In Quilts of Emotion, objects from the International Quilt Museum's permanent collection provide examples of the many kinds of sewing techniques and skills women have mastered from the 1700s to the present. These objects of plain and fancy sewing allow visitors to imagine the solitary and social sewing communities of past times in which these objects were made and that provided sources of emotional support to countless women.

Simple, large, geometric patterns. Deep, rich colors. Undecorated wool fabrics. Wide quilted borders. These characteristics define the classic Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Amish quilts made between the late 1800s and the mid 1900s. The quilts exemplify many qualities of traditional Amish life: conservative, plain, and rule-bound. On the other hand, Amish quilts from the Midwest often are more visually complex, with repeating, block-style patterns and vibrant, bright colored cottons surrounded by contrasting black grounds.

Guest curator David Hornung has selected eleven artists who embrace a spirit of experimentation that reflects prevailing trends in textile construction. These artists’ work honors tradition while pointing to the future. Hornung’s interest in handmade textile crafts dates to a youthful affinity with the aesthetic philosophy of the Bauhaus, which collapsed the hierarchy between “high” and “low” art. For six years in the early 1980s, Hornung made and exhibited work that integrated the vocabularies of Modernist surface organization and traditional patchwork.

David Hornung is an artist, author, and teacher. Over the last 45 years, he has taught at Rhode Island School of Design, Brooklyn College, Pratt Institute, Parsons School of Design, Skidmore College, and Indiana University. Hornung is currently a full professor at Adelphi University on Long Island.