American Folk Art Museum
Acting Director
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Linda Dunne July 8, 2011 I want to welcome all of the museum’s friends to our home at Lincoln Square, a vibrant neighborhood of arts and cultural organizations, shops, and restaurants. Currently on view through September is Super Stars, highlighting star-studded quilts from the collection. Stars are a beloved and enduring motif in American quilts, and this exhibition highlights the dazzling diversity of this variable pattern in more than one hundred years of quilt artistry. Also on view is the deeply affecting 9/11 National Tribute Quilt. The 30-foot-wide quilt is constructed of 3,466 blocks, each of which bears the name of a person who perished in the disaster. The monumental undertaking was conceived by the Steel Quilters of United States Steel Corporation, and the quilt is composed of blocks from all fifty states as well as Canada, Spain, Denmark, and Australia. In the fall, the museum will mount “Life: Real and Imagined—A Decade of Collecting.” This exhibition will include portraits by 19th-century masters Ammi Phillips, Jacob Maentel, and the husband-and-wife team of Dr. Samuel and Ruth Shute, and works on paper by 20th-century masters James Castle, Henry Darger, and Martín Ramírez. The museum’s shop, which has always been a popular shopping destination, stocks a rotating array of items handcrafted in the folk tradition as well as important books on folk and decorative arts. Quilt lovers should definitely acquire Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum. This beautiful volume brings together 200 of the most important quilts from the museum’s collection—from whole-cloth, chintz, appliqué, and pieced bedcovers to Crazy, Revival, Amish, and African American quilts. We also have two popular music programs, the Wednesday Guitar Afternoon series and Free Music Fridays. Come and join in the fun! I look forward to seeing you at the museum—and don’t forget, admission is always free. |