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Let It Shine: Improvisations in African-American Star Quilts opens at the New York State Museum on January 24th.

This traveling exhibition -- the first in the nation to address and celebrate improvisations in traditional star quilt designs – will showcase 23 quilts from the extraordinary collection of Eli Leon in the Museum’s Exhibition Hall through March 28.

The quilts were made in the mid- to late-20th century in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and California by African-American women and reflect unique characteristics of their makers’ cultural traditions. Some quilts have more than one maker, with mothers and daughters, aunts and nieces, or friends and neighbors collaborating in the creation of one work. All of the quilts contain traditional star motifs but reflect the spontaneous energy of their creators who did not limit themselves to expected pattern combinations and colors.

Leon, a quilt scholar and collector, is guest curator of the exhibition. He has assembled his collection of African-American quilts, one of the largest in the world, over a span of two decades. Many of the quilts were found in and around Oakland, CA., and made by women whose families moved to the Bay area during and after the Great Depression to seek work in shipyards and other industries. Leon has also taken several research and collecting trips to the South and is the author of five exhibition catalogues on improvisation in African-American quilt making. Selections from his collection have been exhibited at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., the High Museum in Atlanta, and the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, MA.

Leon observes that this genre of African-American quilt makers have a long and rich tradition as prolific artists “who maintain a generous attitude toward the accidental. They embrace innovations that originate beyond the conscious domain, using approximate measurements and dealing creatively with resulting piecing predicaments. The design is conceived of not as a fixed pattern but as an invitation to variation.”

On Saturday, February 7 the State Museum is presenting a Quilters Forum in the South Hall Gallery, sponsored by Black Dimensions in Art Inc. of Schenectady. Quilts will be exhibited from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and regional and ethnic quilters will demonstrate, display and discuss the art and craft of
quilt making at afternoon programs. The programs and presenters include: Francelise Dawkins, 12:30-1:15 p.m., "Artquilts: Beyond Multicultural;" Patricia Murray, 1:30-2:15 p.m., “African-American Quilters: Preservers of African Tradition” and Lizzi Spirig, 2:30-3:15, "Life As Inspiration." The event is free and open to the public.

The State Museum is a cultural program of the New York State Department of Education. Started in 1836, the museum has the nation's longest continuously operating state natural history research and collection survey. The museum is located on Madison Avenue in Albany. Further information is available by calling 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.

The New York State Museum is located on Madison Avenue in Albany. It is open 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week throughout the year except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Further information about programs and events can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.