Patricia Cox Crews – författare

Wild by Design explores the American tradition of freewheeling, improvisational, often asymmetrical quilts, whose makers experimented boldly with design, color, and pictorial motifs. It examines both the aesthetics and the social history of quilts from the early nineteenth century to the present, including Amish, African American, and modern art quilts.From the state fair to the clothesline, women have sought ways to exhibit the beauty and optical effects of their quilts. The "quilting frolic" of the nineteenth century was for many women an alternative to the art academy and the salon. Janet Berlo reminds us that quilts were a valued form of artistic expression, meant to be shared and admired among the company of other women.Over fifty applique and pieced quilts are illustrated, chosen from the collections of the International Quilt Study Center for their outstanding visual qualities. Each is accompanied by a lively dialogue among quilt experts that illustrates the varied dimensions of quilts as aesthetic objects of the highest order and as reflections of the lives and societies of their makers. This multifaceted analysis of quilts sheds light on the histories of women, textiles, and American art and culture.

Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich has remarked, "Much of the social history of early America has been lost to us precisely because women were expected to use needles rather than pens." This book, part of the multivolume series of the International Quilt Study Center collections, recovers a swath of that lost history and shows us some of America's treasured material culture as it was pieced and stitched into place.  American Quilts in the Modern Age, 1870–1940 examines the period's quilts from both an artistic and a historical perspective. From pieced block to Crazy style to Colonial Revival examples, as well as one-of-a-kind creations, the full array of style and design appears in this book covering seven decades of quiltmaking. The contributing authors provide critical information regarding the modern and anti-modern tensions that persisted throughout this era of America's coming of age, from the Civil War to World War II. They also address the textile technology and cultural context of the times in which the quilts were created, with an eye to the role that industrialization and modernization played in the evolution of techniques, materials, and designs. With full-color photographs of over 587 quilts, American Quilts in the Modern Age, 1870-1940 offers a new visual and tactile understanding of American culture and society, bridging the transition from traditional folk culture to the age of mass production and consumption.