For over four decades, Quilt National has showcased the
best in contemporary quiltmaking, pushing the boundaries of tradition while celebrating creativity, technical mastery, and artistic expression. This year, jurors Ellen Blalock, LUKE Haynes, and Martha Sielman selected 84 quilts that represent a bold and diverse array of styles and themes.

Featuring 27 first-time exhibitors alongside returning artists, Quilt National ‘25 highlights fresh perspectives and new voices in the quilting world. From exploring social themes to experimenting with materials and textures, these works reflect the ever-evolving nature of this vibrant art form.

As a former costume designer my work focuses on story and character and is most inspired by issues of social justice and endangered species. As a lifelong animal junky, I am most fascinated by human-animal connections and the fragility of nature. In all of my work,  I seek direct emotional connection with the viewer and develop fiber collage sculptures and hand drawn, painted, collaged and quilted whole cloth quilts to that end. I believe that quilting and fiber collage deeply enriches the meaning and emotional connection of my drawings. Funny and Fragile focuses on different aspects of endangered and threatened species. My Vanishing series includes the babies and clowns that are at risk and the heroes who are championing and caring for them. My Veterans series up-cycles war and work surplus fabrics to express both the grit and vulnerability of endangered species. My new Fragility series features the use of delicate and sheer fabrics to create a palpable sense of these animals sometimes slowly, and sometimes quickly, disappearing.

Holly Cole is a full-time textile studio artist in Triangle, Virginia who considers herself addicted to making art. After a long career as a costume designer and/or artisan for Broadway,regional, and educational theaters (including heading the costume programs at Ohio University 1987-2012) in 2016 she retired to a new life of working as an art quilter and surface designer.  She holds a BA from Northwestern and an MFA from Carnegie-Mellon Universities in Theater Design. Additional Fiber training includes studies at Arrowmont, the J.C. Campbell Folk School,the Crowe Barn, the Quilt Surface Design Symposium, Quilting By The Lake, Pro Chemical and Dye, and Kerr Grabowski’s studio

Exhibition Statement
This exhibition explores memory, observation, and place through fragmented landscapes andstitched compositions. Merging traditional oil painting with fiber art techniques like sewing andquilting, the work navigates the boundary between fine art and craft. Small painted canvasesare collaged onto muslin fabric, creating layered psychological spaces shaped by fleetingimpressions, emotional states, and non-linear recollection. These patchwork constructionsmirror how memory behaves: layered, stitched together, sometimes frayed or incomplete.

The landscape imagery in these pieces, influenced by small moments in nature, shift betweenclarity and abstraction to create spaces guided by emotion, inviting viewers into open-ended,felt spaces. The process of arranging and hand stitching each composition highlights theimportance of intentional acts of care, slowness and resistance to speed and the fast pace ofeveryday life. Within the work, soft colors and textures are embraced to reclaim decorativequalities of fiber art that are often associated with femininity and re-imagine them asmeaningful expressions of care and resilience.

This exhibition offers a space for quiet reflection, where memory, imagination, and emotion areallowed to overlap. Through softness, fragmentation, and care, the work invites viewers to slowdown and engage on a personal and intuitive level, bringing their own experiences intodialogue with each piece.

Artist Biography
Madelyn Bartolone is an artist based in Athens, Ohio where she is currently pursuing her MFAin Studio Art with a focus on Painting and Drawing. Her work explores the intersections ofmemory, perception, and place through fragmented landscapes and textile inspired processes.She received her BFA in Studio art and Art Therapy from Ohio University in 2023 and hasexhibited in their university galleries as well as group shows in Athens, Lancaster, and her hometown of Canton Ohio. Her work has also been featured in the New Ohio Review.

Exhibition Statement
Reanimated is an exhibition about transformation.  Mundane objects are isolated, arranged and reanimated to give a completely new narrative to the object. The vintage items are purposefully incorporated onto custom built wood panels. The intention is always to elevate them to a more beautiful existence than they previously had. Vibrant colors and rich textures are incorporated to evoke curiosity. 

Artist Biography
Adrian DesJardins is a self-taught, rogue creative currently living in Millfield Ohio. He has lived and worked in Florida, Georgia, and Colorado before landing in Southeast Ohio. His inspiration comes in many forms ranging from impressionist artists such as Monet to dusty boxes of keys. Primarily an abstract artist working with several mediums, including acrylic painting, unique mixed media wall sculptures, and brazed metal sculptures. Many years of working in construction has given Adrian exposure to countless building methods and materials. These are regularly used in unconventional ways to create truly unique art with a distinctly industrial vibe. Having the ability to construct oddly shaped wood panels gives him freedom from the limitations of traditional canvas. Frequently re-animating vintage hardware, giving it a new narrative that evokes intrigue and curiosity.

Exhibition statement:
Micropiecing:  Quarter Million is an exhibition of 27 miniature quilts focused on the traditional pineapple block done on a very small scale.  All blocks are less than 2”, and each individual piece of fabric is 1/8” wide or smaller.  Each quilt has thousands of pieces, and the series was considered complete when the total number of pieces reached 250,000 pieces. The design sources for these quilts include antique quilts, contemporary quilters and original designs. The quilts were machine foundation pieced on a Singer Featherweight and then machine quilted in the ditch.  All but three of these quilts are pandemic quilts, meaning they were finished between March 2020 and March 2023.

Because of the nature of foundation piecing, there is a foundation material that is left in the quilt.  This foundation allows the quilt maker to experiment with practically any fabric, regardless of its fiber content, stretchiness, or durability.  The specialty nature of the fabrics, which are sourced from all over the world, requires that these quilts receive very careful treatment in order to preserve them for decades to come.  Amy is delighted to share them with the world, and she hopes that the world sees these quilts as the product of years of hard work. 

Artist Biography
Amy Pabst grew up in rural West Virginia, where there is a strong tradition of quilt making. Her mother and grandmother taught her to sew at an early age, doing clothing alterations for a dry cleaners.  She didn’t start quilting until 2011 when she randomly picked up a book about quilting from her local library. Within months she had made over a dozen quilts, and she hasn’t slowed down since. Amy is a teacher, speaker, and judge (National Association of Certified Quilt Judges) and is active in several guilds, both locally and internationally.  Her first book, Log Cabin: The 100,000 Pieces Project, was published by Quiltmania in 2020.  She is a full-time student in the fibers program at Marshall University, and in her free time she enjoys hiking in the beautiful woods of West Virginia.

Since 2019, TASO (Textile Artists of Southeastern Ohio) and ChileQuilting have worked together to foster artistic inspiration and promote quilting as a medium of cross-cultural communication. Through our collaborations, we have pursued two primary goals: to learn from and share quilting experiences between our two groups, and to expand our international projects in ways that encourage creativity and cultural exchange .

Our second collaborative project, Origins, consists of 15 textile pieces that reflect personal and cultural interpretations of the theme. These works explore heritage, identity, and creative expression, offering insight into the diverse traditions and artistic visions of our members. Origins speaks to the beginnings that shape us—whether ancestral, artistic, or personal. Some quilts delve into family histories and cultural roots, while others examine the origins of artistic inspiration itself, drawing from nature, memory, or traditional craft.

Origins is an exhibition that embodies international creative exploration and cooperation. ChileQuilting and TASO demonstrate a unique collaboration that celebrates cultural and artistic creativity through the art of quilting. By bringing together artists from different backgrounds, this project highlights the unifying power of quilting as a form of artistic dialogue and mutual inspiration. Through fabric and thread, these quilts tell stories of where we come from and how our origins continue to shape our creative journeys..