What the Quilt Knows About Me
American Folk Art Museum
American Folk Art Museum, 2 Lincoln Square, New York, NY 10023
https://folkartmuseum.org/exhibitions/whatthatquiltknowsaboutme/Price
Free
Event Dates
Mar 17, 2023
Mar 24, 2023
Mar 31, 2023
Apr 07, 2023
Apr 14, 2023
Apr 21, 2023
Apr 28, 2023
May 05, 2023
May 12, 2023
May 19, 2023
May 26, 2023
When
On Display Through May 27, 2023

Featuring approximately 40 quilts and related works of art, the exhibition will explore 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.