We Gather at the Edge: Contemporary Quilts by Black Women Artists

Patterned, multicolor quilt with a Akwabaa figure.

Myrah Brown Green, In My Akwabaa Form, 2000, cotton fabric and cotton batt, 95 × 86 in. (241.3 × 218.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Fleur S. Bresler, 2023.40.19, © 2000, Myrah Brown Green

The artists featured in We Gather at the Edge honor the Black story quilt tradition with work that envisions a more just and connected world. The exhibition highlights SAAM’s recent acquisition of quilts from the collection of Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi and celebrates her legacy as the founder of the Women of Color Quilters Network. 

Description

In 2023, the Smithsonian American Art Museum acquired thirty-five quilts from the collection of Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi. Mazloomi, who holds a doctorate in aerospace engineering, is a prolific artist, curator, and scholar. In 1981, she founded the African American Quilt Guild of Los Angeles, and then, in 1985, she founded the Women of Color Quilters Network, fulfilling the desire of isolated makers to connect and continue Black textile traditions.

Sometimes the weight of living on this planet as a woman, we have to be reminded of who we are. Quilts help to serve that purpose of reminding women about their power.

The selection of quilts acquired by the museum and featured in this exhibition is remarkable in its scope and groundbreaking in its representation of Black history and culture as told with needle and thread. This exhibition honors the legacy of Mazloomi and celebrates members of the Women of Color Quilters Network.  

The exhibition is organized by Mary Savig, the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft at SAAM's Renwick Gallery, and Aleia Brown, the David Julian and Virginia Suther Whichard Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at East Carolina University.

Visiting Information

February 21, 2025 June 22, 2025
Open Daily, 10:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m
Free Admission

Events

21
Friday
Feb
Quilts by Black Women Artists Gallery Talk
Friday, February 21, 2025, 12:30 – 1:30pm EST
Free | Registration required 
Renwick Gallery 
Meet in Lobby