Contemporary art quilts by B.Z. Reily will be on view at the Michele & Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts from January 18 through April 10 in the special exhibition Re-collections: Found Object Quilts.

There will be a reception with the artist on Thursday, February 10, from 5-7 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.

The series of found-object quilts was inspired by traditional quilting patterns from cultures as diverse as the Gee’s Bend quilters’ collective in Alabama, the central Pennsylvania Amish, and Underground Railway quilters. In the tradition of women who have, for centuries, taken little bits of what’s left over or what’s been thrown away to enhance the visual environment, Reily pieces together collections of three-dimensional found objects to create her sculptural quilts.

A self-described “artistic archaeologist,” she transforms things as diverse as matchbooks, coins, sea glass, postage stamps, hats, tins, shells, baseball gloves, scout patches and board games into works of art that are whimsical and fun.

Reily lives in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, and is an art teacher at Shutesbury Elementary School.