Author Description

Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar 1950-2000 is a stunning collection of approximately 150 eccentric and extraordinary quilts made predominantly by anonymous quilters in the US during the second half of the 20th century. Collected by renowned quilt authority and collector Roderick Kiracofe, they represent a 20th-century quilt movement that remains mostly undocumented. Unlike the familiar quilts that replicate traditional patterns of earlier centuries, these surprising textiles represent a freer, more casual, utilitarian style that departs from (and returns to) a multitude of norms and standards. Peppered with essays by renowned experts that help to contextualize the quilts' surprisingly modern aesthetic, Unconventional & Unexpected is a groundbreak-ing celebration of 20th-century quilting that picks up where most other quilt histories leave off.