A little textile inspiration from my YouTube ‘Meet the Artist’ Collection. Today it features the stunning African American Quilt Exhibition from the Robert Cargo Collection of the International Quilt Museum Nebraska.
African-American quilts are a significant segment of quilt history. In this video Carolyn Ducey, Curator of Collections, shares these stunning quilts and explains the stories behind the artworks.
African-American quilts come in every imaginable style: traditional patterns and original patterns, bold colours and subdued colours, as well as pieced quilts and story quilts. Like all American quilts, they vary from region to region, from era to era, and from person to person.
For twenty years, Dr. Robert Cargo, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, championed self-taught artists, especially African-American quilt makers from his home state. In 2000, the International Quilt Museum acquired a portion of his collection, which spans the twentieth century and represents locales all over Alabama, including urban areas such as Birmingham, rural areas like Greene County, and now-famous communities such as Gee’s Bend.
Filmed at the Festival of Quilts 2022.
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