The Quilting Universe

 by © Sveta

“The appreciation of fine handmade objects is undergoing a rapid renaissance today.”

So begins the chapter “Crafts” from the book Art of Seeing by Paul Zelanski and Mary Pat Fisher. This is a very true statement supported by examples of development in the major craft media such as the various methods in ceramics, metals, wood, and glass. The chapter focuses on the weaving arts such as tapestry, rugs and baskets and only the last passage of this chapter mentions quilting. Though I do not disagree with any statements the authors of this book make, I do believe that the revival of quilting best illustrates the rapid renaissance they mention.

The history of quilting reminds me of the dynamics of the Big Bang and Expansion, a popular theory to explain the origins of our universe. For many hundreds of years, the various quilting techniques developed, with the knowledge about quilt making passed on from one generation to the next. Traveling from continent to continent, it became especially popular in North America and less popular in other parts of the world, but all the parts and bits, all the energy, all the matter, was suspended in space, waiting for something to happen… waiting… And then it came! The Big Bang. The Quilt Revival. And after that the Quilt Universe like the cosmological one began to expand, pushing its borders, creating new elements within and showing no sign of slowing down. Why is this and which forces stand behind this renewed interest? What is the Quilt Universe of 2004 and where is it going in the future? These are the questions and points I would like to answer and describe in the next pages moving trough the last forty years, decade by decade following Paul Greenhalgh’s insight that this is the great period of growth for crafts. (2,3). With all due respect to the quilters and textile artists all over the world, my main focus will be on the development in the USA, because all of the above-described processes were most prominent in this country and their impact affected all others. With the changes in the society “the contemporary jewelry movement, the new ceramics, fiber art, the studio glass movement and books arts […] grew as experimental practices during the 1960’s […]” (Greenhalgh, 2). At the beginning of the 60’s the state of the Quilt Universe was indeed a small one. Always the domain of women and once a popular and proud hobby, it went out of fashion during and after World War II. It didn’t fit the concept of modern lifestyle anymore and was left to the older generation in rural areas. The quilt makers didn’t care to design new patterns or dare to use bold and striking colors, like the generations before them. The old inherited quilts didn’t match the new steel and chrome timesaving appliances so they could be found in the attics or Thrift shops and bought for a couple of dollars. The Quilt exhibitions and competitions, once bright moments for every quilter to show and demonstrate the skills and results of months of consuming work, became scarce and rare. When the 60’s arrived, one or two generations of women, many of whom were granddaughters of quilters, grew up without learning any needle arts. But those who learned and made their first quilts, stayed faithful to the craft. Here lies the true Phenomenon of Quilts: they are an addiction. Every quilter in the world, including myself, says about her passion, “Once I tried it, I got hooked immediately!”

Although the Quilt Universe by the 60’s was small, it was always enthusiastic. In the 60’s Virginia Avery, a famous quilter and wearable art designer, began her sewing lessons; Bonnie Leman founded her quilt patterns mail order service and the Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine, today’s leading publication in this field; and Cuesta Benberry, the foremost expert in African American quilts collected her first patterns.

The most prominent experimental quiltmaker, who began her career in those years, was Jean Ray Laury. Trained as a professional artist, she made her first quilt as part of a master’s degree project in art at Stanford University. Roxa Wright, editor for House Beautiful, saw Laury’s quilt in 1958 at the Eastern States Exposition and invited young artists to write regularly for her new publication Woman’s Day and other periodicals. Later she wrote:

It was at the exhibition […] that I saw Jean Laury’s first quilt — a delightful,
completely unorthodox [quilt …]. It was like a fresh breeze, the first contemporary
quilt I have ever seen that really came off successfully; yet it was far simpler and
more direct in stitchery than many fine traditional quilts […].
I am sure that Jean Laury has been an inspiration to others to take a new view of
quilt making as a far more personal, yet also utilitarian, art relevant to our times. (5)

In 1970, Jean Laury summarized her experience of those years and published her book Quilts & Coverlets: A Contemporary Approach, which included works of two other emerging quilt artists: Joan Lintault, who received her M.F.A. from Southern Illinois University in 1962 and shortly after made her first quilt and Therese May, who began making quilts just before finishing her undergraduate work in painting at the University of Wisconsin in 1965. Today, Lintault is (since 1973) a professor of art specializing in fibers and textile design at her alma mater and May is a well-known artist and quilt teacher.

