Art Quilts by Denise Roberts

A new exhibition titled Art Quilts by Denise Roberts opens Jan. 16 at the Huntington Museum of Art and continues through April 11, 2021.

“Denise Roberts is a West Virginia artist who has received international acclaim for her art quilts,” said HMA Senior Curator Chris Hatten. “The Huntington Museum of Art is pleased to present her first solo exhibition of art quilts, however, HMA patrons may recognize Roberts’ work, which has been on view at the Museum in the past as part of Exhibition 280 and the traveling exhibition Color Improvisations 2.”

This exhibition will be Roberts’ first solo art quilt show and will highlight selections from three thematic series that have occupied her attention over much of the past five years. All the quilts feature the energetic lines and striking colors that have become characteristic of the artist’s mature work.

Through the meandering arcs and bold shapes and colors that appear in her quilts, Roberts achieves a brooding sense of energy and character. Roberts reaps the bounty of the thousands of hours she has invested in studying and perfecting the technical side of her artistry, utilizing a masterful grasp of free and improvisational cutting, fabric dyeing and surface design to create textiles that stretch far beyond the historical bounds that often limit the quilter’s art. Though rooted in timeless craft traditions, her work is more akin to that of abstract painters, connected with them through a bold use of color and form in their purest manifestations.

A West Virginia resident since the age of nine, Roberts has lived in several locations around the state, including a stretch in the mid-1980s when she settled in Huntington. After she and her husband welcomed their first daughter, they moved to the Morgantown area, and in 2008 they bought a farm in Albright, West Virginia (Preston County), where she set up her professional studio and still resides. She spent many years following a traditional quilter’s path, but in 2005 she began studying with some of the leaders in the improvisational quilting field, especially Ohio-based artist Nancy Crow. Her work has been featured in many national and international exhibits.

Presented with support from The Isabelle Gwynn and Robert Daine Exhibition Endowment. 

This program is presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts. 

For more information on exhibits at the Huntington Museum of Art, visit hmoa.org or call (304) 529-2701. HMA is fully accessible.

West Virginia residents may obtain a summary of the registration and financial documents from the Secretary of State, State Capitol, Charleston, WV 25305. Registration does not imply endorsement.