The Quilted Cahoon
June 22 – September 15, 2024
The Cahoon Museum of American Art’s public art installation, The Quilted Cahoon, features a giant quilt made from recycled sails created by San Francisco artist Joe Cunningham that covers the facade of the museum building.
As part of the museum’s Streetside series, this unexpected and stunning quilt is designed to highlight the museum’s 18th-century Georgian architecture. The quilt covers the signature red shingles, but the windows, doors, and other architectural features of the building remain visible. Launched in 2018, the Streetside series brings art to the public and allows artists to create new, innovative, and accessible public art.
Cunningham, an accomplished contemporary quilter and historian, has been creating quilts professionally since 1979. His practice is steeped in the history and traditions of quilt making and has evolved into his own unique, personal style. Cunningham’s design for The Quilted Cahoon is based on inspiration from used spinnakers. Spinnakers for this project have been collected from local sailors and donated from Sea Bags, a company based in Portland, ME that recycles and transforms sails into accessories.
Consulting curator Annie Dean collaborated on the commission of this large-scale public artwork with Cunningham. Working closely together on different material and installation possibilities over a two-year period, Dean came up with the idea of using old sails while she was sailing on her family boat. She realized that spinnaker sails made from ripstop nylon would be an ideal material as it is extremely lightweight, dries easily, and is exceptionally tear-resistant. The brightly colored material is be easy to install and has a low impact on the museum building.
A team of volunteers assisted with the construction of the quilt following Cunningham’s design, which features an identifiable quilt pattern reinterpreted by the artist. In addition to The Quilted Cahoon, the museum presents Joe Cunningham: Quilts for These Times, an exhibition of 10 of Cunningham’s newest large quilts created as a response to current events. This show is on view in the Museum’s Trustees Gallery from June 19 – September 15, 2024.
Support for this exhibition is provided by the Barnes Family Foundation
About the Artist
Joe Cunningham has been a professional quilt artist since 1979. He has written essays for museum catalogs, books, and magazines. His book, Men and the Art of Quiltmaking was the first book on its subject.
His ten books on quiltmaking include the first biography of a living quilter, the first book on men who make quilts (Men and the Art of Quiltmaking,) and a definitive book on marking quilts for quilting called Quilting with Style, published by AQS. He has been seen on the Peabody Award-winning PBS series Craft in America, the HGTV series “Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson,” as well as “The Quilt Show” with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson, and others. His latest book is “Man Made Quilts: Civil War to the Present,” a catalog for the show of the same name at the Shelburne Museum. His quilts are in the permanent collections of the DeYoung Museum, The Shelburne Museum, The Newark Museum, The San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, and many private collections.
The Museum building, working designs, and curator Annie Dean testing samples.
Joe talking about the project at the Cahoon Museum