Like quilts, which are often made to welcome a new being into the world or to mark the passing of another, "Amazing Wonders," a show of wall hangings by African Americans from Northern California at 40 Acres, is an occasion for both joy and sorrow.

It's a beautiful show that marks the culmination of two years of work by 40 Acres director Kim Curry-Evans. But it's also the last show for Curry-Evans, who will leave the gallery in December after the close of the exhibition. During her seven-year tenure, Curry-Evans has curated show after show of national and regional importance and has set a high standard for other gallery directors in the Sacramento area. She is universally loved and admired, and her departure is an occasion for great sadness.

Curry-Evans, however, hopes to stay in the Sacramento area and is joyful to be presenting a show of such personal importance to her as her last effort at 40 Acres. About 15 years ago, she took up quilting herself, entranced by the fine history of the medium and its importance to families as markers of life events as well as providers of warmth on cold winter nights before people had central heating.

But the demands of raising a family and embarking on a career in arts administration left her little time to pursue her goal of becoming a quilter, and after making quilts to celebrate the birth of her children, she put her pinking shears away. Her admiration for other quilt makers and their place especially in African American communities never faded.

"I knew I couldn't do anything as grand as the show of quilts from Gee's Bend," she said at the gallery. "But I wanted to do something momentous with quilters from our own area."

Working with Dr. Patricia Turner, vice provost at the University of California, Davis, who had written a book about quilting, she narrowed her focus to Northern California, finding quilters from  Sacramento and the Bay Area, particularly the nationally known quilters of the African American Quilters Guild of Oakland.

In her introduction to a 32-page catalog that accompanies the show, Curry-Evans recalls visiting her Great-Aunt Pearl in San Diego, looking at the quilts she had in her home, and listening to stories about how her grandmother had quilted them for the family.

"The strips of fabrics, choices of cloth, and the designs (my grandmother) had created were all imbued with my family's history in ways that would never be forgotten," she wrote.

Armed with the knowledge of the time-consuming artistry and craft required to make exceptional quilts, she embarked on a long journey to find both traditional and nontraditional examples of the medium. The resulting show is a testament to the continuing vitality of quilt making in contemporary African American communities in our own area.

"It was really hard to narrow the show down to what you see," Curry-Evans confided. "There were so many gorgeous examples, both traditional and contemporary. I hoped the show would help people to understand the dynamic between purist quilt makers and contemporary fiber artists."

A wide range of approaches to quilt making are on view in "Amazing Wonders," ranging from traditional wedding ring and log cabin patterns to innovative wall hangings such as Debbie Mason's "Eco/Green Challenge," a vibrant embroidered hanging made of cotton, bottle cork, fishing line, hooks and weights, with a fringe made of pop-top aluminum can openers and twist ties.

Among the other nontraditional quilts are one made of Obama T-shirts by Katie Wishom, a kimonolike hanging by Julia Vitero and an over-life-sized portrait of a woman by Marion Coleman.

One of the most moving is "Fiber of Slavery: Strong Women Picking Cotton," a story quilt by Connie Horne of Elk Grove that commemorates a painful chapter in African American history with a positive spin that imbues the female figures with heroism.

LaQuita Tummings' "Looking Forward" also offers a portrait of a strong woman, as does Coleman's "Susan #3" from her "Yes We are Fifty Series."