The Gmeiner Art & Cultural Center is pleased to announce the Atrium and Main Gallery exhibit for September, the biannual Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild members exhibit.
This exhibit, which is always very popular, showcases the members’ artistry in fabric. The Atrium gallery features examples of the guild’s charitable work, and the main gallery showcases members’ large, small, wall hanging, and miniature quilts. There is also a “Challenge Quilt” section, and members will be selling tickets for this year’s two beautiful raffle quilts.
The exhibit will open on Saturday, September 14th with a reception from 2-4 PM. The reception is free and open to the public, who are invited to come enjoy light refreshments and meet some of the artists behind the quilts. This exhibit will remain on display until Sunday, October 6th .
The Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild furthers the art of quilting through education, provides a means of sharing ideas, materials, skills, and fellowship, and encourages self- expression through the art of quilting. The guild currently has about 120 members, of all ability levels, mostly from North Central Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier of New York. MLQG sponsors workshops and lectures by nationally-known quilters, as well as workshops by guild members. There are several informal smaller groups within the guild which allow members to work on their own quilting projects in a comfortable atmosphere with other quilters. Other activities sponsored by the guild include a community outreach program and bus trips to national-level quilt shows. The Guild celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, and this is its twelfth exhibit at the Gmeiner. As in past years, MLQG’s exhibit encourages audience participation.
Visitors will be given a ballot when they enter the show and are asked to vote for their favorites in six categories: machine-quilted large quilts, hand-quilted large quilts, small quilts, wall hangings, miniatures/miscellaneous, and the Challenge quilts. The quilts’ categories are designated by the color of paper that their individual labels are on. This year’s challenge was for members to turn to page 25 of any non-quilting magazine, and create a small quilt under 25 inches based on that page, which resulted in some very diverse and interesting quilts.
Children visiting the exhibit will also have the opportunity to complete a scavenger hunt based on the quilts and will receive an “Art Takeaway” packet provided by Art’s Friends.
The Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild engages in numerous community outreach initiatives, which are showcased in the Atrium gallery for this exhibit. MLQG members create a number of sewn and quilted items to provide comfort to individuals and families in need. These include: Bumble Bags, which are given to the Humble Bumble project and filled with items for cancer patients of all ages; quilted placemats for Meals on Wheels; whimsical pillowcases for children staying at Hershey Children’s Hospital; fidget quilts that provide sensory and tactile stimulation for people with Alzheimer’s or dementia; honor quilts for veterans in hospice care at UPMC; and a handmade quilt for every single child who enters foster care in Tioga County. At each of their exhibits, the guild has created small art quilts that are sold to raise money for a different local charity. This year’s quilts cost $30 and all of the money from their purchase will be donated to This is My Quest’s “Veterans in the Wild” program that helps local veterans engage in outdoor adventures like fishing, hiking, camping, and horseback riding.
To learn more about the guild and to see a virtual “show and tell” of members’ quilts, see their website: https://mountainlaurelquiltguild.blogspot.com.
The Gmeiner is open from 12-6 PM Tuesdays through Sundays and is located at 134 Main Street in Wellsboro behind the Green Free Library. Admission to the gallery is free.
