BRNO PATCHWORK MEETING

The FROM…TO project brings together dozens of artists, styles, and approaches to quilt art. Originating from the training courses “Let’s Talk About Quilt Art!” led by Ildikó Polyak, it traces a journey from searching for one’s own artistic voice to confident independent creation, from inspiration to realization, and from tradition to free artistic expression.

Marijke van Welzen creates wearable art that tells stories. Her colorful coats and jackets are created using an intuitive textile collage technique and captivate with their richness of detail, texture, and color. The DREAMCOATS collection presents textiles as a free medium full of imagination, experimentation, and personal expression.

The exhibition "Pas de Deux" connects the work of two prominent textile artists. Together, they represent a dialogue between tradition and the present, experimentation and craftsmanship, individuality and collaboration. Their works are a declaration of love for textile art, detail, and the courage to cross boundaries.

The German city of Chemnitz, selected as the European Capital of Culture 2025, hosted a major textile art exhibition in Hohenstein-Ernstthal. Under the leadership of curator Gudrun Heinz and museum director Marina Palm, a project was created featuring 30 European textile artists, including Jana Štěrbová representing the Czech Republic.

French textile artist Anne from Nantes discovered art quilting in 2017 and has since devoted her life to creating expressive textile paintings. Her latest series, Anne de Bretagne and JS Bach, connects visual art with the rhythm and emotion of music.

A love of fabrics, yarns, threads, and colors led Andrea Landovská to study textiles and eventually to creating quilts in which the worlds of landscape, theatre, and her personal artistic journey intertwine.

Enter the competition at the 18th International Creative and Textile Exhibition Brno Patchwork Meeting with your textile works = quilts (three-layered textiles joined by stitching).

Lovers of traditional patchwork, art quilts, and contemporary abstract textile work did not miss the chance to discover new trends at the Brno Exhibition Centre—this time, for the first time, in the beautiful Pavilion A1. The 17th edition of the Brno Patchwork Meeting featured around 30 galleries from individual artists and art collectives from all over the world. In total, 200 artists were represented, showcasing over 700 original quilts of various sizes, themes, and techniques. The exhibition attracted over 4,000 visitors.

Another charitable project during BPM was the initiative of the First Moravian Patchwork Club, whose members created handmade toys featuring animal motifs. On Sunday, Lenka Smetanová, a representative of the club, presented around 30 original toys to the Kociánka Center in Brno, which provides rehabilitation and educational services for children and adults with disabilities.

It is a competition exhibition of quilts, organized by BVV together with this year’s event partner, Hedva Český Brokát Rýmařov. The company not only provided the competing artists with unique floral brocades and other materials but also prepared prizes for the top three winners.

Art competitions are an inseparable part of BMP, and on the occasion of presenting awards to this year's winners, Artistic Director Jana Štěrbová announced the new themes: "For 2026, we have chosen Paper Piecing as the theme for the classcal competition. Since this technique is very demanding, it will be sufficient if one third of the quilt's surface is created using this method. For the creative competition aimed at modern art quilt artists, the theme for the following year will be 50 Shades. You can complement it with your favorite color, meaning we expect monochromatic quilts."

Jana Dohnalová, the newly crowned winner of the creative competition In the Circle, has been working with patchwork for over 10 years. She is taking home the grand prize — a sewing machine from Haišman worth over 32,000 CZK — to her village near Brno.