"The touch of fabric – its color and forgiving nature – has been a love of mine since I began working with it many years ago. It seemed natural to go from clothing to quilts to art quilts as I grew and matured in my life. Fiber is a wonderful and natural way to express what is deep within oneself – especially a woman – a wife – a mother – a nurturer of the spirit. To cultivate the artist within has been exhilarating and makes me happy. I am happiest when I am working in my studio alone with music, feeling and thinking about design and color – then crafting my creation using my whole being to make a single art quilt."

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ART QUILT

The art quilt movement grew out of a resurgent interest in handcrafts that began in the 1960’s. Young people, rebelling against war and modern technology, sought meaningful alternatives to the society they perceived as spiritually bereft and morally corrupt. In the years preceding the Bicentennial, feminists reclaimed the art of quilt making, an overlooked and undervalued contribution of the nation’s foremothers.

For over 100 years, quilt makers had simply replicated the established designs of starts, baskets, and pinwheels, among others, but in the late ‘50s and ‘60s a handful of pioneering artists began to see the quilt as a place to experiment with color and design. These contemporary quilts slowly began to receive attention as valid means of creative expression, and in 1971 the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York presented an exhibition that launched the art quilt into the national consciousness. ABSTRACT DESIGN IN AMERICAN QUILTS showcased quilts based strictly on their visual impact, and presented them as works of fine art: hung on the walls like paintings: with museum labels offering materials used, place of origin, and date, and presented without historical context. The show’s curators placed color, line and pattern over historical or geographic significance. The show was well received by critics and the public alike. As a result, many women, and a few men, decided to try their hands at quilt making, and quilt guilds sprang up across the country, providing an outlet for contemporary quilt maker’s to share their knowledge and love of the medium.

In 1979 QUILT NATIONAL became the first ongoing juried exhibition of art quilts. Originating at the dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio, the show has become one of the most important forums for the art quilt, and draws submissions and audiences from all over the world. Since then, other major juried exhibitions, countless smaller shows, and the accessioning of art quilt into the permanent collections of major museums have established a firm place for contemporary quilt in the art world.

For all their experimentation and boundary-pushing, it’s not unusual for art quilts to pay homage to the quilt making traditions that came before them. Long established patterns and quilt blocks are commonly reinvented in contemporary quilts. Joan Rigal recognizes the importance of quilt history, and while her works have evolved from these traditional principles and techniques, the enduring strength of design found in Amish quilts has always influenced her art. "From the beginning of my quilt making, I loved the solid colors and analogous color scheme of Amish quilts that seem passionate and so alive...Recently, I’ve returned to the direct design of Amish quilts and enjoy making contemporary adaptations of them by machine quilting and the use of many colorful threads."