quiltersmuse.com Blog

Letter to the Editor:

Hello, My name is Traci Cromwell and I am the Cultural History Collections Manager at the Indiana State Museum. I am trying to get the word out about the museum’s quilt collection that is available for research online in the artifact collection database. See Indiana State Museum online database. Currently we have close to 600 historic quilts in the collection online that date from 1810-2000. Highlights from the online quilt collection include:

* The largest collection of Indiana Amish quilts (perhaps Midwestern Amish too) and the best provenanced. Anyone doing research on Amish quilts should visit our site to see them. Includes examples dated in the quilting from 1869 to 1985.
* The Indiania (sic) Fancy Quilt, titled, dated and signed by Clarissa Rohrbach Strong of Delaware County in 1854. Wonderful documentation combined with excellent condition and visually striking design.
* Dogwood quilt designed by Marie Webster and made by Mary Ann Sipe. Webster was the author of the first American book on quilts and was a famous quilt designer from Marion, Indiana. Her work appeared in the Ladies’ Home Journal.
* Storybook appliqué quilt made by Martha Jungclaus in 1929-1937, following the children’s book illustrations of Fern Bissel Peat, an Indiana native.
* Indiana State quilt with all counties made in the county of origin for Hoosier Celebration 88, a state-wide celebration.
* The Lincoln campaign ribbon quilt. Made by 13-year old Maggie Frentz of New Albany in 1876, incorporates campaign ribbons of all candidates for President and Vice President in the 1860 election, including both Lincoln and Douglas.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the museum’s online database that I can answer. We would very much appreciate you posting our online database link to your wonderful quilt website.
Thank You-Traci

Traci Cromwell
Cultural History Collections Manager
Indiana State Museum
650 West Washington 46204-2725
phone: 317-234-1719
fax: 317-234-1724
tcromwell@dnr.IN.gov

Dear members and other friends of the Manchester Historic Association,

I am pleased to announce a new event presented by the Manchester Historic Association. On Thursday, November 19 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. the Millyard Museum will be the scene of the “Night at the Millyard Museum – Where History Comes to Life,” an event that is sure to please anyone who would like to mix a little history in with an evening of entertainment and holiday shopping. The evening will feature dancing, hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar, holiday shopping in the Museum Shop, and a silent auction with many affordable items. The museum’s historical exhibits will be open for viewing, and to help history come to life, the event is “costume optional.” Everyone is invited to come dressed in historically-themed costume, and prizes will be given out for the most outstanding examples. Entertainment will be provided by the popular local band, Soulhouse 7, performing a variety of soul, blues, R&B and rock favorites. Highlighting the evening will be a special stage show by Soulhouse 7 with their partners “The Blues Brothers – The Next Generation.”

Ticket prices are $35 ($25 for members of the Manchester Historic Association). Tickets must be purchased or reserved prior to the event. For tickets, stop by the Millyard Museum at 200 Bedford Street, any time from Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., or the Research Center at 129 Amherst Street on Wednesdays or Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Or, you may order or reserve tickets by calling (603) 622-7531.

Would you like to help out by donating a silent auction gift?

We are looking for gift baskets, gift certificates, jewelry, decorative items for the household, holiday centerpieces, artwork, and craft items. All items must be new (unless you would like to donate an antique of some sort – we’re open to suggestions!). Your generosity as a donor will be noted on our website, at the event and in our Annual Report. Donors also receive two free tickets to the event (up to a $70 value). To donate, please contact me by e-mail, or call (603) 622-7531.

For complete details about this event, including an updated list of the silent auction gifts, visit the website www.manchesterhistoric.org.

We will hope to see you at “Night at the Millyard Museum – Where History Comes to Life” event!

Yours,

Aurore

Aurore Eaton
Executive Director
Manchester Historic Association
Millyard Museum – 200 Bedford Street – Manchester, NH – 03101
Research Center – 129 Amherst Street – Manchester, NH – 03101
(603) 622-7531 ext. 223
aeaton@manchesterhistoric.org
www.manchesterhistoric.org
www.meetup.com/Manchester-History-Network

This announcement is brought to you courtesy of Quilter’s Muse Publications, an educational website for textiles and history

For Immediate Release

Lowell, MA—October 12, 2009. The New England Quilt Museum is excited to announce their new exhibition of international art quilts. “Masters: 40 Contemporary Master Quilters,” opens November 19, 2009 and explores the cutting edge of art quilting, with today’s most regarded global quilt artists represented in this comprehensive exhibition.

Guest curator Martha Sielman has assembled a seminal collection of representative works by master art quilters, explored in this exhibition and in Sielman’s companion book, Masters: Art Quilts. This expansive look at state-of-the-art quilting brings together works by artists from around the world including Australia, the UK, Japan, Israel, Hungary, France, South Africa, Denmark, and Belgium.

“Metamorphosis” made by Jane Sassaman in 2000

Artists included in the exhibition include Noriko Endo, whose detailed, realistic landscapes have won critical acclaim worldwide, Kyoung Ae Cho, whose minimalist wood constructions push the boundaries of the fiber art form, and Jane Sassaman, whose bold, sinuous designs have been widely respected among quilt lovers for over 20 years. The exhibition shows not only the wide geographic reach of quilting, but also its thematic range.

