Off the Grid
May 24-Aug 27, 2017
The Bill Volckening Collection
The first 1970s quilt I bought reminded me of my childhood, especially summers spent at the community pool. As I accumulated more quilts—many made from polyester double-knit fabrics—the critics had plenty to say. People would actually make faces when I talked about polyester quilts. I didn’t care. I was enthralled. When I started bringing the quilts to show-and-tell with the local quilt guild, they were better appreciated. Part of that was generational—the group had a sense of Modern art, and the quilts’ aesthetic prompted a certain nostalgia in people who had come of age in the 1970s.
The quilts were inexpensive and the collection grew quickly. Today, it includes more than 150 quilts that represent a pivotal period in the history of American quiltmaking. My role as a collector is to get people looking, which, of course, is an easy job with such eye-popping, jaw-dropping quilts.
- Bill Volckening