Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar 1950-2000

A visually stunning collection of quilts that introduces a new chapter in the fascinating history of American quiltmaking.

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Unconventional & Unexpected: Quilts Below the Radar 1950-2000 is a stunning collection of approximately 150 quirky, eccentric, maverick and extraordinary quilts made predominantly by anonymous quilters in the United States during the last half of the 20th century. Collected by renowned quilt authority and collector Roderick Kiracofe via eBay, flea markets, estate sales and other sources, they represent a 20th-century quilt movement that remains mostly undocumented. Unlike the quilts replicating traditional patterns of earlier centuries and the art quilts that we've become accustomed to seeing, these surprising quilts represent a much freer, more casual, utilitarian aesthetic that departs from (and returns to) a multitude of norms and standards. In Unconventional & Unexpected, Kiracofe presents the best quilts in his collection along with essays that help to contextualise them by experts in a variety of fields, including quilt-making, quilt history, art history, collecting, colour, photography and domestic life.