Why Quilts Matter: History, Art & Politics – Image Resources

Episode 4 – What is Art?

Summer Echo Joy Saville 1994 Cotton, linen, silk 51″ x 54″ Collection of John M. Walsh, III

You think you know art when you see it, but this episode of Why Quilts Matter: History, Art & Politics may make you think again. Turns out the quilt is the perfect test case for a dozen theories about what makes art, well…art. Take the art vs. craft debate: As a domestic object made by women for a practical purpose, the quilt falls squarely into the ‘craft’ category, and a humble one, at that. But do some quilts become ‘art’ when exhibited, like paintings, on a museum wall? Which ones? The plot thickens when we consider the claims of ‘art quilts’ made solely for exhibition. Are they art–not craft–just because their makers say they are, and how do we know, anyway? Who knew that it takes a soft cover to define a tough concept? Join host Shelly Zegart and crew as she explores ‘what is art?’

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$Floral Still Life Jacob van Walscapelle 1682 Oil on canvas 40 ¼\" x 35 ³⁄₁₆\" Gift of Eleanor Bingham Miller and Barry Bingham, Sr. in honor of Mary Caperton Bingham Item number 1987.1 The Speed Art Museum Louisville, Kentucky www.speedmuseum.org$

$Venus de\' Medici Joel Tanner Hart 1873 Marble 61 ⅞\" x 18 ⅜\" x 20 ¼\" Gift of the Louisville Free Public Library Conservation funded by The Alliance of The Speed Art Museum Item number 1996.9.1 The Speed Art Museum Louisville, Kentucky www.speedmuseum.org$

$July at Noon in Umbria Billy Hertz 2004 Oil on paper on panel 29\" x 20\" www.billyhertzgallery.com$

$Dish Workshop of the Fontana family After designs by Battista Franco c. 1560 Maiolica 2 ⅜\" x 17 ⁷⁄₁₆\" Bequest from the Preston Pope Satterwhite Collection; conservation funded by Mr. & Mrs. William O. Alden, Jr., 2002 Item number 1949.30.244 The Speed Art Museum Louisville, Kentucky www.speedmuseum.org$

$Blighted Kay Polson Grubola 2010 Hawthorn leaves, silk chiffon, thread 22 ¾\" x 15 ¾\" www.grubola.com$

$Subduction Caldron Walter Hyleck 2007 Ceramic, black earthenware, deflocculated slip, ash glaze, slate, oak 14\" x 14\" x 12\" Courtesy of the Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft Louisville, Kentucky www.kentuckyarts.org$

$Incalmo Vessel Brook Forrest White, Jr. 2008 Blown glass 11\" x 9\" x 9\" Photo by Geoffrey Carr www.flamerun.com$

$What Trees Have Done for Me Andrew D. Brown Hickory Burl 9\" x 11\" Photo by Geoffrey Carr Courtesy of the Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft Louisville, Kentucky www.kentuckyarts.org$

$Farm women of the \"Helping Hand\" club October 1939 Photo by Dorothea Lange Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division Farm Security Administration Office of War Information Photograph Collection Washington, D.C. Item number LC-USF34-021099-C www.loc.gov/pictures$

$Sewing a quilt, Gee\'s Bend, Alabama April 1937 Photo by Arthur Rothstein Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division Farm Security Administration Office of War Information Photograph Collection Washington, D.C. Item number LC-USF34-025363-D www.loc.gov/pictures$

$Caesar\'s Crown Bars Variation Mosaic or Honeycomb Late 19th-century crib quilts Silk and cotton Courtesy of Victoria Hoffman Photo by D. James Dee$

$OAHU Joan Schulze 1981 72\" x 72\" http://joan-of-arts.com$

$Markings #4: Trying to Control Anxiety Nancy Crow 2007 Cotton 42\" x 30 ½\" Photo by J. Kevin Fitsimons Nancy Crow: Recent and New Work exhibition May 29 - August 15, 2010 Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center Auburn, New York www.schweinfurthartcenter.org www.nancycrow.com$

