05/08/2026
Now on exhibit during May at The Franklin Gallery: Small Pieces, Big Stories, featuring the work of quilter Susan York.
In Small Pieces, Big Stories, Susan J. York’s vibrant quilts reveal how simple pieces of fabric, thoughtfully arranged, can carry powerful stories of connection, family, and change.
“My quilts begin with color and structure,” says York. “By arranging small pieces of fabric into geometric frameworks, I explore how pattern and color can create harmony from many individual parts.”
Quilting first entered her life as a shared family experience. York’s earliest quilt was created collectively for her grandmother, designed by her mother and stitched by family and friends gathered around a frame. That experience shaped York’s understanding of quilting as both artistic expression and communal language.
“Although I now work primarily alone in the studio, quilting still feels collaborative. The fabrics themselves carry the artistry of the designers who created their surface patterns, and by incorporating them into my compositions I enter into an ongoing conversation with other makers.”
The quilts in this exhibition explore themes of connection, identity, and hope. Some pieces reflect social ideas—such as Love Marches On – Love is Love, inspired by the Pride movement and the continuing struggle for equality. Others, like Rothko’s Garden or Sowing Seeds of Change, explore how color relationships and repeating forms can evoke growth, balance, and transformation.
“Across these works I return to a simple idea: that many small pieces, thoughtfully arranged, can come together to create something whole,” says York. “In that sense quilting becomes both metaphor and practice—an act of bringing fragments into relationship to form patterns of meaning, community, and belonging.”
Susan J. York is a multidisciplinary artist based in Shokan, NY. Working across painting and textile, her work explores paradox, social dynamics, and the emotional landscape of contemporary life. York frequently uses animals and natural forms as symbolic figures through which to examine themes of identity, power, resilience, and connection.
A Maine native, York holds a B.F.A. with honors from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. Her work has been exhibited throughout the Northeast and is held in private collections in the United Kingdom, Ireland, New England, Florida, Tennessee, California, Hawaii and New York. Her projects often combine visual storytelling with social commentary, inviting viewers to reflect on the narratives that shape both personal and collective experience.
The Franklin Gallery and RiverStones Custom Framing are open Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Unless otherwise indicated, all exhibited Franklin Gallery artworks are available for purchase. For information about this and future Franklin Gallery exhibits, contact Kris Ebbeson at [email protected] or 603-812-1488.
