We have compiled a variety of resources to get you started with collecting or if you just want to learn more about individual collectors and their collections.
Advice about Collecting
Art Quilt Quarterly is a quarterly publication filled with beautiful artwork and informative articles for collectors, art venues, museums, professional artists, and art enthusiasts.
Learn more about collecting art quilts. Back issues of Art Quilt Collector and Art Quilt Quarterly available for online viewing.
by Cindy Grisdela
How do you get started as a collector of fiber art? For many people, the journey begins with one piece that speaks to them on an emotional level. For others, it’s the opportunity to own a piece by an artist they admire or to add something different to displays of their own artwork.
by Kate Lenkowsky
How can a buyer, particularly one who is not familiar with textile art, be sure a contemporary quilt is worth the price? Will it continue to be of interest in the months to come? Will it hold its value? How does one build a collection?
by Cynthia Wenslow
A primary concern of art collectors is preservation. How is it possible to keep artwork from degrading over time? For collectors of art quilts and other textiles, this is not a trivial issue.
by Diane Howell
Recordkeeping supports value, enhances enjoyment of your collection of art quilts. Learn tips from other collectors.
by Dana Jones
Collectors of art quilts need to have professional photos on file of every piece in their collections so they can share the artwork with museums, publishers, and editors via email or electronic file-sharing programs.
by Andi Reynolds
For many quilters and quilt collectors, quilting is about legacy, whether warm generational memories or mysterious auction finds. Because most quilters create their quilts for family, friends or charity, you might wonder how quilts end up in museums.
by Mary Juillet-Paonessa
Learn more about the theoretical and practical sides of textile conservation in this Art Quilt Collector article by Mary Juillet-Paonessa
by Kate Lenkowsky
Concern about the longevity of quilt art is sometimes given as a reason for not collecting it, but this concern is not justified. Museum experience shows that when environmental controls are in place and care is taken with the way quilts are stored, they can last a lifetime and longer.
Collector Profiles
by Robert Shaw
Collecting is, in a way, being an artist —it involves assembling a number of pieces to create something which has greater impact than the individual pieces.
by Sandra Sider
When Del Thomas of Placentia, California, purchased her first quilt at a 1985 guild auction, she had no plans to create a contemporary quilt collection.
by Necia Wallace
According to collector Necia Wallace, a collection of other artists’ artwork can be a constant source of inspiration and delight!
by Dana Jones
When Marvin Fletcher bought his wife, Hilary Morrow Fletcher, an art quilt as a 20th wedding anniversary gift in 1985, little did he realize it was just the first of many art quilts the Athens, Ohio, couple would purchase.
Video Conversation
The Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection is one of the largest private art quilt collections in the world. Find out more about Del Thomas in this video conversation.
Video Conversation
Meet art quilt collector John M. Walsh III. The John M. Walsh III Collection has had exhibitions throughout the US and one in France. The Collection has been featured in articles in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal...
Video Conversation
Meet art quilt collector Marvin Fletcher in this video conversation. A large portion of The Marbaum Collection is now part of the permanent collection at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles.
by Sandra Sider
Collector Frank Klein spoke with Sandra Sider at the Texas Quilt Museum in February about his discovery of quilts as contemporary art and his commitment to build a significant collection.
Warren and Nancy Brakensiek
For the past thirteen years we have been collecting contemporary art quilts. Our collection includes 120 pieces with two core focuses. The first group are quilts by Pacific Northwest artists. The second, the "Full Deck Art Quilts" collection.