The high-contrast quilts you see here are just a few of the 651 works that were included in a 2011 exhibit of red and white quilts spanning three centuries at the American Folk Art Museum in NYC. Ever since the Whitney Museum of American Art held a quilt-focused art exhibit back in 1971, quilts have often hung in galleries and museums as artworks rather than folk crafts. For centuries, though, quilts had a much more utilitarian use—warmth. (Of course, their decorative designs added to the pleasure they gave.) Quilting has a long tradition in the United States, going back to colonial times. Quilts were created not only for bedding but also to commemorate special occasions, like a wedding or a new baby. Quilting bees brought out the whole community—including many men—to share the work.
Quilts as high art
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It s ∞ Day!
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A history of Vinland
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Southern lights for Antarctica Day
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Class, please take out a No. 2 pencil…
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Sunlight sets Iceland s Eyjafjallajökull aglow
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How lovely are your branches
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Combating extinction with citizen science
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Fresh water on the Silk Road
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Who left the tub running?
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It s a good day to be green
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East River crossing
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Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Washington, DC
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Tiny fliers head south
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Mackerel forming a bait ball to avoid predators
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It’s Canada’s national day
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‘You should see the one that got away!’