For more than thirty years, Ludy Strauss built a collection defined by bold form, visual strength and a deep respect for creative labor. Based in Santa Monica, where she ran The Quilt Shop gallery from the early 1980s to 2000, she assembled two distinct but connected bodies of work. The first, Artist’s Quilts, was a project developed between 1976 and 1980 in which contemporary artists — including Tony Berlant, Peter Alexander and Charles Arnoldi — submitted designs to be stitched by professional quiltmakers, many of whom are named.

The year 2020 was a turning point — but not a starting point. The COVID-19 pandemic, protests against police violence, and economic instability made headlines across the world. But these events were not isolated. They were the result of deeper structural issues — systemic racism, unequal access to healthcare, and political division — that had been building for generations.

These paintings honor the common threads between quilting and painting, using elements of still-life, abstraction, and figuration. Quilts are used both as a visual source and a narrative element, creating scenes that echo domestic spaces, religious influence, and family dynamics. These paintings attempt to engage with the rich visual language of quilting as a folk tradition and as a family practice. 

Beavers Gallery 5/14/25 - 9/13/25

Every year, students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Japan’s Saitama University collaborate to create an International Quilt Museum exhibit based on what they have learned together about global quilt traditions. This year, students will focus on traditional Chinese textiles made to celebrate marriages and crafted to care for babies and children.

“America is now wholly given over to a damn mob of scribbling women, and I should have no chance of success while the public taste is occupied with their trash- and should be ashamed of myself if I did succeed.”

- Nathaniel Hawthorne, private letter to William D. Ticknor (January 19, 1855)

Ant trails in sidewalks. Mold growth on outdoor planters. Root systems of weeds. Children’s drawings. For Paula Kovarik, inspiration is found everywhere. Inspiration soon turns into threads, which Kovarik uses to tell stories. She is mesmerized by what the thread wants her to do, and creates in a stream-of-consciousness experience.

Pumphrey Gallery - March 26,2025 - Sept. 6, 2025

"Studio Showcase" features new work by artists Judy Kirpich and Karen Schulz. The quilts initially appear radically different – consider the dark saturated color of Kirpich’s pieces composed of a unique fabric sourced in China in contrast to the colorful hand-dyed and painted layers of Schulz’s work. Both artists, however, create pieces that transform the flat dimension of their textile canvases into a space that invites the viewer to immerse themselves.

Coryell Gallery Jan. 17 - June 7, 2025

"Color Improvisations 3" features 42 powerful, colorful, larger-than-life quilts curated by artist Nancy Crow. The quilts represent 38 artists from the United States, Canada and New Zealand. They are newly made and illustrate excellence and innovation in contemporary quiltmaking through stunning use of color and extraordinary command of various stitched elements.

This exhibit is touring in Germany through the end of 2024. It premiers in North America at the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, in March 2025 and then tours throughout North America through 2029.

For centuries, Chinese artisans have employed quilting, piecing, and appliqué to create and embellish textiles. Often, these techniques have been used to produce useful objects, such as clothing and bedding. In the past, sewing was generally a largely practical affair (though often also beautiful), or it was performed by ladies of leisure. Recently, however, Chinese artists and hobbyists—people of all classes and backgrounds—have started to make American-style quilts as a pastime and form of personal expression.