Orange is everywhere! While ORANGE is up at Hello Stitch in Berkeley, Joe Cunningham has launched Here Comes the Sun at the Iowa Quilt Museum. I’m thrilled to exhibit my quilts alongside those made by renown makers like Joe himself as well as Heidi Parkes and Luke Haynes (who I just joined in a chat on Soft Bulk). If you find yourself in Iowa and feeling some winter blues, go on in for Here Comes the Sun.
Here Comes the Sun
16 November 2021 - 23 January 2022
Iowa Quilt Museum
68 E Court Ave, Winterset, IA 50273
Curator’s Statement
Over the past 250 years of quilt history in the United States, the color orange has risen and fallen in popularity several times. Even at its peak, orange has never been a predominant color. Today, while it is easy to find orange used in quilts, many people consider it either unpleasant or off-putting. Not me! The first antique quilt I ever purchased was the Bow Tie included in this exhibit, so unloved in the dealer’s booth that the price was low enough even a young guitar player/quilter could afford it. Citrus, the rising sun, pumpkins, cheddar cheese—some of my favorite things in life are orange. According to sources I find on the internet, orange can represent almost anything, from serenity and peace to fire and war. For me, orange means happiness and joy. The quilts here represent but a small number of the innumerable ways quilters have stitched orange into their quilts.
Joe Cunningham
San Francisco
About Here Comes the Sun
Each winter, the days grow shorter, darkness envelopes more hours of the day, and color drains away from our natural landscape. Just as the ancients celebrated the winter solstice with rituals designed to encourage the sun’s return, this exhibit of 29 quilts honors the sun with a study of the color orange in both historic and contemporary quilts.
Orange was originally called yellow-red or “geoluhread” in Old English.