The New Brunswick Museum and the Marco Polo Quilters’ Guild are proud to present the juried New Brunswick Contemporary Quilt Award for 2026. This year a unique item will be added to the permanent collection of the New Brunswick Museum.
New Brunswick Contemporary Quilt Award, a collaborative project between the New Brunswick Museum and the Marco Polo Quilters’ Guild, ensures that quilts and related objects made in New Brunswick after 1960 are represented in the New Brunswick Museum’s collection. In the past half century or so, there have been major changes in quilt-making tools, materials, methods and designs. To tell the most complete story, the New Brunswick Museum’s quilt collection must include current examples of the excellent work of the province’s quilters.
Selected by jury, the seventh award is being presented to Christina Savoie of Point La Nim, NB, for her magnificent quilted garment, Star Jacket.
Finished in September 2022, it is an original design that was tailored, pieced and quilted by Savoie using free motion quilting and ruler work on a sit-down, longarm sewing machine. In her artist’s statement, she wrote:
“I challenged myself with this piece. I achieved the fitted look of this jacket by: (1) sewing the darts of the outer layer and of the lining separately and removing this area from the batting. (2) then sandwiching these 3 layers together, and machine quilting them, being careful not to flatten the piece as I quilted. There are other garment construction methods used that can be seen by looking on the inside of the jacket, including the use of polyester lining fabric so that the jacket will not cling to a shirt. The small piecing was also a challenge.”
Christina Savoie is a Member of the Where Friends Gather Quilt Guild and is the recipient of awards at national and local guild shows. She was also the co-winner of the 2021 New Brunswick Contemporary Quilt Award with her magnificent 2019 quilt, Statistically Speaking.
MEDIA CONTACTS
New Brunswick Museum
Luis Cardoso
luis.cardoso@nbm-mnb.ca
506-565-3700