The Ohio Quilt Series
“These four titles from Ohio University Press are interesting in so many ways—it's difficult to cover their highlights in a few lines. Each one tells a part of the story of quiltmaking in Ohio. Album Quilts of Ohio's Miami Valley, Quilts of the Ohio Western Reserve and Uncommon Threads: Ohio's Art Quilt Revolution are each spellbinding in a different sense. Philena's Friendship Quilt uses a Quaker farewell quilt to examine one woman's life and relationships as well as larger social, geographical and political contexts. Many large full-color photos. These are not to be missed.”
— Quiltmaker
Books in the The Ohio Quilt Series explore the history of one of the state’s most popular crafts. These affordably priced, full-color volumes present a fascinating look at the authors’ research methods and ultimate discoveries. The series documents the rich range of quilting styles that represent Ohio’s varied regions and cultures.
Series Editors: Ricky Clark, Ellice Ronsheim, and Donna Sue Groves
Titles in this Series
Philena’s Friendship Quilt
A Quaker Farewell to Ohio
Chenoweth’s research to discover the story behind a Quaker signature quilt made in Columbiana County, Ohio, in 1853 revealed not only the identity of the quilt recipient and details of her life and community, but also a striking feature of the quilt itself—a “hidden” design element created by the deliberate placement of names on the quilt’s surface. In Philena’s Friendship Quilt, Lynda Salter Chenoweth reveals the value of signature quilts as historic and social documents waiting to be read.
Lynda Salter Chenoweth is a quilter who has lived in Sonoma, California since retiring from the University of California at Berkeley. Her quilt research focuses on nineteenth-century signature quilts.
“The meticulous scholarship, fresh style of documentation with accompanying color-coded visual charts, and its wealth of illustrations make Philena’s Friendship Quilt a treasure for any quilt enthusiast.”
Mary Robare — author of Quilts and Quaker Heritage: Selections from an Exhibition, Virginia Quilt Museum
Album Quilts of Ohio’s Miami Valley
From 1888 to 1918, a community of Miami Valley neighbors and relatives made album presentation quilts to celebrate life passages. Their sharing of designs and construction techniques led to the development of a distinctive regional quilt style that has never been duplicated in any other region of the state or country. Album Quilts of Ohio’s Miami Valley presents more than two dozen never-before-published color photographs of these folk art album quilts. Sue C. Cummings’s documentation and collection of this remarkable grouping is a landmark moment in quilting history.
Sue C. Cummings is a quilt collector and researcher whose specialty is Ohio textiles.
“Every once in a while a book crosses my desk that leaves me flipping through the pages in amazement and delight. This is one such book.”
—AntiqueWeek
Uncommon Threads
Ohio's Art Quilt Revolution
Gayle A. Pritchard’s compelling narrative threads its way through the emergence of the art quilt, from artists working in isolation to the explosive “big bang” of the first Quilt National exhibition and its inevitable reverberations.
Ohio native Gayle A. Pritchard is a fiber artist, curator, lecturer, and teacher. Her public commissions include The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Quilt Project, the Smithsonian Craft Archives in Washington, D.C., and the opening for the Peter B. Lewis building in Cleveland, Ohio. Learn more about Gayle Pritchard at gaylepritchardart.com.
“Gayle Pritchard’s book is a godsend, a serious, carefully researched study of the history and continuing development of quiltmaking by artists, full of valuable new information and insights. Pritchard's deep focus and solid scholarship are models for all future studies of the genre.”
Robert Shaw — author of The Art Quilt
“By turns zany, wistful and whimsical, the quilts presented in this volume demonstrate the creative revolution in quiltmaking that occurred in Ohio in the 1970s and 80s…. Pritchard proves that the contemporary quilt movement could not have occurred without Ohio's unparalleled contribution.”
—Reference & Research Book News
“Profiles of more than 20 quilters and arts organizations offer a broad, yet highly personal look at the movement and its makers. The book includes many photos of quilts, along with rare personal photographs and excerpts from in-depth interviews.”
—The Professional Quilter
Quilts of the Ohio Western Reserve
By Ricky Clark
Quilts of the Ohio Western Reserve includes early quilts brought from Connecticut to the Western Reserve in northeastern Ohio and contemporary quilts, including one by a conservative Amish woman and another inspired by Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ricky Clark, one of Ohio’s foremost quilt historians, has assembled exquisite examples of calamanco, T-shaped, and borderless pieced quilts to show the influence of Connecticut aesthetics and history on the making of early quilts in this region. Rich in color, detail, and inventiveness, the quilts of this region commemorate community history.
Ricky Clark is an affiliate scholar associated with Oberlin College and the author of several works on Ohio Quilts, including, as coauthor, Quilts in Community: Ohio’s Traditions.
“Clark has rightly earned the moniker of being one of America’s foremost quilt historians.”
—Ohioana Quarterly
Textile artists and textile art connoisseurs may also enjoy these other Ohio University Press titles:
