Joe Cunningham has been a professional quilt artist since 1979. He has written essays on the subject for museum catalogues, books and magazines. His book Men and the Art of Quiltmaking was the first book on its subject. In 2004 he received a $30,000 Shulte Grant from the Fort Mason Foundation. In 2009 he received a grant to study with the Gees Bend quilters in Alabama. In 2010 he was artist in residence at the de Young Museum of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which purchased one of his quilts for its permanent collection.
Joe travels throughout the country to give lectures and workshops on quiltmaking. His ten books on quiltmaking include the first biography of a living quilter, the first book on men who make quilts (Men and the Art of Quiltmaking) and a definitive book on marking quilts for quilting called Quilting with Style, published by the American Quilter's Society (AQS). He has been seen on the Peabody Award-winning PBS series Craft in America, the HGTV series Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson, as well as The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson, and others.
Cunningham has performed his musical quilt show, Joe the Quilter, for guilds and theaters nationwide. His latest book is Man Made Quilts: Civil War to the Present, a catalogue for the show of the same name at the Shelburne Museum. His quilts are in the permanent collections of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Shelburne Museum, Newark Museum, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, and many private collections.
He has been invited to give lectures in museums and colleges including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, University of Michigan, Chicago Art Institute, Shelburne Museum, International Quilt Study Center and Museum, National Quilt Museum and the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles.
Joe began making quilts in his hometown of Flint, Michigan. He eventually moved to San Francisco where he maintains a gallery/studio to make and show his quilts. He lives with his wife, Carol LeMaitre, above her Pilates studio, Sanchez Street Studios. Their two sons live nearby. Cunningham travels the world to show quilts and teach as well as teaching his popular online classes from his studio.
