How to Use a Quilt
Because of the great amount of labor they required, along with their significant use of once precious materials, quilts once represented luxury goods for the upper classes in Europe. There were professional quilters and tailors to make them for those who could afford such rich home furnishings. When they started to become fashionable in North America late in the 18th century, quilts were at first only for the wealthy, but quiltmaking soon came to represent a significant part of American folk culture. Women developed thousands of new patterns and many new techniques to make quilts that could show love for the recipient, patriotism, political dissent, artistic creativity, and other impulses as well as memorializing public or private events.
In the early part of our current quilt age, during the American bicentennial, quilts were among the crafts that were celebrated as representing a common ground between previously warring factions, the hippies and the patriots. The bicentennial itself represented something we could all come together to celebrate, and the rediscovery of quilts, woodworking, candle making and weaving made that newfound goodwill continue in the years that followed. Quilts and quiltmaking came to represent thrift, even though they were being commodified in the antiquities market, exploited in the how-to market and used as sales engines for fabric manufacturers and shop owners. But with the idea being fostered that quilts began as a way to use up scraps, especially with the ever popular red, white and blue color combination, they became associated with patriotic thrift and ingenuity. In this lecture I will talk about how quilts have gone from luxury goods for the 18th century wealthy to the multi-layered cultural signifiers they are today. I will illustrate the lecture with images of my own quilts as well as some never published images of unusual historical examples.
Joe Cunningham has been a professional quiltmaker, author, lecturer and teacher since 1979. His quilts hang in major museums and many private collections. He has written or contributed to a dozen books, appeared widely on TV and internet shows, and has produced his long-running Quilt Freedom Workshop from his gallery and studio in San Francisco. After a lifetime of study in quilt history and technique, Cunningham has developed his own unique style of quilts as art. His work can be found at www.joecunninghamquilts.com
How to Use a Quilt
