Here's what I do at shows: (just got back from Houston).
I walk pretty fast through the whole show. I stop and look at the quilts that interest me or that I think are pretty and/or unusual or beautifully traditional. In my opinion, it's all art. As in a museum, some of the art I like and some I don't and some I'm indifferent to. When I'm done looking and admiring and maybe looking again and maybe yet again at quilts that I want to keep in my mind's eye, then I leave, almost always happier for the experience.
Dana