Join Executive Director Jon Carfagno for final guided tour of The Improvisational Quilts of Susana Allen Hunter. Using her innate flair for abstract design, Susana Allen Hunter (1912–2005) created hundreds of colorful improvisational quilts throughout her lifetime. From the 1930s to the 1970s she lived in Wilcox County, Alabama, and created brightly-patterned quilts that reflected her life in that rural community as well as her experiences as an African-American woman. Hunter turned the “fabric” of everyday life into eye-catching quilts with an abstract, asymmetrical and often modern feel.

For much of their lives, Susana Hunter and her husband Julius made their living farming, growing crops such as cotton, corn and potatoes. Wilcox County, also home to the quilting community of Gee’s Bend, was among the very poorest counties in the US. Susana Hunter’s genius lies in creating beautiful, functional objects from what little was available.

HMA is excited to present this collection of Hunter’s colorful and lovingly-crafted quilts, on loan from The Henry Ford.