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Candy Box

Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery

Object Details

Artist
Virginia R. Harris, born Macon, GA 1937
Exhibition Label
Trained as a chemist, Harris is a self-taught quilter whose work addresses environmental justice, educational policy, current events, and the Black experience in the United States. She has described her quilts as art canvases, using the fabric as her palette and various stitches as her brush strokes. The design of kaleidoscopic, fractured colors in Candy Box is based on an origami form of the same name that Harris replicated in fabric. While searching for innovative quilt block patterns, Harris found endless possibilities in the art of origami. This quilt speaks to cultures coming together, combining fabric from Japanese kimonos with red, black, and green fabrics representing the Pan-African flag, a symbol of Black liberation and the people of the African diaspora.
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist in honor of Carolyn L. Mazloomi, Founder of the Women of Color Quilters' Network
Copyright
© 1994, Virginia R. Harris
1994
Object number
2002.16
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Decorative Arts-Fiber
Quilt
Crafts
Medium
machine pieced and quilted cotton and metallic thread
Dimensions
78 3/8 x 77 7/8 in. (199.0 x 197.8 cm)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Renwick Gallery
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Record ID
saam_2002.16
Metadata Usage (text)
Not determined
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk7a3d43f84-f642-447b-abb8-2bf52641cad1

Related Content

  • American Quilts: Art and Craft

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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