation.

The Difference Project was part of the event. Twelve members were paired with twelve non-quilters and each pair produced a single quilt that exemplified the facts of these two people's lives and their differences.

Tenth Anniversary

Stephanie Randall Cooper was the chair of the 10th Anniversary Committee. The group came up with ten activities to celebrate the anniversary year of 1996-97. These included three exhibitions, two books, a party, and an educational component, including a brochure for children to use when looking at the exhibit in the Convention Center. The group found that they got better and more extensive publicity with each succeeding show--the news articles got longer and included more photographs.

The 10th Anniversary events actually made quite a bit of money to support CQA (something around $17K). They got a lot of sponsors, raffled quilts, and so on. The events attracted both cash donations and in-kind donations.

Sharon Pelton Memorial Fund

The Sharon Pelton Memorial Fund was established as a fund to provide seed money for opportunities that required it. For example, some symposia and exhibitions that are eventually funded by other arts organizations are actually reimbursable only after they have taken place. The idea from the beginning was that the funds would never be used to pay the rent or for other month-to-month operating expenses, but would remain to be used as a resource for future opportunities. This is another philosophy from the early days that has continued into the present.

Second Symposium

In 1998, CQA put these funds to good use by sponsoring its second symposium. This one was called Bridging Two Worlds: Taking Our Private Art Public. It was held at Bastyr University in October of 1998. The speakers were Penny Sisto, Penny McMorris and Lou Cabeen.

The Future

CQA continues to move forward by seeking recognition for quilts as fine art by arranging for exhibitions in venues that support the higher end of the art world. In 2003 the group completed a year-long collaboration project called Visual Verse, where quilt artists were paired with established poets. This exciting, unusual and dynamic exhibition has been shown at different venues across the country.

Information sources: 10th anniversary newsletter article by Janice Coffey (January 1997), "Blast from the Past" -- a January 2003 panel discussion with some of the original CQA members, including Stephanie Randall Cooper, Gretchen Echols, Karen Soma, Jason Yenter, and Jean Koskie, and some clarifying emails from other long-time members.