Purcellville, VA August 31, 2017—The Purcellville Arts Council is proud to host a display of quilts in the Council Chambers of Purcellville’s Town Hall. The quilts, which are part of a personal collection owned by Priscilla Godfrey, are on loan to the town to showcase the talent, creativity, and skill of this historic practice that combines art and function.
Priscilla Godfrey has been quilting for more than 30 years. She is known for her precision piecing, her realistic 3 dimensional appliqué and pictorials of Loudoun’s countryside. She has exhibited and won awards on her quilts at the annual NQA shows throughout the United States, and locally at Oatlands Plantation, Belle Grove Plantation, Mount Vernon Needlework Show, Rose Hill Manor, and Sotterley Plantation in Maryland. Ms. Godfrey represented Loudoun County, Virginia, in Frankfurt and in Hoffheim, Germany on May 10, 2012 at an international art exchange and her piece was purchased by the Town of Hoffheim in Germany for exhibit at the Frankfurt, Germany George C. Marshall Society headquarters. An article she wrote about this experience appeared in the summer 2012 NQA Quilting Quarterly magazine.
“I appreciate this special opportunity to share with the public the art, design and comfort provided by handmade quilts," said Mrs. Godfrey about her display at Purcellville Town Hall. She regularly exhibits her art wall hangings at the Franklin Park Performing Arts Center Art Gallery. She has also exhibited at the Purcellville Train Station Art Weekend and at the Bluemont Fair in Bluemont, Virginia. Her art quilt collection will be exhibited at the Loudoun County Government Building in Gallery One from early September to early November 2017.
“We are thrilled that Mrs. Godfrey is sharing some of her art quilt collection with us,” said Liz Jarvis, Chair of the Purcellville Arts Council. “Born of necessity, quilting has evolved over many centuries and is a wonderful depiction of American folk art. These quilts tell their own stories, making them a perfect way to combine art and history in our small town.”
Ms. Godfrey became a National Quilting Association (NQA) certified quilt judge in 1986; she has judged in several states along the eastern seaboard and Midwest – Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, and West Virginia. She continues to judge quilt shows and lecture throughout the northeast. Most recently, she judged the Charlotte Quilters Guild show, the Quilts and Wall Hangings Exhibition at the West Virginia Culture Center, and the Eastern Long Island Quilters Guild Show in New York. This fall she will be judging the Virginia State Fair and the Pieceful Hearts Guild Show in Augusta, South Carolina.
Since 1979, Ms. Godfrey has been a member and officer at the Waterford Quilters Guild in Waterford, Virginia, and currently serves as 2018 Auction Committee Chairman, and is a proud Charter member of the National Association of Certified Quilt Judges.
Mrs. Godfrey’s quilts will be on display in Council Chambers at Purcellville’s Town Hall through November 3. The public is welcome to see the display during regular office hours, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., except holidays). The quilts are delicate and we respectfully ask visitors help us protect them by enjoying them with their eyes only.
The Purcellville Arts Council is a standing committee that supports visual and performing arts in the Town of Purcellville. The Purcellville Arts Council works to offer local artists more opportunities to share their art with the public while providing residents with a variety of ways to experience, enjoy, and learn about art.
