DAYTON, OHIO.- The Dayton Art Institute presents Memories: Pictorial Quilts by Paul Buford, through May 22, 2005. African-American artist Paul Buford (1918-2000) served in the United States Army as an anti-aircraft gunner in WWII. After the war, he returned to school and graduated in 1951 from Wilberforce University with a major in history, art and secondary education. He worked at Wright Patterson Air Force Base as a top secret control officer until he retired.

As a self-trained artist, Buford created watercolors, sculpted replicas of wooden historic buildings, and made pictorial quilts. These quilts are among the very few done by men.

Buford started quilting in 1989 and created 12 designs during his lifetime. He skillfully manipulated the printed fabric to recreate images of personal events in his life. These narrative quilts have captured a moment in his family history, such as meeting his wife, Marietta, at Shorter Hall on Wilberforce University's campus in 1936.

Another quilt shows the Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Huachuca, Arizona (his maternal grandfather, Charles Nelson Payne, was a soldier in the 9th cavalry in 1920).

One quilt is in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen 332nd Red Tail Aircraft Fighter Group as they moved up and down the mountain pass in Italy. Buford’s unit, 450th AAA Brigade, was in the valley protecting the fighter group.