The 70’s were the crucial years in the expansion of the quilting universe. According to Paul Greenhalgh:

The 1970s is for the most part seen as the decade in which a radical wave of
activity sought to explore the meanings and roles of various genres. The [various
crafts] were fully realized in [this] decade. It might be best defined as the period in
which, internationally, a consolidated avant-garde emerged in most media. It was
when official crafts institutions were founded in many countries, courses were
developed in leading colleges of art and design and publications grew in number.(2)

From the July 1 to September 12, 1971, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York organized an exhibition of quilts from the collection of Jonathan Holstein and Gail Van der Hoof under the title Abstract Design in American Quilts. This event had such an enormous impact on all aspects of quilting, that it could truly be compared to the Big Bang. The name and the location of the exhibition gave a completely new perspective on quilts and made the American public realize, that, as Holstein wrote:

Quilt makers did in effect paint with fabrics. […] the planning of these [quilt] tops
was in no sense haphazard. Even the simplest show the highest degree of control
for visual effect. […] Contemporary accounts speak of the great delight people
took in the visual aspects of these quilts when they were made. They were in no
sense foreign or strange to them, as if they were some form of avant-garde art. […]
The best were valued aesthetically when they were made and have lost none of
their power with passing time and fashions, exhibiting those extraordinary visual
qualities which are ageless.” (10)

The show traveled across the country and caused a sensation everywhere it went. The respectable art critics took notice and gave revues. Other museums put their quilt collections, previously stored in dusty backrooms, on display. The feminists embraced quilting as an important part of women’s design heritage and vigorously renewed the discussion of the denial of woman’s art in the modern “sexist and racist artworld” dominated by “white male art styles” (Mainardi, 46). The old quilts were rediscovered as a part of an American heritage and became “hot property for antique dealers, interior designers, and private collectors” (James, 2). The interest in quilmaking soared, demand for books and teaching manuals far outstripped supply, old quiltmakers were sought after as teachers and the new teachers “managed to stay one step ahead of the students” (Engel, 11). Quilt stores opened in almost every town and quilt guilds sprang up like mushrooms. The National Quilting Association, founded in 1970 urged the guilds to participate in the nation’s bicentennial celebration of 1976 by organizing quilt shows. In October 1977, Jinny Beyer’s quilt, Ray of Light, won the Good Housekeeping and U.S. Historical Society contest from among 10 000 entrys and introduced the use of colorful Indonesian fabrics to American quilters. The International Quilt Festival in Houston was founded by Texas businesswoman Karoline (Karey) Bresenhan and held for the first time in 1974. The 70’s were the years when the new generation of artists discovered quilting as a form of expression and the quilt, as a wall hanging and not at all bed covering. Molly Upton and Susan Hoffman showed their first “quilted tapestries” (today in museums collections) in Kornblee Gallery on 57th Street in Manhattan. In 1976 the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York, now the American Craft Museum hosted the exhibition The New American Quilt presenting non-traditional quilts and in 1979 Quilt National, the first juried exhibition of non-traditional quilts, introduced for the first time today’s well known artists: Nancy Crow, Michael James, Radka Donell, Tafi Brown, Nancy Halpern and others. Gary J. Schwindler, Associate Professor of Art at Ohio University, stated:

Quilt National ’79 demonstrates eloquently two important phenomena
characteristic of the contemporary American art scene. First, there is increasing
prominence of so-called “crafts” within the broad spectrum of the plastic arts; and
second, quilting in particular is emerging as a vital category of the fiber arts and
possesses enormous expressive potential. American quilt is now at a stage of
experimentation and development as it prepares to take its place as a major form
of artistic endeavor.” (qtd. in Shaw)

Though the quilting movement in Canada was not so exciting as in the US, one major event took place at the same time as the show in the Whitney Museum. On Canada Day 1971, the National Gallery of Canada opened the exhibition True Patriot Love featuring the art of Toronto-born artist, Joyce Wieland, with thirty-five of her works including quilts and wall hangings, many of them made for this exhibition. Quilting came to attention in Canada and in October 1971 in an issue of Handicrafts E. N. Roulston wrote: “Who says that fine arts are superior to fine crafts? There really is no reason why one cannot have creativity and be a good craftsman as well” (qtd. in Conroy 104).

