American Folk Art Museum Celebrates Quilts

ANTIQUE QUILTS: The 'Broken Star Quilt' circa 1925 to 1935, by a Kansas woman, is part of an exhibit of hundreds of quilts at New York's American Folk Art Museum. (By Matt Hoebermann, courtesy of the American Folk Art Museu)

NEW YORK—The American Folk Art Museum in New York City is celebrating American quilts during its current exhibition titled “The Year of the Quilt.”

The exhibit of these textile masterpieces is “part of a 12-month-long series of shows, educational programming, and special events organized by the museum to emphasize the creative contributions of three centuries of talented women,” according Folkartmuseum.org. The exhibit will be on through the end of December 2011.

“Quiltmakers have always sought inspiration from the world around them, introducing the outdoors into the domestic interior through bedcovers that may reflect the colors of the landscape, the imagery of flowers in a garden, or animal and insect life,” explains Stacy C. Hollander, senior curator at the museum on the website.

“Stars, some of the most important elements of the natural world, are also a beloved and enduring motif in American quilts. Stars appeared in pieced bedcovers as early as the 18th century,” Hollander says.

Antique quilts are a valuable collectable these days, with prices ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars