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“Quiltmakers today are recapturing the spirit and the essence of early American quilts. At last we can look forward to exciting designs…. Creativity and inventiveness make it possible to modify and rejuvenate the old approaches and techniques. Systems of construction in quiltmaking are strong, durable and beautiful. If we can retain the structural integrity of the traditional quilt, and add to it a contemporary approach in color and design, we will achieve a quilt which merges past and present.” In 1966 Jean Ray Laury wrote these words describing her vision for contemporary quiltmaking in her pioneering book Applique Stitchery.

In the early 70s the Women's Liberation Movement was fueled by the passion and the anger of women objecting to the exclusion of women and women's work from much of the mainstream culture including the art world. Women described taking art history courses that never mentioned one woman. Art museums and art galleries rarely exhibited art by women.

Women wanted to see art by women. The pro-woman attitudes that grew from the Women's Liberation Movement applied pressure on all segments of the art world to include art by women. Women demanded that narrow definitions of what can be considered 'art' be expanded to include areas where women artists pre-dominated -- like quilting and the so-called 'decorative' arts. 

An example of this pressure is Patricia Mainardi's essay "Quilts:The Great American Art" first published in The Feminist Art Journal in 1973. Mainardi's essay also appeared in Ms magazine in December, 1973 as well as in the Summer, 1974 issue of Art/News. Mainardi's groundbreaking essay was published in book form with the same title in 1978 and was distributed across the US in many feminist book stores. One of the things Mainardi encouraged women to do was to contact their local museums to "make appointments with their museums, for themselves, their groups or classes to view the collection" of quilts relegated to permanent storage. Her influential work is rarely mentioned in discussions of the history and origins of art quilts. I believe Mainardi's article was a valuable tool for change and for the inclusion of women in the art world.

By the mid 70s several exhibits of non traditional quilts introduced the public to the work of contemporary quiltmakers using innovative techniques. Equally important, these exhibits introduced the individual quiltmakers to like-minded peers. These early pioneers often described their work as non-traditional or as contemporary quiltmaking. The bicentennial celebrations across the U.S. scheduled in 1976 brought renewed interest in quilts and is often credited with the revival of interest in quiltmaking. Art quilts existed at this time, but the term 'art quilt' was not in use.

Quilt artists believe they challenge the traditional definition of the quilt. The quilt artist seeks to innovate by applying art principles and art experience from other areas like drawing, painting, and sculpting as well as working with the tactile richness of fabric and adding the textures of quilting stitches. One of the best known quilters who makes art quilts, Nancy Crow, declares, "I'm going to continue making quilts because I'm driven. I fully believe that the quilts' time has come; only the fact that it's made from fabric has held it back until now."

Nancy Crow and three other women, Francoise Barnes, Virginia Randlest and Harriet Anderson, spent much of 1978 putting together the first Quilt National show which in 1979, displayed the work of many non traditional quilters. This biennial show at the Dairy Barn Cultural Arts Center in Athens, Ohio continues to exhibit the current work of innovative quiltmakers. By 1996 with the publication of The Art Quilt by Penny McMorris and Michael Kile, the term art quilt or studio art quilt had almost replaced the earlier designations of non traditional or innovative or contemporary.

Challenging the proscribed norms of the quilt medium and experimenting with its various facets allows the quilt artist to expand the definition of "quilt". Quilt artists honor their roots in the thousands of quilts women (and a few men) have created in the last 200 years. As women have expanded "women's realm" to include art training and art projects, the quilt has expanded from the sphere of home (only) to art gallery (possibly). Quilt shows, large and small, offer quiltmakers, including quilt artists, opportunities to display their quilts.

Art training, art experience and collaborating with peers capable of constructive criticism will nurture additional avenues for quiltmakers. Those who make art quilts look to the art world for inspiration and validation. The authors of The Art Quilt describe those who make art quilts as " 'bothersome', progressive pioneers [who] disturb yet nourish the traditional terrain."

"Art quilt" is hard to define, but my favorite definition of "art quilt" comes from Jean Ray Laury in the same 1966 book mentioned above. "At its best, a quilt is a personal expression--not a mimic of the ideas or designs or color preferences set down by someone else. Original design is not beyond the capacity of any homemaker or student or quiltmaker."

For more information see:

The Art Quilt by Penny McMorris and Michael Kile, The Quilt Digest Press, 1996.

Nancy Crow: Quilts and Influence by Nancy Crow, American Quilter's Society, 1990.

Quilts: The Great American Art by Patricia Mainardi, Miles and Weir, Ltd, 1978.

"In the Beginning: Musings on the Birth of the Studio Art Quilt Movement" by Michael James. Published in Blanket Statements (newsletter of the American Quilt Study Group), Issue 64, Spring 2001.

Quilts and Coverlets: A Contemporary Approach by Jean Ray Laury. Van Noststrand Reinhold Publ., 1970.

Applique Stitchery by Jean Ray Laury. Van Noststrand Reinhold Publ., 1966.

Clues in the Calico: A Guide to Identifying and Dating Antique Quilts by Barbara Brackman. Howell Press, 1989.

Article by Paula Mariedaughter

A Brief History of the Art Quilt