The Raven Challenge

QuiltArt, an online art quilt group to which I belong, has unveiled the results of its “Raven Challenge,” designed to honor the 200th anniversary of Edgar Allen Poe’s birthday. They are very cool! Check them out; you won’t believe the diversity of styles, materials and techniques.

Many of the artists have donated their cards to the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative or to Fiberart For A Cause’s Collage Mania (which raises money for the American Cancer Society).

Virginia Spiegel is the woman behind Collage Mania, which will be held May 6-7. Hundreds of fiber artworks will be available for a minimum $40 donation, and Virginia aims to raise $20,000 in those three days. She’s already raised more than $165,000. WOW!

The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative has raised $273,000 for Alzheimer’s research. Ami Simms, a fiber artist whose mother suffers from the Alzheimer’s started this initiative. “I think it is possible to make a difference, one quilt at a time,” she says.

Two women are behind the Raven Challenge: Lynda Thompson, online curator; and Linda T. Minton, group Collage Mania coordinator.

The Raven Challenge is named for “The Raven,” one of Poe’s most famous poems, with the well-known line, “Quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore.’”