2010 Virginia Highlands Festival Signature Art

In conjunction with Virginians for the Arts 2010 theme “Minds Wide Open: Women in the Arts”, the Virginia Highlands Festival has chosen a female quilter as our Signature Artist. Each year, the Virginia Highlands Festival commissions an artist to create a signature piece to represent the Festival and its theme. The theme for the 2010 Virginia Highlands Festival is “Piece the Future from the Past”, and Audra Rasnake of Glade Spring, Virginia, has been selected as the signature artist. Audra began quilting as a young girl, and she has created quilts and wall hangings that are now displayed in several countries, and all over the United States. Audra considers herself to be a “traditional quilter”. She prefers “Civil War era colors – mustard yellows, state blues, rusty reds, and mossy greens”. All of her quilting is done entirely by hand, and she takes great pride in all of her stitches.

The wall hanging chosen as the 2010 Signature Art is a traditional Baltimore Album block, which was first popular in the mid-1800s. The piece includes pine burr blocks, cherry wreath blocks done in appliqué, appliqué birds that mimic Pennsylvania Dutch birds, and a cross-hatch quilting background. There are numerous “Fleur-de-Lis”, an old quilting motif that is a sign of protection, and a large scale saw tooth border. The piece includes 272 cherries and 232 leaves. Interestingly, one of the cherries is intentionally sewn with the wrong side of the fabric showing. Audra says that this is an old quilting tradition that she continues. It is used by quilters to show that “only God can make something perfect”.


Audra is a self-taught quilter, but credits her mother for always being there to answer her questions. Quilting has been an art passed down for several generations in her family. She says that when she completed this particular work, her father commented, “This one’s going to get some attention”, and he was right. Most of her quilting work is commissioned, and ranges from wall-hangings to full-size quilts. She has quilts all over the United States and in several foreign countries. Audra has resided in Southwest Virginia all her life, and she currently lives in Glade Spring, Virginia with her husband and two sons.

Photos by Nikki Hicks