Thursday, May 4, 2023 – WONDERFUL QUILTS RETURN TO FOLK ART MUSEUM
FROM THE ARCHIVES
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2023
ISSUE 981
What That Quilt
Knows About Me
American Folk Art Museum
- STRIP QUILT IDABELL BESTER
- What That Quilt Knows About Me explores the deeply personal and emotional power associated with the experience of making and living with quilts. The exhibition’s title conveys the idea that quilts have the capacity for “knowing” or containing information about the human experience. Reflecting on this sentiment, the exhibition presents quilts as collections of intimate stories.
Spanning from the 19th through 21st centuries, the works on view will reveal a range of poignant and sometimes unexpected biographies. From a pair of enslaved sisters in antebellum Kentucky to a convalescent British soldier during the Crimean War, the exhibition explores stories associated with both the makers and recipients of the works. On a quilt top from the 1890s, we find a surface bursting with narratives; in an example by Hystercine Rankin, a grid of small vignettes depicts scenes of family life defined by faith and toil.
The exhibition also explores how artists have continually drawn inspiration from and pushed the boundaries of quilt-making to incorporate surprising materials and ideas, inviting audiences to consider these objects as archives of personal human experiences. Dindga McCannon’s Mary Lou Williams, a quilt-like work, is created with paint, photographs, and fibers, as a tribute to the jazz musician and cultural environment of Harlem. Jessie Dunahoo uses plastic bags and yarn to evoke quilt-like coverings that swath the interior surfaces of his home.
KALEIDOSCOPE XVI MORE IS MORE
PAULA NADELSON
UNTITLED FAMILY HISTORY QUILT
HYSTERCINE RANKIN
SOLDIERS QUITLT SQUARE WITHIN A SQUARE
ARTIST UNIDENTIFIED
ORIGINAL DESIGN QUILT
CARL KLEWICKI
SACRAT BIBAL QUILT TOP
SUSAN ARROWOOD
THURSDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
SEND YOUR SUBMMITION TO:
ROOSEVELTISLANDHISTORY@GMAIL.COM
WEDNESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
LOUNGE IN NEW YORK TRAINING SCHOOL FOR NURSES
NOW THE ABANDONED SMALLPOX HOSPITAL
Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In conjunction with the exhibition, listen to recordings from the Museum’s Oral History project featuring:
- Dr. Diana Baird N’Diaye, artist and Senior Folklife Curator, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
- Patricia Gorelangton, Hawaiian quilt maker
- Dr. Raymond Bellamy, grandson of quilter Dr. Raymond Bellamy
- Venancio Aragon, textile weaver
The exhibition is curated by Emelie Gevalt, Curatorial Chair for Collections and Curator of Folk Art at the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) and Sadé Ayorinde, Warren Family Assistant Curator.
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Copyright © 2022 Roosevelt Island Historical Society, All rights reserved.Our mailing address is:
rooseveltislandhistory@gmail.com
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