Gala 2020 Door Prize - Award-Winning Quilt
Purchase a raffle ticket for $100 and be entered to win an AWARD WINNING QUILT - Limit of 100 tickets will be sold!
Artist: Robert A. Zimmerman
Title: “WhatABreeze – Reran – DorothyGale”
Medium: Silk, cotton, wool, polyester, rayon
Size: 80” x 80”
Please make checks payable to Chase Brexton Health Care; be sure to note “Quilt raffle ticket” in the notes section. Or, go online and purchase your chance to win the Quilt Door Prize today!
For more information please contact Alexa Milanytch, Director of Development, at [email protected] or 410-837-2050 ext. 1144.
The Story of the Quilt
Hello, I am Robert Zimmerman, Maryland Institute College of Art Graduate, (1966, BFA, Interior Design) and an artist, floral designer, event planner, and designer. I grew up in Towson, Maryland and was a long time resident of Reservoir Hill, in Baltimore.
It all started with a correctly solved crossword puzzle. The year was 1983. As I looked at the finished puzzle, I thought, “How can I use this to create a work of art?” Colored marker came into view. Shortly after, all the A’s were colored with yellow; the B’s with orange; the C’s with red; etc., and a colorful design appeared and was put on the shelf for safe keeping.
After six years working at the Walter Art Museum, I retired and found myself with hours of idle time to fill. I decided to make a quilt and use the crossword puzzle as the design. I had never made a quilt, although I had lots of experience hand-sewing and putting objects on display at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where I had been an exhibit designer for twenty years. The time also coincided with the death of a friend who had a vast collection of silk neckties. “O-Walla!” Just the right material for my quilt. His partner and a good friend agreed to share some of his ties for my project.
As I started to count the number of A’s, E’s, O’s, S’s and T’s, etc, needed to execute the design, it became evident that I would need some extra large ties. A shop in Mt. Washington, “A Fabric Place,” came to the rescue. They sold necktie silk by the yard. All problems solved. Next came cutting, layout, machine piecing and finally hand quilting. Years before, I had purchased a quilting frame at a yard sale in anticipation of someday making a quilt. Over time it has been used as a support for the restoration of two 18th-century French tapestries now at the Mount Vernon Club in Baltimore, and later a needlepoint rug. Now it was time to be put to use for its intended purpose, a quilt.
The first public showing of the quilt was at the Baltimore Heritage Quilters Guild, where it received rave reviews. Next, it traveled to the Queen Anne County Fair, winning a first place blue ribbon, and, finally, the Maryland State Fair, where it won a second place red ribbon. I have chosen to donate my quilt, “WhatABreeze – Reran – DorothyGale” to Chase Brexton Health Care, as a gift of love and compassion. The possible income, if we sell all the tickets, could be $10,000 to support patients in need and the LGBT Health Equity Training Team. Thank you for your help.
