Quilts have existed as domestic textiles for many years and across many cultures. Made for warmth, comfort, or ceremony, these objects have also conveyed important ideas and emotional connections—memorializing people and events, celebrating marriages and births, and sometimes even providing shrouds for burial. Today, contemporary artists recognize the rich potential for meaning embedded in the materials and techniques of traditional quilt making, and rework them in unique and often unexpected ways.
While they can be functional, for the most part, contemporary art quilts place an emphasis on the content, reflecting the experiences and ideas of their makers; it is the artist, rather than the blocked pattern, that determines the design. Unblocked: Improvisation and Identity in Contemporary Quilts brings together a diverse group of artists whose quilts tell stories, express identity, celebrate community, further social justice, and engage in formal design and color investigations. Comfortable with improvisation, these artists use materials that are readily available—often discarded or donated clothing and domestic textiles—and work intuitively, without a structured plan.
“Unblocking” is the process of removing an obstruction, freeing or releasing emotional energy. In social media, “Unblocking” is restoring access to a user’s voice—granting permission to express ideas freely. For this exhibition, “unblocked” is also a play on words, suggesting that contemporary artists achieve deeper engagement with their work when they move beyond the traditional use of repetitive blocks and patterns to compose quilts. Freed from the limitations of the block, their designs are often irregular and may extend beyond the rectangular edges of a traditional quilt.
Unblocked is co-curated by Mary Birmingham and Jennifer Wroblewski. Participating artists include: Sherri Lynn Wood, Elizabeth Brandt, Zak Foster, Coulter Fussell, Chawne Kimber, Basil Kincaid, Kwesi O. Kwarteng, Krystle Lemonias, Sarah Nishiura, Melanie Tuazon
