Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women

＂Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women explores the design innovation and quiltmaking skills of Amish women from communities across the United States. The catalogue celebrates the Faith and Stephen Brown collection of Amish Quilts at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Co-curator Leslie Umberger’s introduction situates Amish quilts within the context of quiltmaking in America as well as within the American art story. In the catalogue’s main essay, historian Janneken Smucker explains what unites and distinguishes the Amish and their arts and describes the sometimes-fine line between personal artistry and communal practice. Her insightful text illuminates the ways in which Amish quilt patterns overlap and diverge from community to community, at times adhering to strict values of modesty and conformity, and at others testing boundaries with innovative design. Through a series of entries on individual quilts, Smucker considers ＂visual clues＂ for reading and interpreting Amish quilts, which are often more complex and curious than they might first appear＂--

Janneken Smucker is a cultural historian and professor of history at West Chester University. A leading scholar in the study of Amish Quilts, she writes for both popular and academic audiences. In 2013 she authored Amish Quilts: Crafting an American Icon, a publication that considers ＂the relationship of Amish quilts to the individuals who made, bought, sold, exhibited, and preserved them during the last half of the twentieth century.＂ Smucker holds a B.A. in history from Goshen College, an M.A. in textile history from the University of Nebraska, and a PhD in history from the University of Delaware. She currently serves as faculty associate for teaching, learning, and assessment at West Chester University.

Leslie Umberger is is the curator of folk and self-taught art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She is the author of, most recently, We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection (2022) and Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor (2018).