Fragments into Form: Coulter Fussell’s Quilted Narratives
In Coulter Fussell’s studio in Water Valley, Mississippi, a quilt rarely begins with fabric alone. It might start with a neighbour’s worn shirt, a set of faded bed linens, or a small object passed along with a story. These fragments arrive carrying traces of ordinary lives. Stitched together, they form works that move between personal memory and collective history. Opening 20 March at the Mississippi Museum of Art, Coulter Fussell: The Proving Ground is the first museum survey dedicated to the Mississippi-based artist’s quilt works.
Coulter Fussell, Modular Blues, 2025. Kodachrome slide image printed on chiffon, striped cotton, placemat, neon polyester, poly-fil, cotton batting, and thread on panel, 36 x 36 x 3 inches. Courtesy the artist.
Featuring more than forty works from five series produced since 2020, the exhibition traces the evolution of Fussell’s practice. Known initially for quilts rooted in traditional formats, she has increasingly pushed the medium toward sculptural, mixed-media territory. The works now incorporate upholstery techniques, photography and digital projection, expanding the language of quilting beyond the bedspread or wall hanging into immersive installations.
Coulter Fussell, Hot Water, 2022. Donated materials including crocheted baby blanket, polyester quilt top, satin bomber jacket with sequin lettering, raw silk, hand-knit dress, plastic pompom, cotton shirt, dark velvet, Poly-fil, and thread on panel, 96 x 48 x 8 inches. Courtesy the artist.
Fussell gathers many of her materials from the community around her studio. Friends, neighbours and even strangers donate textiles and objects: bed linens, worn clothing and fragments of domestic life. These contributions are collaged together through quilting techniques, creating layered compositions that carry traces of multiple lives and experiences.
Curated by Kaegan Sparks, Associate Curator of Exhibitions at the Mississippi Museum of Art, The Proving Ground brings together bodies of work that explore how physical, psychological and cultural landscapes shape the stories we tell. Sparks describes the exhibition title as a metaphor for experimentation: a place where ideas are tested and reimagined. Fussell’s works move between the flat decorative pattern of traditional quilts and complex plays of photographic perspective, inviting viewers to reconsider the “grounds” on which memory and meaning are constructed.
Coulter Fussell, Trials of the Earth, 2025. Cellphone video screenshot printed on chiffon, neon polyester, upholstery foam, cotton batting, and thread on panel, 69 x 60 x 5 inches. Courtesy the artist.
Among the highlights is the artist’s newest series, Video-Chiffons (2024–present), presented here in its largest display to date. These works integrate still images captured on mobile phones by family members with layered fabrics and projected moving images. Footage cast onto textile surfaces that reflect or absorb light produces shifting visual effects, extending Fussell’s long-standing engagement with Southern landscapes.
Coulter Fussell, Peachtree Mall, 2025. Cellphone video screenshot printed on chiffon and donated materials including old circus poster on cardboard, polyester, oil painting by Mike Howard, velvet, lamé, eyelet trim, Poly-fil, and thread on panel, 77 x 55 x 9 inches. Courtesy the artist.
Another key body of work is the ongoing River Raft Quilts (2019–present), which Fussell describes as fantastical guide-maps for an imaginary journey. These quilts include stitched references to fish nets, navigation stars and escape routes, alongside lists of sights encountered along a winding riverbank, often echoing the Chattahoochee River that runs through the artist’s hometown of Columbus, Georgia.
In The Proving Ground, quilting moves beyond the domestic sphere, becoming a porous medium through which Fussell gathers fragments of cloth, images and stories into layered reflections on place, community and memory.
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Further Information:
Coulter Fussell: The Proving Ground is on view at the Mississippi Museum of Art from 20 March to 14 June 2026.
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Image Credits:
Lead: Coulter Fussell, Country Captain, 2022. Donated materials including Attic Windows quilt blocks, kantha quilt, chenille bedspread, cigarette softpacks found in the pockets of 1950s work shirts, lenticular postcards, satin souvenir pillow from New Orleans, 1880s robe, neon stretch lace, chiffon, and thread. 56 x 57 x 4 inches. Courtesy the artist.
All further images as credited in captions.