Indeed, there is an exception to every rule.
We mainly recognise quilting as a feminine craft. We know wonderful stories of groups of women using quilting as a way to express themselves and find something else. We know the amazing quilts of Gee´s Bend Quiltmakers.
Thank to this article Allison Meier for Hyperallergic, I´ve discovered that indeed men also made quilts, in wartime. Quilts were used as a way of bringing hope by “making something beautiful out of horror“.
The American Folk Art Museum organised at the end of 2017 an exhibition about the quilts made by men in wartimes. War and Pieced, was organised in collaboration with the International Quilt Study Center & Museum, University of Lincoln–Nebraska. Cocurated by Dr. Annette Gero, international quilt historian and Stacy C. Hollander, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, Chief Curator, and Director of Exhibitions at the American Folk Art Museum.
Quilts showcased are just amazing, impressing and high-quality quilts. The details of the quilting make me think these men passed several months stitching. Most of them are geometric and remind us the patterns of azulejos and rugs.
The exhibition will be at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum on May 25, 2018.
musart research lab 