(New York, New York). The American Folk Art Museum announced today a preview of its exhibition line-up for the first half of 2023. Please contact the Museum’s Press Office for more details about the information listed below.

What That Quilt Knows About Me

Public Opening: March 17, 2023

Preview: March 16, 2023

What That Quilt Knows About Me will explore the emotional power associated with the experience of making and living with quilts. The quilts and quilt-like objects on view will reveal a range of poignant and sometimes unexpected biographies, from a pair of enslaved sisters in antebellum Kentucky to a convalescent British soldier during the Crimean War, and will tell the personal stories associated with both the makers and recipients of the works. Spanning from the 19th to the 21st centuries, the works included – some of which will be on view for the first time – reveal a multiplicity of cultures, experiences, and creative inspirations. The exhibition also explores how quilters have continually pushed the boundaries of making to incorporate surprising materials and ideas, inviting audiences to consider these objects as archives of personal human experiences.

Material Witness: Folk and Self-Taught Artists at Work

Public Opening: March 17, 2023

Preview: March 16, 2023

Material Witness chronicles how folk and self-taught artists across four centuries have intervened into and collaborated with the components of the material world. The wide-ranging results of these creators’ diverse practices document how artists learn through material engagement, often in ways that evade and exceed conventional frameworks for art training. Most of the creators showcased either produced works of art and utilitarian wares for sale or spent their lives working in occupations other than art making. The materials that comprise these objects do something extraordinary: they grant permission to those that interact with them to assume the role of artist and maker.