“Coulter Fussell: The Proving Ground” is on view through June 14 at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, the museum said. The first museum survey of Fussell’s textile art assembles five bodies of work produced since 2020, including Escape Quilts, War Quilts, River Quilts, Pillow Talk and Video-Chiffons.
Betsy Bradley, the museum’s director, said much of the material in the show was donated by friends, family and strangers. “Everything, really, that she uses in her works has been given to her. It’s a really beautiful story of community,” Bradley said. The exhibition runs concurrently with “L.V. Hull: Love Is a Sensation,” the museum said.
The museum said the exhibition highlights Fussell’s shift toward more sculptural work that incorporates upholstery techniques, mixed media, photography and digital projection. Kaegan Sparks, the museum’s associate curator of exhibitions, said viewers often recognize scraps of fabric in the gallery and that the material connections help people identify with the work.
Fussell’s War Quilts and Pillow Talk series reference memory, place and family, the artist said. In a statement quoted by the museum, she said pieces such as “Country Captain” and “Hawks” layer found textiles and personal mementos to evoke cross-cultural exchange and military-town memories. Fussell credited museum support and a Jane Crater Hiatt Fellowship for allowing her to focus more on her art.
The Video-Chiffon works incorporate translucent, custom-printed fabric and projected video, the museum said. Fussell told the museum she began using cellphone videos from her sons and family photographs as source material after noticing how quickly ephemeral images on platforms such as Snapchat disappear. The museum’s website has details on admission, hours and related events, the museum said.
