Gwen Marston

Gwen Marston (October 2, 1936 - April 19, 2019) was an American quilter, quilt teacher, and author who championed a liberated style of quilting beyond rigid commercial quilt patterns.

After seeing an antique quilt exhibit at the Flint Institute of Art in the mid-1970s, Marston was inspired to learn how to make quilts.[1] She initially learned to quilt from Mennonite women,[2] and started with bed-sized quilts.[3] Beyond exhibits of her own work including at the Taupo Art Museum during the 2013 New Zealand Symposium,[4] Marston taught quilting classes, wrote books on quilting, and produced videos on quilting.[5][6] For 30 years, Marston led an annual quilt retreat in Beaver Island (Lake Michigan)[7] that was held at Central Michigan's Biological Station.[8] In 1989 she talked about the ongoing revival of quilting, and recognized that she was spending more of her time talking about quilts than making quilts.[9] In public lectures Marston shared considerations of old and new quilts in lectures she presented at different locations in the United States,[10][11] and gave the keynote address at the 2016 Modern Quilt Guild's QuiltCon conference in Pasadena, California.[12][13]

In 1979 she started working with Joe Cunningham,[14][15]: 218  and together they curated information about Mary Schafer's quilting career.[16][15]: 232  This led to a 2005 book, Mary Schafer, American Quilt Maker, that won the Michigan Notable Book Award[17] and was reviewed by library journals.[18][19]

Selected publications
  • Marston, Gwen (2016). A Common Thread: A Collection of Quilts. That Patchwork Place. ISBN 978-1-60468-813-9.
  • Marston, Gwen; Cunningham, Joe (1993). Quilting With Style: Principles for Great Pattern Design. American Quilters Society. ISBN 978-0-89145-814-2.
  • Marston, Gwen (2012). Liberated Medallion Quilts. American Quilters Society. ISBN 978-1-60460-028-5.
  • Marston, Gwen (2009). Collaborative quilts II. Freddy Moran. New York: Lark Books. ISBN 978-1-60059-439-7. OCLC 241304957.
    • Best seller in 2009[20]
  • Marston, Gwen (2010). 37 Sketches. Six Mile Creek Press. ISBN 978-0615496634.
  • Marston, Gwen (1990). Mary Schafer and her quilts. Joe Cunningham. East Lansing, Michigan. ISBN 0-944311-04-0. OCLC 23215839.

Personal life

Marston also enjoyed gardening, especially daffodils.[21] She died of cancer in April 2019.[22]

References
  1. Cox, Meg. "Gwen Marston - Her own fine self" (PDF).
  2. Hough Roda, Barbara (1991-06-09). "Meet quilt detectives, Marston and Cunningham". Sunday News. p. 127. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  3. Schleper, Anne (1997-04-17). "Quilting author to give lecture and workshop". Evansville Courier and Press. p. 17. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  4. Merry, Colin (2014-01-14). "Dennos to host paper and fiber art exhibits". Benzie Record Patriot. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  5. Houck, Carter; Museum of American Folk Art (1991). The quilt encyclopedia illustrated. Internet Archive. New York : H.N. Abrams in association with the Museum of American Folk Art. ISBN 978-0-8109-3457-3.
  6. Laing, Melissa (1989-08-25). "Quilters share ideas on applique methods". Longview Daily News. p. 14. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  7. https://www.quiltfolk.com/wp-content/uploads/gwen.pdf
  8. "Quilters retreat to Beaver Island". Beaver Beacon — Digital Michigan Newspapers Collection. 1 September 1992. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  9. Brokenborough, Patrick (1989-04-20). "Experts say quilting revival in no danger of slowdown". The Paducah Sun. p. 60. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  10. Hansell, Betsey (1986-09-18). "Old quilts inspire new variations". Detroit Free Press. p. 148. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  11. Kinsey, Angie (2002-04-24). "Sometimes new isn't better". The Paducah Sun. p. 84. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  12. Portico, Plaid (2016-05-27). "QuiltCon 2016: Gwen Marston". The Plaid Portico. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  13. "A Note About the Keynote: Gwen Marston". modafabrics.com. 2016-02-18. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  14. "Country Patch quilters slate Thursday meeting". Longview News-Journal. 1989-04-09. p. 31. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  15. Guiding stars : a sampler of quilters' favorite quotations. Internet Archive. San Pedro, Calif. : R.& E. Miles. 1989. ISBN 978-0-936810-14-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  16. Ann, Marian (2014-08-01). The Quilters Hall of Fame. Voyageur Press. ISBN 978-1-62788-399-3.
  17. "Library of Michigan - 2005 Michigan Notable Books". www.michigan.gov. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  18. Hamel-Schwulst, Mary (2004-07-15). "Mary Schafer, American Quilt Maker (Book)". Library Journal. 129 (12): 79.
  19. Herman, B L. Choice (January 2005). "Mary Schafer, American quilt maker (review)". Middletown. 42 (5): 842 – via ProQuest.
  20. "Crafts Bestsellers". Library Journal. 134 (18): 100. November 1, 2009 – via ProQuest.
  21. Wells, Jean (1999). Through the garden gate : quilters and their gardens. Internet Archive. Lafayette, CA : C & T Pub. pp. 42–49. ISBN 978-1-57120-065-5.
  22. "Remembering Gwen Marston". C&T Publishing. April 19, 2019. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.