The 1980’s and later 90’s established quilting as an important factor in American economy, especially because certain advances were made technologically. As Paul Greenhalgh says:

The 1980s carried on much of [craft] activity, thought the character of the craft
world changed as the decade progressed. This was simultaneously the decade of
voracious consumption and Post-Modern discourse; both affected the visual arts
directly. On the material front, institutional life was squeezed all over the
industrialized world. Consequently, fewer partitions enjoyed the protection of
salaried posts and commerce visited craft, as it had never done before. In some
countries private patronage developed dramatically. […] private enterprise became
the key to survival. … The development of 1970s and 1980 continued on in various
forms in 1990s …the last ten years have witnessed the beginning of a promising
fusion of craft with everything else.” (2,3)

In the Quilting Universe the 80s began with the introduction of the first rotary cutter and mat by OLFA, a company producing cutting tools. This simple tool allowed precise cutting of several layers of fabric simultaneously. The importance of the rotary cutter invented by Y. Okada for the quilting industry is similar to the importance of the conveyor invented by H. Ford for the car industry. The Expansion of the Quilting Universe increased its speed. The number of quilt shows and exhibitions grew rapidly. The stunning quilt by Caryl Bryer Fallert Corona #2: Solar Eclipse completed entirely on a sewing machine won the Best of Show Award ($10,000 — purchase award) at the International Quilt Festival in Houston and put an end to the decade long discussion: hand vs. machine quilting. Bill and Meredith Schroeda (Schroeda Publishing) of Paducah, Kentucky founded the American Quilter’s Society with the first show and contest held in 1985 and supported the building of the Museum of Americas Quilter’s Society, which was opened in 1991. One of its pieces is another quilt by Caryl Breyer Fallert Birds of Different Color ($18,000 — purchased award). In 1979 Georgia Bonesteel was the first to share her love and enthusiasm for quilting on TV, her last show was in 2003. Quilting of today is an enormous economical force. The last survey Quilting in America 2003 (held every four years) showed that in this year quilters spend over two billion dollars only on fabrics, books, patterns and equipment. The economical growth in this area is around fifteen percent each year. The most famous International Quilt Festival in Houston attracts around fifty five thousand visitors each year and advertises seventy-five thousand dollars in prize money. The smaller version of it the Patchwork & Quilt Expo in Europe (since 1988) recorded eighteen thousand visitors in the Netherlands city of The Hague. Numerous corporate and private buyers, Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and other museums have quilts in their permanent collections. Throughout the country, Quilt Centers with learning and research programs were founded. Many of the artists are able to support themselves through their art, teaching and lecturing. Quilt National achieved the status of a prestigious international art forum. Nancy Crow’s annual two-week Quilt Surface Design Symposium provides learning opportunities for artists and offers about fifty courses. Many TV channels broadcast educational quilting programs. The literature on the subject of quilts can easily fill shelves of libraries, from historical researches to the latest patterns. Quilts more and more incorporated in the harmonious interior design. The most prominent designer Debbie Mumm creates her concept around quilts, fabrics, matching accessories, wallpaper and small crafts. There is an enormous growing interest in quilts in Europe, Australian, and New Zeeland. Interesting quilts are made in Japan, where international exhibitions drew tens of thousands of visitors.

Through the last four decades we have seen the general acceptance of quilting as an art form, the rise of technological advances which contributed to the craft, and the birth of major quilting stars, but the real stars in the quilting universe are the millions of ordinary quilters whose love and passion provided the real force behind the quilting movement. They form a very special community. Quilters always search for new inspirations and unusual fabrics. They never rejected the quilting traditions, always embraced them and integrated in a new ways. Quilters appreciate the history of their craft and would travel out of their way to see quilts in museums (even if there is only one in the entire museum collection). The visual aspects were always important for them. The abstract designs were used long before the first abstract painters were born and the power of images and text was never underestimated. Quilters a long time ago discovered the world of continuous and interlocking patterns. One of the new interesting books on this subject is Designing Tessellations:The Secrets of Interlocking Patterns (1999) by Jinny Beyer. On the other hand quilters don’t hesitate to try new exotic fabrics, or dye, manipulate and experiment on their own. They search for new ideas in the world of arts and other crafts, in other countries and cultures, in the life of humans and nature. Quilters take advantage of new technologies, computer graphic programs, and photo images. Quiltomania and Fabric mania (the urge to buy and stash fabrics) are well-established terms in the psychology of the Quilting Universe. As Paul Greenhalgh says, today’ craft, “ […] has never been in a healthier condition. It has never been more vibrant. It has persisted; it is poised for a radical new phase”.

The Quilting Universe of today is still expanding, and even if the expansion stops one day, there will always be plenty of space within for new creations. There will always be traditionalists, who, despite continuous duplicating, know that there are no two identical quilts in the world and there will always be those who look for new fields of exploration. In the future, one way or another, the well-crafted quilt will be what it always has been: a unique reflection of the personality of the women or the man who made it.