12/2/2006

Filed under: Alliance Member News, The Quilt World by site admin

Don’t Miss “Quilts in a Material World: Selections from the Winterthur Museum”
Exhibition: March 10 – September 16, 2007
Conference: March 31, 2007 with workshops and tours on March 30 and April 1

Winterthur’s first quilt exhibition will feature approximately 50 quilts, outstanding documents of the history of their time and their makers. They range in date from the 17th to the 19th centuries, but the exhibition is particularly rich in examples from the late 1700s and early 1800s. Quilts in a Material World is a unique opportunity to view some of the most outstanding quilts from Winterthur’s superb collection.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. will publish a book, also called Quilts in a Material World: Selections from the Winterthur Museum.

Quilts in a Material World focuses on an extraordinary whitework quilt made in 1815 by Mary Remington of Warwick, Rhode Island. The incredible survival of a cache of Mary’s letters establishes a rich cultural framework for interpreting the quilts in both exhibition and book. Some are discussed in terms of the textiles from which they were made, while others are interpreted through the stories they tell about women’s lives.

The conference on March 31, 2007 brings together quilt scholars and historians for a day of lectures. Speakers include Lynne Bassett, Amelia Peck, Kathryn Berenson, Laura Fisher, Sarah Fatherly, and Linda Eaton.

Workshops on March 30 and April 1 include topics such as conservation and restoration of quilts, dress prints of the early 19th century, differences in historic and contemporary quilting techniques, oral histories (given by Alliance board members Pat Keller and Jenneken Smucker), and women’s genealogy.

Quilts in a Material World specifically illustrates the relevance of quilts in the lives of their makers, both past and present.

For further details please call 302.888.4996 or check www.winterthur.org