WASHINGTON, DC — Quilting meets chemistry in a traveling exhibition of 40 contemporary quilts by 40 artists, each inspired by an unlikely source: an element from the periodic table. Organized by the international non-profit Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), Radical Elements is now on view at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, coloring a small hallway gallery with an array of works that reimagine and expand the definition of the art of quilting.
“In a relatively short period of time, the field of art quilting ha[s] undergone a fundamental change,” curator and artist Jill Rumoshosky Werner wrote in the exhibition’s press release. “The primary focus ha[s] shifted from decorating the surface of a quilted wall hanging to a much broader acceptance of ideas, styles, and materials.”