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A Personal Insight: Barbara Webster
When artist Barbara Webster, her husband Martin and two dogs Bucky and Roscoe, left the big city life behind in 1994, moving to a 30 acre rural mountain farm in the North Carolina mountains; the last thing she expected was to rank amongst the quilting world's best and win the elite award : Quilt 2004.
The Festival of Quilts event attracts thousands of visitors every year and from the 138 quilts that are judged, usually only 35 of them are chosen to feature within the Quilt 2004 gallery. This year, however, only eight were selected to compete for the top quilting honour, Best of Show and Barbara’s printed fabric quilt "Rhododendron in the Snow" was chosen unanimously.
Winning this wonderful award not only validated five years of research and sheer hard work, but it attracted the reward of a substantial cash prize sponsored by Coats Crafts UK and Prym Consumer. We invited Barbara to return to the UK in order to lecture and teach various workshops.
But her creative talent hasn’t always been devoted to quilting. Barbara trained as a classical musician gaining a degree in Music Theory and Composition. She spent several years writing music for multi media shows, independent films and television. In 1990 she founded a non-profit making organisation providing environmental education in Charlotte, North Carolina while working full-time marketing at a major accounting firm.
Her winning quilt is inspired by her concerns about environmental issues such as global warming, pollution and over population. Imagery captured using her digital camera depict the plants and flowers, tobacco farmers, cows and the vanishing way of life. All of which feature heavily in Barbara's work.
So what is next for Barbara? She tells us...
"Well my quiltmaking is still in its infancy, really. I came to quiltmaking late in life and I'm still finding my voice, as it were. I was very inspired by the Complex Cloth exhibit at the Festival of Quilts and by the work of several of the featured quilters at the show. While I love working with fabric and will never abandon it, I am experimenting with paper printing technology. I love taking pictures and working with beautiful images. I remain concerned about environmental issues. I enjoy teaching. I never know really what is coming next, I just continue to follow my heart and see where it leads. I hope I can make some sort of positive contribution to society. If I can do that with my quiltmaking or fabric design that would be an achievement worthy of celebration. Having my work recognised and validated by judges at shows is certainly thrilling, but finding satisfaction and fulfillment in my work on an everyday basis is true wealth."
Barbara offers lectures and workshops and sells quilt kits. She also offers fabric printing for other quilters (images can be up to 55 inches wide). Details can be downloaded from her website: http://www.starforestquilts.com/
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