ANNUAL REPORT 2009 - 2010 Message from the Director One of the joys of working at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum is serving a variety of communities. Not only are we a museum for citizens of the state and region, but for citizens of the world. We have welcomed visitors from nearly 50 countries since opening in 2008. As an academic center and university Aaron/Esto museum, the Center makes special contributions to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In return, we are energized by our academic affiliations and student constituents. The Center’s current exhibition South Asian Seams: Quilts of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, for example, allows audiences of all ages and backgrounds to get a first-hand look at the commonalities of quiltmaking traditions globally, explore the diversity of people around the world, and learn more about the ways cultures are connected. The exhibition was informed and enriched by a research trip to India that IQSC curators and I made last fall. We acquired a number of special pieces for the exhibition including trappings for camels and bullocks, as well as several quilted tunics from Rajasthan. Through its exploration of the significance of the world’s quilts and quiltmaking traditions, the International Quilt Study Center & Museum strives to foster greater cultural understanding among students and all citizens. The Center benefited from the talents of the graduate students in the Care and Conservation of Textile Collections class this past spring semester. The students assisted in developing the exhibition called Quilts Under the Microscope, which highlighted the agents of deterioration - light, heat, humidity, and pests - that damage quilts and heirloom textiles and addressed ways to safeguard them for the future. The students researched the objects, closely examined each under a microscope, drafted labels, and designed and constructed appropriate display mounts for each object. The outcome was a fascinating and informative exhibition for our museum visitors, while providing an opportunity for the Textile History/Quilt Studies graduate students to engage in object-based research and gain curatorial experience. It was a win-win collaboration. Another important collaboration is with our many supporters. As I prepared the list of gifts to the Center during the past year, I was overwhelmed with gratitude. Your gifts are an investment in the mission and future of the Center. We continue Collecting, Preserving, Exhibiting, Studying and Promoting Discovery of quilts and quiltmaking traditions across time and place because of your continued generosity. Your support is vitally important as we move forward. Patricia Crews, Ph.D. Willa Cather Professor of Textiles Director - International Quilt Study Center & Museum INTERNATIONAL QUILT STUDY CENTER & MUSEUM QUILT INTERNATIONAL InternatIonal QuIlt Study Center & MuSeuM Exhibitions Traveling Exhibitions The 2009-2010 exhibition year continued the popular displays of American Quilts The Textile Museun in the Modern Age, 1870-1940 and Grace Snyder: A Life in Extraordinary Stitches. Washington, D.C. The following new exhibitions, featuring approximately 150 quilts, were developed Constructed Color: and presented: Amish Quilts from the International Quilt A Fairyland of Fabrics: The Victorian Crazy Quilt featured nineteen one-of-a-kind Study Center Victorian-era quilts from the Center’s collection. This exhibition of lavish, over- 4/6/09 - 9/6/09 the-top quilts reflected a time when “more was more.” Beverly Gordon, professor of Textile and Apparel Design at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, curated South Dakota Art the exhibition following her fellowship at the IQSC where she studied dozens of Museum examples of crazy quilts from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Brookings, South Dakota Four Part Harmony: The Linda Carlson Four-Block Quilt Collection employed two The Collectors Eye rotations to display over two dozen quilts drawn from the collection donated by 9/5/09 - 4/18/10 author Linda Carlson and her husband Dr. John V. Carlson. The four-block style was popular during a classic era of American quiltmaking starting in the 1840s and continuing into the early 1900s. The large, symmetrical patterns were inspired Future Traveling by fast-changing styles of the nineteenth century. Exhibitions Quilts of twenty-one contemporary artists were displayed in the exhibition National Archives - Perspectives: Art, Craft, Design, and the Studio Quilt. The exhibition assembled Central Plains Region quilts from the permanent collection of the IQSC, complemented by several Kansas City, Missouri related works in various mediums owned by local collectors. Michael James, Partisan Pieces: internationally recognized quilt artist and chair of