From energetic sculptural works to deeply personal portraits, from meticulous visual narratives to enigmatic still-lifes, art quilting embraces as many diverse forms as contemporary painting or sculpture. For those unfamiliar with the medium, the exhibition is a great introduction—for those who have long appreciated the art quilt, a welcome chance to see old favorites and new discoveries.

Sielman, herself a contemporary art quilter whose commissioned works are featured in many corporate and private collections, set out to gain a comprehensive view of contemporary quilt art, researching the works, techniques, and design philosophies of some of today’s leading artists.

The result was first her book Masters: Art Quilts, published in 2008 by Lark Books, and now the exhibition that bears its name, showcasing representative works by each of the forty artists profiled in the book.

This exhibit at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell is the only stop in the Northeast for the exhibition, and its last stop. This exhibit is the only chance for many to see key works by international artists seldom shown in the United States.

Masters opens on November 19, 2009, with a formal opening reception on Saturday, November 21 at 1pm. Sielman will be signing copies of her book, Masters: Art Quilts at the reception. The exhibition will run through February 25, 2010.

About the New England Quilt Museum

The New England Quilt Museum, located in Lowell, MA, preserves, interprets, and celebrates American quilting past and present.

Museum hours are 10 AM-4 PM Tuesday through Saturday; and Sundays 12-4 PM, May through December. The museum is closed during the first two weeks of January (Jan. 1-18).

Admission is $7, $5 for seniors and students, and free for museum members. Two for one admission for WGBH and AAA members.

Visit www.nequiltmuseum.org or call 978-452-4207, for more information.

–
Christina Inge
Public Relations and Marketing
New England Quilt Museum
18 Shattuck St., Lowell, MA 01852
978-452-4207, ext. 19

This announcement brought to you by Patricia Cummings, Quilter’s Muse Publications as a public service.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Artfully-made Bras by Barbara Malek, Lyn Walfish, and Beth Licari (clockwise from top).

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. The New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts, will feature an exhibit of bras and quilts made by, for, or in memory of women with breast cancer. Both the bras and the quilts were designed and created by NEQM members, as well as the Nimble Thimbles Quilt Guild, Reading, MA, and women who live in the greater Lowell area. The bras and quilts, both poignant and whimsical, will be on display throughout the month of October at the museum.

As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the museum will host an awareness event on October 1, 2009, in conjunction with the display’s opening. On hand will be Meg Lemire, Director of Oncology Social Work and Community Outreach, Lowell General Hospital, who will deliver a lecture that highlights the importance of breast cancer screening and the new treatments available. Hospital staff will accompany her.

The Museum’s Outreach Manager, Rhonda Galpern, coordinated the exhibition and lecture as a means to pay tribute to members of the museum and quilting community who are or have battled the disease, to promote awareness, and to offer cancer survivors a comforting and creative means of expressing their personal experiences.

***

Many thanks to the New England Quilt Museum for sending this important announcement. There is perhaps no woman living who does not know another woman or relative who has had breast cancer or who has had it herself, or even the threat of it, via discovery of a lump, albeit benign. New strides are being made in the detection and treatment of breast cancer. While scientists strive to find answers and ways to prevent this disease, as women we all have to come to terms with it, directly or indirectly. Personally, I am happy to see many women plying their needles in support of awareness. ~ Patricia Cummings ~

***
This public service announcement is brought to you by Quilter’s Muse Publications

Richard A. Hesse, Emeritus Professor of Law at Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, New Hampshire, presented a talk titled, “Free Speech in a Free Society,” at Folsom Tavern on the grounds of the American Independence Museum in Exeter, New Hampshire, on September 17, 2009. The information was organized and presented in a flawless manner, reflecting the many years that this individual has taught classes in Law.

In greeting the public, in the small, intimate quarters of an upstairs meeting room that was filled to capacity, the speaker mentioned that the topic of free speech is very appropriate because 1) It is “Constitution Day,” and 2) There are two drafts of the Constitution in the museum, complete with “cross-outs, annotations, and doodling” in the margins. We always realized that the American Independence Museum is a very special landmark in our state, and this is something else to its credit!

The talk was extremely compelling. Practical examples were set forth that described how law might be applied across a large array of potential situations. The one example that looms large, in coming away from the talk, is that free speech is necessary in society in order to create a “marketplace of ideas.” When all ideas are not heard, someone’s personal expression is limited, which can be frustrating to an individual, and the situation can create social disharmony. The person who is not allowed to have his say (at a town meeting, or elsewhere) may choose more destructive means of expression (like making a Molotov cocktail in his basement).

I think we’ve all seen in the news the results of what can happen to those whose ideas are not considered. They may be the ones who suddenly “go postal.” (This is my statement, not that of Dr. Hesse).

I loved this presentation! The meaning of the First Amendment (”Government can make no law …”) was explained, as well as the concepts that surround free speech in our society. The lecture was just one of many in a series endowed by grants from the New Hampshire Humanities Council, a group that plans to host Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, and other books, as the keynote speaker this coming month, (October 13, at a dinner, by pre-registration).

The professor spoke for 50 minutes and then took questions. My intent is not to give away his whole talk, but just to tell you enough so that you will want to attend yourself, if and when he presents the topic again. As always, we are so grateful for these marvelous lectures that are so informative. I feel that I have a much better understanding of this topic now, thanks to Dr. Hesse. We have attended perhaps 11 of these lectures this season and each one has added so much to our appreciation of many facets of Humanities, from Music to Poetry to Symbology of Gravestones, and so much more! Thank you!

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications