The Mint Museum announces that Fleur Bresler, a longtime supporter of the Mint Museum of Craft + Design and a Founders' Circle member, has received two awards in recognition of her service to the craft art field.

The Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County in Silver Spring, Md., and the Wood Turning Center in Philadelphia recently honored Bresler for her contributions to the arts at separate events.

"Fleur's passion and commitment to the craft art field have helped draw national attention to these beautiful art forms," said Phil Kline, executive director of The Mint Museum. "We can't think of a more deserving person to receive these awards."

A native of Washington, D.C., Bresler has enjoyed a passion for handmade objects since childhood. She raised six children with husband Charles Bresler, a prominent real estate developer and former Maryland state delegate. She always sewed for her family, and her enjoyment of the craft, coupled with her volunteer work with the textiles collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, led her to begin collecting quilts.

Bresler purchased her first quilt in the 1960s, an occurrence that was, for her, both magical and momentous. What began as a personal hobby soon evolved into an overwhelming passion to learn about quilts -- inside and out. Over a quarter of a century later, she had assembled an impressive and historically important collection of quilts.

In the mid-1980s Bresler began delving into the world of wood turning and collecting wood art. Soon her home was turned into a kind of mini-museum to which she invited artists from all over the world to come discuss their work. Her passion for sharing craft forms with others continued through her involvement with various arts organizations.

She served as president of the Wood Turning Center for five years and was instrumental in facilitating the construction of the new VisArts building in Rockville, Md.

Between 2000 and 2001, Fleur and Charles Bresler donated their 36-piece American quilt collection to the Mint Museum of Craft + Design. Historically vast, the collection features white work, indigo resist and block-printed chintz from the late 18th to early 19th centuries; appliqu, stenciled, mosaic template-pieced and album quilts from the mid-19th century; log cabin, crazy, and charm quilts from the late 19th century; and a group of 20th century Amish pieced quilts.

The Bresler collection was shown at the Mint Museum of Craft + Design in 2003 in American Quilt Classics, 1800-1980: The Charles and Fleur Bresler Collection. The exhibition is traveling to the Bellevue Arts Museum in Bellevue, Wash., where it will be on display Jan. 27 May 31.

In recognition of Bresler's contributions to the craft field, the Mint Museum of Craft + Design will re-exhibit the Bresler quilt collection July 25- Feb. 10, 2010.

To learn more, visit www.mintmuseum.org.