When the Soviet Union experienced severe economic, political, and social turmoil in the 1980s, President Mikhail Gorbachev responded by instituting a new policy of glasnost, “openness and transparency.” Although the U.S.S.R. fell apart in 1991, the spirit of glasnost continued in post-Soviet Russia. One result was increased dialogue with the United States, which led to groundbreaking cultural exchange programs, including quiltmaking.

“Make it new.”
Ezra Pound

In this digital age, to make art by hand has gained fresh meaning. Now more than ever, art that emphasizes physical presence has a powerful resonance. New art made with old technology is imbued with a sense of continuity that links our own lives to the largeness of history. In a familiar context, personal invention can stand out with striking clarity. This is especially true of art made with textiles.

How can the ephemeral, short-lived experience of a musical performance be expressed in a tangible, enduring artform?

In one Japanese dialect, champloo is a culinary term meaning “mixed up” or “blended together,” but colloquially, it refers to improvising or making things up as you go along. This is what the two heroes of the popular Japanese animated television series Samurai Champloo must do to reconcile their substantial differences as they battle corruption and defend the innocent.

Diana Harrison’s quilts and textile hangings reflect a contrast of strength and quiet, of precision and happenstance, of wear and long-lasting presence. The forms are strong and deliberate, yet the overall effect is contemplative and thoughtful. In some pieces, the quilting stitches are linear and remarkably even, thus contrasting dramatically with the rough, hardened surfaces. The shapes are purposefully imperfect, with deliberately unfinished edges, loosely hanging threads, and hazily blurred markings.

Shapeshifters inaugurates the New Views exhibition series in which quilts collected over the last 20 years will be exhibited at the International Quilt Museum for the first time. Made between 1830 and 1930, the quilts in Shapeshifters rely primarily on appliqué for their lively effects. All are exemplars of the rich and wide-ranging tradition of American quiltmaking, and the visual and material culture in which it developed.

"Quilts become archetypal symbols of the women who make them.
They 'stand in' for the quilter, long after she is gone,
revealing to descendants, viewers, or new owners
the essence of the quilter—her spirit, energy, vitality, and skill."
- Jean Ray Laury
Ho for California! Pioneer Women and Their Quilts

Trained as a painter and an architect, Liz Axford turned to textiles in the context of the Studio Craft movement, which defined itself as a branch of art-making focused on material explorations. In 1985, Axford left a career designing generic commercial architecture and committed to a studio quiltmaking practice that remained steadfastly experimental for 35 years. 

Thirty years ago, a group of artists met at a gallery in Atlanta to discuss the formation of an organization dedicated to celebrating a new type of quilt: the “art quilt.” Art quilts transformed the traditional functionality of quilts. They are meant to be exhibited as innovative and experimental works of art.

Students in Professor David Newton’s Fall, 2018 junior design studio considered the role of museums in the 21st century. Are they community centers? Cathedrals for contemplation and communion with objects? What are the benefits—and challenges—of collections-based institutions? What role should technology play in the museum experience?