Ties That Bind: Three Generations of Quilters New Exhibition at SFO Explores Traditions of African American Quilting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Jane Sullivan
Manager, Marketing and Communications
(650) 821-5123
SF-03-45

Ties That Bind: Three Generations of Quilters
New Exhibition at SFO Explores Traditions of African American Quilting

SAN FRANCISCO – Now on view at San Francisco International Airport, Ties That Bind: Three Generations of Quilters, captures the artistry and creativity of three African American women through the art of quilting.

The exhibition presents the quilts of Nannie Hogan (1850-1955), Martha Hogan Washington (1902-56) and Thelma Washington Pickett (1932-90), a matrilineal family of quilters originally from Mississippi. All three quilters worked in traditional textile patterns that have been handed down for generations. Their works demonstrate the unique art of the African American quilt, created by fusing African textile techniques and traditions with Euro-American traditions of piecing, appliquéing and quilting fabrics for bedcovers.

Ties That Bind presents eighteen quilts that explore the individual and collective artistic and creative vision of each quilter through eight traditional quilt types—String Tie, Eight-point Star, Grandmother’s Flower Garden, Four-point Star, Dresden Plate, Sunbonnet Sue, Grandma’s Fan and crazy quilt. Incorporated in the quilts are design principles rooted in African textile techniques and cultural traditions—including strips of cloth, bright colors, large designs, multiple patterns, asymmetry and improvisation.

All objects in the exhibition are courtesy of the RAMAR Foundation, established by Raife Pickett and his second wife, Margie Pickett, to preserve the memory and creative talents of his quilting forebears.

Ties That Bind: Three Generations of Quilters is located pre-security in Gallery G-1, International Terminal Main Hall, Departures/Ticketing Level. The exhibition is on view twenty-four hours a day through March 5, 2004.

San Francisco Airport Museums

The San Francisco Airport Museums program was established by the Airport Commission in 1980 for the purposes of humanizing the Airport environment, providing visibility for the unique cultural life of San Francisco, and providing educational services for the traveling public. Today, the San Francisco Airport Museums features approximately twenty galleries throughout the Airport terminals displaying a rotating schedule of art, history, science, and cultural exhibitions, as well as the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library and Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum, a permanent collection dedicated to the history of commercial aviation.