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soulful Pieces: Memory Jars and Improvised Quilts by Unknown makers
June 7 through August 31, 2002

Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art will present the exhibition, Soulful Pieces: Memory Jars and Improvised Quilts by Unknown Makers, from June 7 through August 31, 2002 at Intuit, 756 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago. Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday; admission is free. The exhibition opens with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, June 7, and a lecture at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 8.

Like life and death, day and night, sky and earth, improvised quilts and memory jars are symbiotic, organic opposites. Memory jars are vessels consisting of small objects embedded into a putty or cement patina, created as memorials or decorative objects. Improvised quilts are asymmetrical in color and pattern. The aesthetic of quilts and memory jars are very much the same--both are composed of fragments, scraps and leftovers that have been recycled and re-energized into new forms.

Curated by Martha Watterson, the Soulful Pieces exhibit is comprised of more than 20 quilts and 50 memory pieces from 14 Chicago area collections. The selected quilts and memory pieces, mostly from 20 th century America, have never been exhibited publicly. They are non-traditional folk art, and move beyond a representation of the craft tradition. Both items are reflective of an African-American tradition. They are powerful and unique expressions that exemplify a great teaming of thrift and creativity.

Intuit will present two lectures in conjunction with the Soulful Pieces exhibition: Brooke Davis Anderson, director and curator of the Contemporary Center at the American Folk Art Museum in New York, will present a free lecture at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 8 at Intuit. Anderson curated the first major exhibition of memory pieces at the Diggs Gallery at Winston-Salem State University. Eli Leon, pioneer and scholar in the field of African-American quilts, will present a lecture at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 19, at Intuit. This lecture is $10 for the public, $5 for Intuit members. Refreshments will be served at both lectures. Additionally, hands-on workshops on creating improvisational quilts and memory jars will be offered in July.

Running concurrently with Soulful Pieces is the exhibit Eight from Europe: A Study Collection which introduces Chicago audiences to works by Adolf Wölfli (Switzerland), Carlo Zinelli (Italy), Augustin Lesage (France), Pascal Verbena (France), Anna Zemankova (Czechoslovakia), Scottie Wilson (England), Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern (Germany), and Madge Gill (Scotland). For more information, please call Intuit at 312.243.9088.