Call for Entry: Art Quilt Elements 2026
Art Quilt Elements 2026, the 17th International Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Fine Art Quilts
March 23 – April 25, 2026
Entry Deadline: October 16 · Entry Information
Davenport Gallery, Ethel Sergeant Clark Smith Gallery
Reception, Awards Ceremony & Meet the Artists, Sunday, March 29 3-5pm
Art Quilt Elements 2026 is the 17th biennial exhibition of this internationally acclaimed show, unique for its professional presentation of contemporary fine art quilts. The exhibition has been widely praised by reviewers and artists not only for the presentation of the work, but also for the commitment to promoting the art quilt as a fine art form.
Jurors: Toni Kersey, Karl Reichert and Danielle Williams
ABOUT WAYNE ART CENTER AND ART QUILT ELEMENTS (AQE):
Founded in 1931, Wayne Art Center has been continuously serving the cultural needs of the community for all ages and abilities. Dedicated to enriching the community through the arts, Wayne Art Center’s mission is to afford artists and the broader community an interdisciplinary venue to explore, share and learn, while fostering a sense of community through arts education and appreciation.
Wayne Art Center’s spacious and exquisitely designed exhibition galleries are recognized as the finest in the country. Through an active and diverse schedule of exhibitions of local, regional, national and international artists, the Center is considered one of the few venues that features a diverse and innovative display of contemporary art quilts.
Art Quilt Elements (AQE), the Juried International Exhibition of Contemporary Art Quilts (established in 2008), continues to expand the boundaries of quilt making, showcasing a range of techniques that communicates a unique vision and storytelling through a variety of hand and machine quilt making methods. Wayne Art Center is grateful to the many jurors, artists, sponsors and patrons who have endorsed and supported this eagerly anticipated biennial exhibition over the years.
ABOUT THE CALL FOR ENTRY:
Wayne Art Center seeks submissions for Art Quilt Elements 2026, an international juried group exhibition of contemporary fine art quilts. Selected works will be on display in both the Davenport and Ethel Sergeant Clark Smith Galleries of Wayne Art Center in Wayne, Pennsylvania from March 23 through April 25, 2026. For more information about AQE 2026 visit: www.artquiltelements.org.
Nancy Campbell
Executive Director and Chief Curator
Director, AQE
Pam McLean Parker
Exhibition Coordinator
Karen Louise Fay
Director of Marketing and Events
AQE 2026 Committee
Libby Cerullo
Susan Leonard
Rosemary McBride
ABOUT THE JURORS:
Toni Kersey
Toni Kersey is an award-winning mixed-media fiber artist living and working in Springfield, Pennsylvania. Her background as a graphic designer informs her work. She received her degree in graphic design from the University of Illinois and began designing and making quilts in 2005 after studying fabric painting techniques. A self-taught quilter, she has concentrated on developing a creative language that fuses African American improvisational quilt making with painterly abstraction. Kersey’s work is focused on narratives that use visual rhythm and movement to explore the shared cultural experiences of the African Diaspora. Her quilts have been exhibited nationally and internationally, most notably as part of the “Art in the Embassies” program. She explores cultural relationships combining Dutch wax and African fabric with hand-dyed and painted textiles, embroidery and beading. Her work has been included in publications such as Artistry in Fiber Volume 1 and most recently in the fall 2024 Surface Design Journal.
Karl Reichert
Karl Reichert serves as the Executive Director for Textile Center, a national center for fiber art based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A seasoned arts executive, he joined Textile Center in 2014 and has led the organization through an exciting decade of programmatic growth. With its mission to “honor textile traditions, promote excellence and innovation, nurture appreciation, and inspire widespread appreciation in fiber art” Textile Center’s programming includes year-round fiber art exhibitions, classes, and retail sales. The Textile Center Library is among the nation’s largest circulating libraries dedicated to textiles and fiber art, with over 35,000 books and periodicals. Reichert served as a juror for the Visions Museum of Textile Art’s Quilt Visions 2024 exhibition in San Diego, California, and he looks forward to serving as a juror for Art Quilt Elements 2026 at Wayne Art Center.
Danielle Williams
Danielle Williams was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, she resides in sunny Southern California, with her husband and their growing family. Since 2012, Williams has worked for Stampington & Company in various editorial roles, including managing the magazine Art Quilting Studio. She comes from a family of creatives and loves immersing herself in the quilting world.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:
- Artists must be 18 years of age or older.
- Works submitted must be original in design. Collaborative works are accepted.
- Work must have been completed in the last two years (after January 1, 2024).
- Work previously exhibited at Wayne Art Center is not eligible.
- All work must be for sale.
- Work must remain on display for the duration of the exhibit.
