Embroidered Collage

I went to see this exhibit when it was at the New Hope branch of the Michener Museum, but never wrote about it because I wasn't quite sure what to say.  It emphasized the abstract nature of quilts and how individuals made interesting changes and innovations from the traditional patterns over the last 200 years.  Most of the pieces on display were still what we would probably call traditional quilts, but there were a couple of stunningly done modern pieces that fit more into the art quilt realm.

The feel of viewing the quilts in the hushed and open spaces of the museum setting was very different than the dull roar and backing curtains of a quilt show, whether small or large.  The setting emphasized each piece, as you would expect, but then the placards mentioned the stitch count per inch.  So were the exhibit's original curator deliberately ignoring the perception of an art/craft boundary or were they being confused about what they were doing?

But then I noticed that the Doylestown library had acquired the exhibit book, Wild by Design: Two Hundred Years of Innovation and Artistry in American Quilts by Janet Catherine Berlo and Patricia Cox Crewe.  After I read it my memories of the exhibit sprang to life.  The introduction was interesting, explaining about how improvisation and a quest for deliberate effects must have been used in a number of different quilts, based on the fabrics and patterns in them and how they differed from a perfectly standard example.  But the best part was the facing page to the quilt image, which was done in dialogue or interview format, each person adding a few insights to the understanding of that particular piece.  Only about half of the quilts in the book were in the exhibit at New Hope, about an even mix of the ones I really wanted to see and the ones I cared less about.

The people who brought this exhibit together wanted to emphasize design, whether it was executed in perfect craft or with merely adequate skills.  Many of these quilts would be passed over by the judges at a quilt show today.  I was better able to appreciate the design that went into them, knowing more about the back drop that the women were working in.  I'd like to go see the exhibit again, now, but am not sure I'll get up there before it closes on June 3. 

I enjoyed it the first time, but think I'd appreciate it more this time.  I find it ironic that of all the exhibits I would be dissatisfied by with less preparation, the first one that I remember having this feeling for is a quilt exhibit.  Maybe because I do know more background in general, or because I'm closer to it, I'm more critical of it?  That it was harder to just look and accept like I can do when I know very little?  Perhaps.