Earlier this year, my friend Mary treated me to an afternoon at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles. I’ve wanted to go for years but needed to make the time.
Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry: Nice Ice #2
Mary in front of Kit Vincent quilt entitled Fracas
I’ve always loved quilts and greatly admire the skill, patience, and artistry required to create one. Several of the bloggers I follow quilt to create functional quilts, pieces of art, clothing, and sometimes all three.
The SJMQT exhibit featured textiles created during the pandemic. These artists use fabric, paper, buttons, and even emptied toilet paper rolls to create pieces reflecting the time of lockdown during COVID.
Here are a few of my favorites:
A sample of quilts and textiles from Quilt National ’21
Jean M. Evans: Sun on My Patio Chair, 2020 Isolation
This quilt blew me away. It looks like a colorized black and white photographic until you get close and see what she’s done with the fabric. It’s extraordinary.
Here’s one more for the road:
This is in the permanent museum collection. Sharon’s first car looked just like this one; a baby blue VW “Bug”.
About
The San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles is an art museum in Downtown San Jose, California, USA. Founded in 1977, the museum is the first in the United States devoted solely to quilts and textiles as an art form. Holdings include a permanent collection of over 550 quilts, garments and ethnic textiles, emphasizing artists of the 20th- and 21st-century, and a research library with over 500 books concerning the history and techniques of the craft.
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles
I had hoped to share a link crediting all of the artists, however SJMQT hasn’t updated past exhibits on the website for three years. I will update this post in the future should more details emerge.
Do you visit museums in your hometown? What would you recommend if I could travel there?