$A House Is Not a Home Anne Kingsbury 1983 Clay, leather, beads backed with silk 48\" x 36\" www.woodlandpattern.org$

$Grid with Colorful Past Michael James 2008 Cotton, dyes 35 ½\" x 46\" Courtesy of Modern Arts Midwest Photo by Larry Gawel www.unl.edu/mjames_quilts$

$Crazed 1: Tricolor Kathleen Loomis 2007 Commercial cottons 41\" x 29\" Photo by George Plager www.kathyloomis.com$

$Resistance to Tyranny is Obedience to God Adrienne Yorinks 1995 71\" x 79\" www.adrienneyorinks.com/textile$

$Desert Wrap Brigitte Rutenberg 2010 Ink on mylar 30\" x 24\" www.rutenbergart.com$

$Our Dead: June 21, 2006 Adrienne Yorinks 2006 Photo-transfers, cotton, silk 66\" x 99\" www.adrienneyorinks.com/textile$

$Appliquéd Green and Yellow Flowers Maker unknown 1930s 74\" x 72\" Photo by D. James Dee Courtesy of Victoria Hoffman$

$Links of Friendship Maker unknown c. 1940 76\" x 80\" Photo by D. James Dee Courtesy of Victoria Hoffman$

$Celebrity Quilt Vadis Turner 2007 Antique cotton, embroidery thread 60\" x 48\" www.vadisturner.com$

$Album Quilt Maker unknown c. 1845-1855 Cotton 108\" x 98\" Collection of Jane and Gerald Katcher$

$Courthouse Steps, White House Steps Variation Carrie E. White Reed c. 1900 55 ¾\" x 57\" Photo by Joe Ofria Item number 1986.02T-5378 New England Quilt Museum Lowell, Massachusetts www.nequiltmuseum.org More info at www.quiltindex.org$

$Wool Drawings Quilt Maker unknown c. 1900 Wool 81\" x 78\" Photo by Geoffrey Carr Formerly in the collection of Shelly Zegart Collection of The Art Institute of Chicago Chicago, Illinois www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/category/40$

$Two photographers taking each others\' pictures Between 1909 and 1932 Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division National Photo Company Collection Washington, D.C. Item number LC-DIG-ppmsca-13703 www.loc.gov/pictures$

$Tree Limb and Barn Geoffrey Carr Black & white infrared photograph 30\" x 40\" http://carr-photo.com$

$Original design Maker unknown 1897 Cotton 68\" x 69\" Photo by Geoffrey Carr Formerly in the collection of Shelly Zegart$

$Renaissance Revival Mariya Waters 2007 86 ½\" x 86 ½\" Item number 2009.01.01 The National Quilt Museum Paducah, Kentucky www.quiltmuseum.org More info at www.quiltindex.org$

$The Scarlet Letter Kathleen Loomis 2002 Commercial cottons 52\" x 53\" Photo by George Plager www.kathyloomis.com$

$Mary Lee Bendolph and Loretta Pettway quilting Bendolph\'s quilt top in her home 2005 From Gee\'s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt Paul Arnett, Tinwood Books, 2006 Courtesy of Matt Arnett Photo by Matt Arnett$

$Center Medallion America Irby c. 1940 Corduroy 83\" x 76\" From Gee\'s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt Paul Arnett, Tinwood Books, 2006 Courtesy of Matt Arnett Photo by Pitkin Studio$

$Blocks and Strips Annie Mae Young c. 1970 Cotton, polyester, synthetic blends 83\" x 80\" From Gee\'s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt Paul Arnett, Tinwood Books, 2006 Courtesy of Matt Arnett Photo by Pitkin Studio$

$Bricklayer Variation and Housetop Two-sided quilt Loretta Pettway 1972 Corduroy 86\" x 83\" From Gee\'s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt Paul Arnett, Tinwood Books, 2006 Courtesy of Matt Arnett Photo by Pitkin Studio$

