TEXTILE TALKS: Creative Continuity with Joe Cunningham

In this studio tour and discussion of his quiltmaking philosophy, Cunningham will show how he has explored this idea in his own quilting life.

“Having learned quilting from tradition-minded women 40 years ago, I was encouraged to learn all the old-fashioned techniques, to study quilt history, and to begin my quilt journey by copying old quilts. In those studies, I learned that the major implication of the American quilt format was that it was open to infinite creative freedom.”

Joe Cunningham has been a professional quilt artist since 1979. He has written essays on the subject for museum catalogues, books, and magazines. His ten books on quiltmaking include the first biography of a living quilter, the first book on men who make quilts (Men and the Art of Quiltmaking), and a definitive book on marking quilts for quilting called Quilting with Style published by AQS. His latest book is Man Made Quilts: Civil War to the Present, a catalogue for the show of the same name at the Shelburne Museum. He has been seen on the Peabody Award-winning PBS series Craft in America, the HGTV series Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson, as well as The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson, and others. His quilts are in the permanent collections of the DeYoung Museum, The Shelburne Museum, The Newark Museum, The International Quilt Museum, The San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles and many private collections.