- Size Limitations: Works of any size not exceeding 12′ (144″) high will be considered.
- All artwork submitted online to AQE 2026 MUST be available for the entire duration of the jurying process and exhibition. If a piece is accepted to both AQE 2026 and a simultaneously running exhibit, the piece must only be exhibited in AQE 2026.
- Withdrawal of invited work by the artist prior to the exhibition will result in exclusion from exhibiting at WAC the following year.
- Wayne Art Center reserves the right to reject entries that do not meet the requirements. Work that differs from the work invited through digital submissions will be disqualified.
The New Yorker: Quilts That Keep You Up at Night
10/23/23
Read the full, original article here.
Congratulations to Craft in America artist, Michael A. Cummings, of the QUILTS episode! Mr. Cummings is the subject of an article in The New Yorker Magazine, October 23rd, 2023:
“Quilts that Keep You Up at Night,” was written by Nina Mesfin and illustrated by by João Fazenda.
“Michael A. Cummings, a seventy-seven-year-old quilt artist based in Harlem, is the only person he knows of who has slept beneath one of his works. ‘I have put my quilts on my bed when I was cold,’ Cummings said the other day. ‘When I first got to New York, I was putting layers on top of me on the bed, and I couldn’t move, hardly, because it was so heavy. But I was warm.’ Eventually, his mother and his sister told him about electric blankets. Over the years, he has made some quilts for friends with babies, but none made it into a crib. ‘One woman I know, she just put it on the side of the baby bed, and the baby looked at it,’ he said.”
Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories
November 17, 2022–March 12, 2023
Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90049
Discover the extraordinary human stories behind five centuries of quilts. Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories features works by more than forty artists, including Harriet Powers, Bisa Butler, and Sanford Biggers. Come celebrate the artistry and vision of a diverse and largely under-recognized group of creators in an exhibition that brings to light stories that enrich, deepen, and complicate our understanding of the American experience.
Fabric of a Nation illuminates the unique capacity quilts have to tell stories and convey a sense of humanity. Whether produced as works of art or utilitarian objects, their tactile, intricate mode of creation and traditional use in the home impart deeply personal narratives of their makers and offer an intimate picture of American life. Originally organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Skirball’s presentation will feature additional works by Los Angeles artists Sabrina Gschwandtner, Ramsess, and Sula Bermúdez-Silverman, as well as a quilt from its own collection highlighting key moments in American Jewish history.
For more information, visit skirball.org/exhibitions/fabric-nation-american-quilt-stories
CRAFT IN AMERICA: QUILTS Artist Bios
CAROLYN DUCEY, Curator of Collections at the International Quilt Museum, Lincoln, NE, oversees new acquisitions and conserves the museum’s impressive collection. She has curated numerous exhibitions including “Uncovered: The Ken Burns Collection” and has authored books on quilts. Ducey has a passion for and fascination with historic textiles. Her explorations reveal intriguing stories of women and women’s history embedded in the larger social and economic history of the world. Her goal is to expand people’s visions of what quilts are and to draw connections between American quilts and those from around the world.
LESLIE C. LEVY was named the Ardis & Robert James Director at the International Quilt Museum in 2014. Her invaluable skills are helping the Museum to navigate its second decade with the invigorated goals of: opening the museum to a diverse spectrum of artists, makers, collectors, enthusiasts, scholars and historians; introducing the museum, its collection and programming to global audiences; building a world-renowned collection and the resources to steward it for generations; and advancing the mission and outreach of the museum to inspire future audiences through partnerships and programming with schools and universities
internationalquiltmuseum.org/about/leadership-advisors
SUSAN HUDSON is a member of the Kin Ya’áanii, or Towering House clan of the Navajo Nation, of Sheep Springs, NM. She is a descendent of the prominent leader Narbona, and grandniece of Master Weaver Mary Ann Foster. She has created a new quilt form that incorporates the style of Ledger art into story quilts of Navajo hardship and loss. These pieces go beyond tribal, resonating as shared experiences by many other Native American communities.
Her mother Dorothy Woods taught her to sew and quilt when she was nine years old. “After the buffalo disappeared, our women were forced to learn sewing in boarding schools. But look at what we are doing with it now. We are taking it a step further and using it to tell our own stories so we will never forget,” remarks Hudson. “In my dreams I’ll see images of my ancestors. I think about them being forced to leave their homelands and go to reservations and the children being made to go to the boarding schools. I think about the Long Walk of the Navajo.”
Her quilts honor her ancestors, their sacrifices and strengths, and remember their hardships. These tributes have won awards at the Navajo Nation Fair, Window Rock, AZ, the Gallup Intertribal Ceremonies, NM, the Museum of Man in San Diego, CA, and at the Indian Arts and Crafts Association, NM, among others.
