Why Quilts Matter: History, Art & Politics

"Why Quilts Matter: History, Art & Politics"

is the landmark nine-part documentary series that offers a fresh, relevant exploration of quilts.

This fascinating series explores quilts in fresh new ways by taking you behind the scenes to reveal the unique position of quilts at the center of American culture. You'll go on an amazing quilt journey from function to art, to women's empowerment, economic clout, American politics and beyond.

"This compelling and visually rich series convinces us that quilts do matter. VERDICT: This wonderful series would be an important addition for all museums, libraries and quilt guilds."

- Library Journal Review

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Ep.1, Quilts 101 – Antique and Contemporary Quilts

What is a quilt? This episode introduces the audience to the brave new world of the American quilt, where that question has many different answers.

Ep. 2, Quilts Bring History Alive

We all wonder how people really thought, dressed, traveled, and behaved in generations past, and we need only to look to quilts to find out.

Ep. 3, The Quilt Marketplace

The marketplace for quilts has always been a bit of a mystery. It’s hard to understand why some quilts are so much pricier than others, and why some old quilts aren’t worth anything at all.

Ep. 4, What is Art?

You think you know art when you see it, but this episode of Why Quilts Matter: History, Art & Politics may make you think again.

Ep. 5, Gee's Bend: The Most Famous Quilts in America?

In 2002 the art world was rocked to its foundations by a group of unusual, abstract quilts made by African American women from an obscure hamlet in southern Alabama...

Ep. 6, How Quilts have been Viewed and Collected

It’s now been nearly a century since quilts were first collected and exhibited and they’ve come a long way...

Ep. 7, Empowering Women One Quilt at a Time

You can look long and hard and you won’t find an object more central to the history of women than the quilt...

Ep. 8, Quilt Nation – 20,000,000 and Counting!

“Quilt making,” as one quilt maker says, “is the greatest mass movement nobody ever heard of.”

Ep. 9, Quilt Scholarship: Romance and Reality

The history of quilt scholarship in America is more relevant—and far more interesting—than some might think. To begin with, there was once a time when it wasn’t very scholarly at all.