Traits
Go Back to Traits
Go to Traces
Go to Tracks
Go to Trades
Go Back Home
Project and Research Themes
My overarching theme has been that historic quilts often serve as visual records of human experience. In the last twenty years, the patchwork quilt has come to be recognized and accepted as a visual record of a person’s history. They can be extremely valuable for accessing the public and private lives of the women who made them and the people who owned them.
Humanities scholars now generally accept that quilts were the most universally produced form of bedding that literate and non-literate people, both men and women, had the skills to make in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many more quilts were made than could be consumed. They were made to mark important events or passages, to celebrate accomplishments, to communicate messages regarding family rituals, and to support the valued role women had within their family and society.
Much of the quiltmaking tradition has been recovered through the work of the American Quilt Study Group, particularly their quarterly newsletter “Blanket Statements” and their annual scholarly journal Uncoverings. As the Oregon Regional Coordinator for AQSG, I endorse, promote, and participate in their work.
I want to extend this awareness to audiences who often think of quilts only as bedcoverings and wall hangings. (Go to Traces for information about my projects and to Tracks for information about workshops and lectures)
Statement on
Themes