'Wall Power! Spectacular Quilts from the American Folk Art Museum' opens on 17 October 2026 at the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio, where it remains on view in Gallery 120 until 10 January 2027. The touring exhibition is organised by the American Folk Art Museum in New York, which, according to the Dayton museum, has played a key role in establishing quilts as a serious art form.
The quilts on view date from the mid-19th to the late 20th century and come from places ranging from Alabama to Pennsylvania. They are presented as major works of American art, built from colour, pattern, geometry and representation and made, for the most part, by women. The show is organised in four groups: quilts from an early 20th-century craft revival, Amish designs, work by African American makers, and traditional 19th-century patterns. The title refers to the strong visual impact the works carry on the wall.
In Dayton, the touring selection is complemented by quilts from the Dayton Art Institute's own textile collection. Running alongside it, the focus exhibition 'Power of Remembrance: AIDS Memorial Quilt Panels' shows six 12-by-12-foot panels from the National AIDS Memorial Quilt until 3 January 2027. The museum describes the AIDS Memorial Quilt as a grassroots project that grew into one of the largest community arts projects in the world.
Presented together in the museum's newsletter as 'Threads That Connect Us', the two exhibitions are framed by the museum around the capacity of quilts to preserve stories, honour communities and make history visible, and around the way individual works can come together to tell collective stories.
