Threaded, an exhibition organized by and presented at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, presents a selection of contemporary artworks created by Black women working in textiles. This spring 2024 exhibition features works made with cotton, polyester, wool, sateen, corduroy, silk, chiffon, kente cloth, pima cloth, lace, velvet, and hand-dyed fabrics. In addition to textiles, visitors will encounter works adorned with cowrie shells, beads, broaches, and framed with wall paper. Quilts sometimes emerge from the desire to keep loved ones warm, and sometimes these objects gather, hold and bear witness to our stories. The works in Threaded are united by textile-based materials and a starting place of love and creativity.
The foundation of this Spelman Museum exhibition is seven newly-conserved quilts from the Gee’s Bend, Alabama quilting community in the Spelman Museum permanent collection. These works are joined by another Gee’s Bend quilt from the Clark Atlanta University Art Museum collection, in addition to ten prints. Threaded places quilts by Gee’s Bend artists in conversation with works by contemporary Black women artists that integrate materials and techniques that extend beyond the traditional category of “quilt.” The textile-based objects in the exhibition are a testament to the spirits of women who have passed down their knowledge, skills, and fabrics through generations.
Artists featured in Threaded at the Spelman Museum are Louisiana Bendolph, Mary Lee Bendolph, Polly Bennett, Willie Ann Benning, Bisa Butler, Helen McBride Richter, Flora Moore, Ruth Pettway Mosely, Ebony G. Patterson, Loretta Pettway, Bettie Bendolph Seltzer, Phyllis Stephens, Sonie Joi Thompson-Ruffin, Qualeasha Wood and Billie Zangewa.
Threaded opens on Friday, February 2, 2024. The museum is open and free to the public Wednesday through Saturday, 12 - 5pm. The exhibition will be on view at the Spelman Museum for the spring 2024 semester, February 2 - May 24, 2024. Threaded is curated by Liz Andrews, Ph.D and Karen Comer Lowe, with Brandy Pettijohn, Ph.D.
Click here to go to the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art's website.
