The Boca Raton Museum of Art exhibition Politics NOT as Usual: Quilts with Something to Say displays the work of two centuries of women who used quilting as a medium to comment on the political landscape, and participate in national life. Curated by Stacy Hollander, Chief Curator at the American Folk Art Museum, she says: From quilts expressing Union pride following the Civil War, promoting presidential candidates, anger at being denied the right to vote, to a call for Hawaiian independence, Politics NOT as Usual offers visitors a personal context to our country’s past. The unparalleled quality of the quilts – their rare fabrics, skilled workmanship, and well-preserved condition – permit viewers to truly understand a medium that bridges the gap between fine art and folk craft. Graphic strategy and technique transform these bedcovers into monumental assertions of self-identity and statements of belief.
The exhibition also marks the first opportunity for viewers to see the 9/11 National Tribute Quilt outside of the American Folk Art Museum. The art piece incorporates quilt blocks from five hundred people in fifty states as well as Canada, Spain, Denmark, and Australia to acknowledge the loss of thousands of lives on that infamous day. The four central panels form a montage of the twin towers of the World Trade Center against the New York City skyline. (National Tribute Quilt, 2002, cotton and mixed media, 8 x 30 feet. Collection of the American Folk Art Museum. Gift of the artists, Kathy S. Crawford, Amber M. Dalley, Jian X. Li, and Dorothy L. Simback, with the help of countless others in tribute to the victims of the September 11, 2001, attack on America, 2002.14.1)
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