Schneider Museum of Art
Louisiana Bendolph, Untitled, quilt
Mary Lee Bendolph, Get Ready, print
Kris Hoppe, Circle Quilt
Visual Jazz: Quilts and works on paper by women from Gee's Bend, Alabama
and, Textile Assemblages by
Kris Hoppe
July 4 to September 14, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 4, 4-7pm--followed by party on the Museum plaza from 7-10pm featuring the band Salsa Brava, and, viewing of City of Ashland fireworks.
Screening of the PBS documentary "The Quiltmakers of Gee's Bend," Sunday, July 5, 2pm followed by q&a and walk through the exhibitions with the artists.
The quilters from the rural Alabama area of Gee's Bend have their own original way of piecing quilts, which are radically different from traditional American patchwork quilts. Noted African-art historian Robert Farris Thompson has stated: "Far from constituting an historical sub-set, the Afro-American quilt is its own discipline."
Gee's Bend quilts relate to traditional quilts the way jazz music relates to European classical music.
And they are close in spirit to contemporary painting where spontaneous improvisation with forms and colors yields abstract compositions.
Ashland artist Kris Hoppe complements the Gee's Bend quilts with colorful textile assemblages inspired by her world travels.
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Museum Hours
Monday-Saturday, 10 am-4 pm
