One Stitch at a Time: Southern Vernacular Quilts

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:
One Stitch at a Time includes vernacular quilts from the collection of Doug McCraw and the Hilliard Art Museum at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. The exhibition features several pieces made by the renowned quilters of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, direct descendants of enslaved people who labored on a cotton plantation owned by Joseph Gee. Although quilting traditions in the South have been established for several centuries, this region gained recognition during the Civil Rights movement when a collective of women established the Freedom Quilting Bee, a method for African American from Gee’s Bend and nearby Rehoboth to gain economic independence. Since then, these craftswomen have gained global recognition for their bold, geometric patterns and vibrant colors, with their work being shown in museums across the world. Their fabric work preserves their ancestral traditions and histories as they continue to design and meticulously craft quilts that retain their collective identities.

The exhibition also includes several narrative quilts, fabric constructions that relate stories and scenes, by O’tesia Harper, Sarah Mary Taylor, Yvonne Wells, and Chris Clark.

Exhibition Lenders & Sponsors

One Stitch at a Time: Southern Vernacular Quilts is supported by a grant from the Traditional Fine Arts Organization.

We would like to thank the generous donors to the Annual Exhibition Fund: The Imo N. Brown Memorial Fund in memory of Heidel Brown and Mary Ann Brown; The Alma Lee, H. N., and Cary Saurage Fund; Charles “Chuck” Edward Schwing; Robert and Linda Bowsher; and The Newton B. Thomas Family/Newtron Group Fund.

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