“Rooted in Tradition: Art Quilts from the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum” chronicles the history of the art quilt movement from 1980 through the present and decisively brings the quilt from the bed to the wall. On view at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art through September 19, the quilts in this collection reflect the change from the traditional craft of quiltmaking based on the repeated block to the free spirited, sometimes edgy art form of today.
The exhibition features 47 quilts and works by the artists included in this collection, who represent the best in American art quilts today. Curated by Judith Trager, an internationally known quilt artist and lecturer who also curated the popular traveling exhibition, “Potluck and Elements from the Front Range Contemporary Quilters,” “Rooted in Tradition” is the first exhibition to tackle the art quilt historically.
Organized by decade, the exhibition is in three sections: Art Quilts of the 1980s: Rooted in Tradition; Art Quilts of the 1990s: The Watershed Years; and Art Quilts of the 2000s: Continuing the Tradition.
Quilting, long the stepchild of American art, came to prominence with the nostalgia brought forth by the celebration of the country’s Bicentennial in 1976. Suddenly everyone was making quilts. Women who had made clothing for themselves and their children suddenly saw sewing as something artful and creative. Quilt shops sprang up, and fabric printers developed new lines of fabric designed especially for quilts.
The 1990s was a decade of incredible experimentation, innovation, energy and enthusiasm †people who made quilts were no longer calling themselves “quilters,” but “artists.” Galleries and major collectors of fine art were acknowledging fiber art as a legitimate art form to sell and collect.
In addition, artists were painting, silk screening, appliquéing, stamping, distressing, bleaching, beading, embroidering, embellishing and generally changing the surface of the quilt in ways their foremothers would never have thought of. Experimentation and use of nontraditional materials prompted an explosion in innovation.
“Art Quilts” shows quilts that reflect both the force of tradition and the shock of the new. Now art quilts are made from anything †netting, fiberglass, screening, rayon, even polyester. Color, so important in the past, has become even more important. And most of all, artists continue to work and develop their own individual styles, taking advantage of every new technology afforded them, stretching themselves and their art to new dimensions.
The Westmoreland is at 221 North Main Street. For more information, 724-837-1500 or www.wmuseumaa.org .
