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Quilt
Molly Upton was just twenty years old when she began creating quilts using pieces from old clothes and inexpensive remnants from fabric stores in Boston’s Chinatown. Initially, she and artistic partner Susan Hoffman were unaware that other artists were also discovering the quilt medium. However, they soon were exhibiting their works at several museums in the Boston area, including deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum and the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard, with other quilt artists working in Boston and New York. In 1975, the National Endowment for the Arts funded the Works in Progress project to feature artists working in public spaces along Boston’s Freedom Trail. The two young artists were invited to set up a studio in City Hall. Upton worked on this quilt, while Hoffman completed the triptych that hangs nearby. The project culminated in an exhibition held at the Boston Center for the Arts in honor of the nation’s Bicentennial.
Watchtower
Quilt
Molly Upton (American, 1953–1977)
American
1975
Medium/Technique
Cotton, wool; pieced and quilted
Dimensions
Overall: 228.6 x 279.4 cm (90 x 110 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Upton family in honor of Molly Upton
Accession Number2017.3921
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsContemporary Art, Americas, Fashion and Textiles
ClassificationsTextiles
Molly Upton was just twenty years old when she began creating quilts using pieces from old clothes and inexpensive remnants from fabric stores in Boston’s Chinatown. Initially, she and artistic partner Susan Hoffman were unaware that other artists were also discovering the quilt medium. However, they soon were exhibiting their works at several museums in the Boston area, including deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum and the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard, with other quilt artists working in Boston and New York. In 1975, the National Endowment for the Arts funded the Works in Progress project to feature artists working in public spaces along Boston’s Freedom Trail. The two young artists were invited to set up a studio in City Hall. Upton worked on this quilt, while Hoffman completed the triptych that hangs nearby. The project culminated in an exhibition held at the Boston Center for the Arts in honor of the nation’s Bicentennial.
DescriptionPieced quilt of black and white building or tower in abstract landscape made of strips of cloth in red, orange, blue and brown with larger pieces in range of blues used for sky.
Provenance1975, made by Molly Upton (b. 1953 - d. 1977) in Boston and Cambridge, MA; 1977, by inheritance to her mother, Rusty Upton; 2017, gift of the Upton family to the MFA. (Accession date: October 11, 2017)
CopyrightReproduced with permission.