Quilts at the American Folk Art Museum

A few weeks ago we read an impassioned plea from art critic Roberta Smith in the New York Times about the troubled American Folk Art Museum. "Please. Someone, everyone, do something to save the American Folk Art Museum from dissolution and dispersal," she begins, then argues that this kind of art --- domestic, folk, outsider, DIY, whatever you want to call it --- has had a significant impact on the objects on view at places like MoMA and the Met, and should have a permanent home in the city.

One day after Smith's plea, the Times published another article about the embattled museum. It starts, "The quilts will live to see another day." As a result of donations, the museum had decided to stay in the Lincoln Square space, where it's currently featuring an exhibition of star-patterned quilts, sewn by American women in different times and regions. Who says art lacks power?