Shelly Zegart, a colossus in the world of quilting who was instrumental in elevating what was long considered a mere utilitarian craft into the canon of American art and material culture, died on July 22 at her home in Louisville, Ky. She was 84.
Her death was announced by Kentucky to the World, an organization she founded in 2012 to promote the state’s intellectual and cultural contributions to society. No cause was specified.
Once called the “Queen of Quilts,” Ms. Zegart wore stylish glasses, had an occasionally imperious personality and never stitched so much as a sweater in her life. (“I don’t make anything,” she once said, “not even dinner.”)
What she did make were connections: between quilters, art collectors, historians and museums. In doing so, she connected quilting to the American experience — from hollows in Appalachia to the stark plains of Nebraska.
“I’ve often compared America to a patchwork quilt, and each patch is from a very different source,” William R. Ferris, a professor of American history at the University of North Carolina, said in an interview. “On the quilt, those many different images come together in a very beautiful and powerful way. Shelly knew quite well the value of these images.”
In 1981, Ms. Zegart was a founder of the Kentucky Quilt Project, an effort to catalog historically significant quilts in the state. A decade later, she started the Alliance for American Quilts, a research and preservation group now known as the Quilt Alliance.
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The post Shelly Zegart, Who Stitched Quilting to History and Art, Dies at 84 appeared first on New York Times.