VICTORIA FINDLAY WOLFE was always fascinated by color, pattern, and design. After training as a painter, she found her life’s passion to be quilt making. Growing up in Minnesota, inspired by a creative mother and grandmother who was an avid quilt maker, she learned to quilt and sew at 4 years old and is now a New York City-based International Award Winning quilter, fabric designer, teacher, author and lecturer.
Findlay Wolfe travels to teach and lecture on creativity and play all over the U.S., Japan and Australia. Her quilts have won many awards and she has had a number of solo exhibitions, including at The International Quilt Museum, NE, Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, WI, International Quilt Festival, TX, and most recently, “Playing With Purpose: Victoria Findlay Wolfe Retrospective” at the National Quilt Museum, KY (6/28-10/8/2019).
Findlay Wolfe is the founder of the NYC Metro Modern Quilters Guild, NY, which advocates for each quilter to fully explore their creativity in quilt-making, and is a member of the Manhattan Quilt Guild, NY, and Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), CT. Findlay Wolfe has a studio and quilt store in New York, NY where the products she designs can be found.
MICHAEL A. CUMMINGS, a self-taught quilter of the narrative, story-telling tradition, is one of a handful of male quilters in a female dominated artform. Using vibrant colors, applique technique, and a sewing machine for the main body of the piece, he often embellishes the surface with hand embroidery and found objects. Stories involve celebrations of Josephine Baker, Harriet Tubman, Langston Hughes, jazz music, mythical/historical characters, and commemorate historical events in African American history. Cummings views his quilts as giant collages, likening the process of construction to painting on canvas.
Through a career spanning thirty years, Cummings’ work has been commissioned by Art in Embassies, DC, the City of Knoxville, TN, the New York Department of Cultural Affairs, NY, Home Box Office, NY, The White House, DC, and Absolut Vodka, NY, among others.
His work is included in the public collections of the Brooklyn Museum, NY, the Museum of Art and Design, NY, the California African American Museum, CA, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NY, the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery, DC, and in notable private collections. He has received numerous prestigious awards.
JUDITH CONTENT is a fiber artist who uses a contemporary interpretation of the Japanese dye technique arashi shibori to make hand dyed, quilted and pieced silk wall quilts, shaped in an abstract interpretation of the kimono form. Representative of the Studio Art Quilt movement, these pieces elegantly adorn the walls of galleries, museums and homes across the US and Japan.
Content’s work is inspired by the interplay of light and shadow that occurs within natural landscapes, exploring the essence of an image, memory, or moment in time. Relying on intuition and experience, she dyes, pieces, quilts and applies appliqué, to achieve a perfect haiku that draws upon the audience’s memories and experiences upon viewing the finished piece.
Her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally. Numerous institutions hold her work in their permanent collections including the de Young Museum/Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, CA, Museum of Arts and Design, NY, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, CA, International Shibori Collection, Japan. She has served as president of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), where she established their exhibition program. Evanescence, Judith Content Solo Exhibition will run from 7/6 – 8/24/2019 at Tansey Contemporary, Denver, CO.
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CRAFT IN AMERICA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to advancing original handcrafted work through the Peabody Award-winning documentary series on PBS nationwide and the free-to-the-public Craft in America Center in Los Angeles. With twenty-one episodes produced since 2007, CRAFT INAMERICA takes viewers on a journey to the artists, origins and techniques of American craft. Each episode contains stories from diverse regions and cultures, blending history with living practice and exploring issues of identity, ritual, philosophy and creative expression. Our websites craftinamerica.org and pbs.org/craftinamerica provide all episodes, hundreds of online videos and interactive learning materials, as well as object exhibitions, artist information, and the Random House book Craft in America: Celebrating Two Centuries of Artists and Objects and other Craft in America publications.
The Craft in America Center is an exhibition and learning space in Los Angeles. We give voice to traditional and contemporary craft through artist talks, workshops, exhibits and concerts. Our reference library contains over one thousand books and videos and is free to the public. We invite you to stop in and to join us for upcoming events and exhibitions – 8415 W. Third St., Los Angeles, CA 90048
QUILTS: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE EPISODE exhibition on view at the Craft in America Center, January 11-March 21, 2020
For more about Craft in America:
craftinamerica.org pbs.org/craftinamerica facebook.com/craftinamerica youtube.com/craftinamerica instagram.com/craftinamerica twitter.com/CraftinAmerica
Please contact for art and interviews: (310) 659-9022
Lauren Over, Communications: press@craftinamerica.org
Press images: www.dropbox.com/sh/hi3owo0amvwbfei/AAD2LKGNgwmDQI2Tp3wG-wNna?dl=0