UNL’s Department of Textiles, Quilts of Political and Clothing and Design, and fellow fiber artist and New York City-based art critic Patriotic Persuasion Sandra Sider, curated the exhibition and wrote the accompanying catalog 7/1/10 - 10/1/10 (available in the museum store or online) and audio tour. Works in the exhibition were from five countries and ranged from abstract (“Oil Rig” by Jo Budd) to Taft Museum of Art whimsically concrete (“Lake Superior Stick Bed” by Theresa Hancock Mangat). Cinncinati, Ohio American Elegance: Students in the UNL graduate-level Care and Conservation of Textiles course provided Chintz Applique curatorial assistance to IQSC curators Marin Hanson and Patricia Crews to create a Quilts, 1780 - 1850 new exhibition, Quilts Under the Microscope. This “whodunit” exposed the many agents, 8/27/10 - 11/7/10 both natural and human-made, that can destroy our quilts and other heirloom textiles. South Asian Seams: Quilts of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh highlighted a vibrant textile tradition shown in its rich cultural context: that of the lives of women in diverse regions of the Indian subcontinent. More than sixty examples of ralli and kantha were complemented by an assortment of large-scale photographs depicting the women who make these quilts and the people (and animals!) who use them. “Perspectives” Exhibition Foreground: “Stick Bed” by T. Mangat IQSC 2009.021.0001 2 annual report 2009 - 2010 Coming exhibitions for 2010-2011 are: Childhood Treasures: Doll Quilts from the Ghormley Collection 8/6/10 - 12/12/10 Marseille: White Corded Quilting 11/13/10 - 5/8/11 Revisiting the Art Quilt 12/17/10 - 3/27/11 Mosaic Quilts 5/14/11 - 11/6/11 Public Programs In 2009 and 2010, a variety of programs were provided for the museum’s audiences: Curator of Exhibitions Marin Hanson describes the exhibition South Asian Seams: Quilts from India, Pakistan, & Bangladesh. Quilt Identification Days: Five quilt identification and documentation events were staffed by curatorial staff and trained volunteers. Lecture Series: Five public lectures featured: • Linda Carlson, quilt collector and author • Marianne Fons, Fons & Porter Love of Quilting founder, television host and IQSC board member • Geeta Khandelwal, quilt collector • Lynn Setterington, artist and 2010 IQSC Research Fellowship recipient • Patricia Stoddard, quilt collector and author of Ralli Quilts: Traditional Textiles from Pakistan and India Tuesday Talks: Twelve monthly talks were led by curators, special guests, and IQSC staff offering museum visitors and UNL faculty and staff the opportunity to engage with quilts more deeply during their visit. Public and Prearranged Guided Tours: Trained volunteer docents led tours (free with admission) on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and at times scheduled by private groups. Workshops, Classes, & Tours: Several opportunities attracted participants of all ages. They included: • The Colonial Revival in Art, Architecture, and Quilts tour • The Lively Log Cabin • The Perfect Pineapple • American Girls in the Modern Age • Kantha Quilting for Beginners Quilts for Community: This was a new opportunity for visitors to engage with quilters demonstrating their art. Five Saturday demonstrations were provided by members of the Lincoln Quilters Guild. Free First Fridays: The museum offered free admission from 5-7 p.m. on the first Friday of each month. The IQSC collaborated with the Lincoln Quilters Guild to host the Geeta Khandelwal, with Patricia Crews, following her public 2010 National Quilting Day activities. More than 750 persons visited the lecture on the quilts of Maharashtra, India museum on Saturday, March 20, 2010, the largest single-day attendance since the grand opening. 3 InternatIonal QuIlt Study Center & MuSeuM Acquisitions From July 2009 through June 2010, the Center acquired a total of 245 new pieces through forty donations and twenty-two purchases. Several substantial collection donations added depth to the studio art quilt collection: • Jean Ray Laury, quilts and archives • Mary Catherine Lamb, quilts and archives • Studio Art Quilt Associates, fifty-six miniature quilts made for SAQA’s 20th Anniversary Show • Ardis and Robert James, ten art quilts, including quilts by Pauline Burbidge, Carol Bryer Fallert, Michael James, Joan Lintault, Terrie Hancock Mangat, Ruth McDowell, Nadine Ruse, and Pamela Studstill A number of individual acquisitions strengthened the art quilt and American and international traditional quilts categories: Art Quilts: • Linda MacDonald, So Many People 2, 2006 • Anna Von Mertens, Dawn [Left Illinois for California, April 15, 1859], 2007; George Washington’s aura, after Gilbert Stuart, 2009; Mary Cassatt’s aura, Top: Jean Ray Laury Bottom: Carolyn Ducey and Janet after Degas, 2009 Price unpack Laury donation