$The Quilts of Gee\'s Bend 2005 Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts Auburn University Auburn, Alabama http://jcsm.auburn.edu$

$Center Medallion with Cornerstones Martha Jane Pettway 1920s Wool, corduroy, cotton 76\" x 66\" From Gee\'s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt Paul Arnett, Tinwood Books, 2006 Courtesy of Matt Arnett Photo by Pitkin Studio$

$Blocks and Strips and Bricklayer Two-sided quilt Lucy T. Pettway 1960 Denim, corduroy, cotton 81\" x 73\" From Gee\'s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt Paul Arnett, Tinwood Books, 2006 Courtesy of Matt Arnett Photo by Pitkin Studio$

$Half Squares Martha Pettway 1930s Cotton 86\" x 75\" From Gee\'s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt Paul Arnett, Tinwood Books, 2006 Courtesy of Matt Arnett Photo by Pitkin Studio$

$Double Wedding Ring Mrs. Andy G. Byler 1930-1940 Cotton, wool, linen and rayon 84\" x 66 ½\" Gift of Cyril Irwin Nelson in memory of his grandparents, Guerdon Stearns and Elinor Irwin (Chase) Holden, and in honor of his parents, Cyril Arthur and Elise Macy Nelson Photo by Scott Bowron Item number 1982.22.3 American Folk Art Museum New York, New York www.folkartmuseum.org$

$Vermont Swimmer Catherine McConnell 1991 Heat transfers on acetate, cotton backing, machinequilted 82 ½\" x 77 ½\" Collection of John M. Walsh, III$

$Acid Rain Wendy Huhn 1994 Machine-pierced and quilted, paint, couching, colored transfers, machine appliqué, glow-in-the-dark paint, stencils, beads, photo-copied fabric 56\" x 60\" Collection of John M. Walsh, III www.wendyhuhn.com$

$Surf Swimmers Tim Harding 1998 Silk, cotton duck backing 89\" x 138\" diptych Collection of John M. Walsh, III exhibition 2009 Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft Louisville, Kentucky B-roll by Alan Miller$

$Ashland \"Quilt Day\" 1st in statewide series Newspaper article Shelly Zegart Archives$

$Rocking Horse appliquéd crib quilt Maker unknown 1930s Cotton 34\" x 44\" Courtesy of Victoria Hoffman Photo by D. James Dee$

$Off the Edge Anne McKenzie Nickolson 1999 Cotton, pieced and appliquéd 57 ½\" x 68 ¼\" Ann M. Stack Fund for Contemporary Art Item number 2003.169 Indianapolis Museum of Art Indianapolis, Indiana www.imamuseum.org$

$Radish Row Valerie White 2009 Hand-dyed fabric, textile paint 16\" x 37\" www.valeriecwhite.com$

$Fault Lines 3 Kathleen Loomis 2010 Commercial cottons 75\" x 78\" Photo by George Plager www.kathyloomis.com$

$Migrations 2 Caryl Bryer Fallert 1995 Hand-dyed 88\" x 88\" Item number 1996.01.18 National Quilt Museum Paducah, Kentucky www.bryerpatch.com www.quiltmuseum.org More info at www.quiltindex.org$

$Summer Echo Joy Saville 1994 Cotton, linen, silk 51\" x 54\" Collection of John M. Walsh, III Photo by Joseph Coscia www.joysaville.com/joysaville.com$

$Wisconsin Wetlands II River Bend Sue Benner 2007 Silk, cotton, found fabrics, dye and paint, fused, mono-print, machine-quilted 83 ½\" x 83 ½\" Collection of John M. Walsh, III Photo by Gregory Case www.suebenner.com$

$Star of Bethlehem Maker unknown 1880-1900 Silk, cotton 99\" x 94 ¼\" Item number 1990.15.1 American Folk Art Museum New York, New York www.folkartmuseum.org/quilts$