DAYTON, OH.- The Dayton Art Institute (DAI) presents its newest Special Exhibition, Wall Power! Spectacular Quilts from the American Folk Art Museum, alongside the Focus Exhibition Power of Remembrance: AIDS Memorial Quilt Panels, bringing together two powerful perspectives on the American quilt and its ability to preserve stories, honor communities and make history visible.

The exhibitions explore the quilt as an important American art form and a deeply personal means of expression. Spanning more than a century, the works on view demonstrate how generations of makers have used fabric, color, pattern and composition to communicate identity, tradition, loss, resilience and community.

As the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the United States, the artworks displayed in these exhibitions offer an opportunity to reflect on the many stories that make up the American experience. Quilts have long been woven into American life, serving practical purposes while also carrying family histories, cultural traditions and individual voices from one generation to the next.

“Quilts are a distinctly American art form that utilizes the elements of art to transcend their utilitarian function,” said Head Curator and Curatorial Affairs Director Dr. Jerry N. Smith. “Often made by anonymous quilters, most often women, they speak to the values within a family, across generations and throughout communities. The American Folk Art Museum is recognized internationally for their remarkable holdings in American quilts. We are thrilled to offer this group of quilts to our community.”

Wall Power! Spectacular Quilts from the American Folk Art Museum

The American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) has been at the forefront of bringing recognition to quilts as a major art form with deep roots in American life and experience. Wall Power! presents graphically striking examples from the museum’s collection that embody the sense of “wall power” and command attention through monumental compositions of color, pattern, geometry and representation.

Though quilts are traditionally associated with women’s domestic labor and communal making, the works in Wall Power!challenge the notion that quilts belong solely within the realm of craft. Their bold visual presence demonstrates the complexity, skill and artistic experimentation involved in cutting and piecing fabric into compositions that can be both deeply personal and visually commanding.

The exhibition features quilts spanning the mid-19th through the late 20th century, representing makers and communities from Alabama to Pennsylvania. Four sections of the exhibition highlight early 20th-century quilts from the craft revival movement, designs developed by Amish communities, works by African American makers and traditional 19th-century patterns that formed a foundation for generations of quiltmakers to come.

The DAI will also present a selection of American quilts from its extensive textile collection alongside the AFAM works, creating additional connections between the national story represented in Wall Power! and the museum’s own collection.

“The quilts on view are memorable as works of art and they speak to the remarkable talents of their makers. We can truly appreciate the vast amount of time that went into the creation of each quilt, along with the communal and familial bonds associated with them. One can only imagine the stories that were told among the quilters, along with the laughter that must have been shared among quiltmakers working together,” said Smith. “This is what makes quilts extraordinary records of American life.”

Power of Remembrance: AIDS Memorial Quilt Panels

Complementing Wall Power! is the Focus Exhibition Power of Remembrance: AIDS Memorial Quilt Panels, featuring six 12-by-12-foot panels from the National AIDS Memorial Quilt.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt grew from a grassroots effort to remember those who died from AIDS-related illnesses and to give visibility to a community facing grief, stigma and loss. The project was first envisioned in 1985 by human rights activist Cleve Jones, who, with Mike Smith, founded the NAMES Project. What began with a small group of volunteers in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood became one of the largest community arts projects in the world.

The first large-scale display of the Quilt took place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on October 11, 1987, revealing 1,920 panels, each recognizing multiple individuals. By the following year, the Quilt had grown to 8,288 panels. In 1996, the entire Quilt was displayed for the final time, with more than 41,000 panels covering approximately 30 acres.

Today, the National AIDS Memorial preserves and shares the Quilt as a living memorial and a testament to the power of community action, remembrance and love. While medical advances have helped slow the effects of the AIDS virus for individuals, there is still no cure and the organization continues to receive new panels daily, which are shown in numerous displays each year.

The Quilt’s origins also underscore the communal nature of quilting itself. Traditionally, quilting has brought people together to create objects that serve practical purposes while preserving stories, relationships and traditions. The AIDS Memorial Quilt transformed that tradition into a monumental act of remembrance, with individual panels coming together to form a collective memorial.

“Few works demonstrate the power of community, a national community, quite like the AIDS Memorial Quilt,” said Smith. “Each panel represents an individual life, a personal story or collective community’s heartache, and they are told not by trained artists but by friends, family and loved ones. Together, they become something larger; they become a collective expression of heartache, love, remembrance and, ultimately, hope for a future without HIV.”

Together, Wall Power! and Power of Remembrance demonstrate the extraordinary range of the quilt as a medium. From traditional patterns and community-based practices to monumental memorials, quilts can hold intimate stories while speaking to much larger questions of identity, history and belonging.

“Presenting these exhibitions together offers visitors a chance to consider not only how quilts have evolved as an American art form, but why they continue to resonate,” said Smith. “These quilts remind us that history is not only found in textbooks and monuments. It can also be stitched together by communities, carried through families and held in the hands of people who choose to tell their stories.”