EAST COAST QUILT SHOWS 2011

Time to plan your summer, 2011, tour of the quilt shows in New England and other eastern states.

Amish Bars Quilt from the Esprit Collection

Lancaster Quilt & Textile Museum

Begin in Lancaster, Pennsylvania at The Lancaster Quilt & Textile Museum, which is showing THE GRID: Amish Quilts, Esprit Clothing, and Postmodern Design, a joint project between Franklin & Marshall College's Art & Art History Department and the Museum. Featuring the "Esprit Collection" of Amish Quilts as well as artifacts from 1980's fashion and culture, this exhibit demonstrates the influence of traditional Amish designs on postmodern art and fashion.

Click here for information: Lancaster Quilt & Textile Museum. I didn't see a closing date but I am guessing it will be up all summer.

Detail of quilt from the collection of the

American Folk Art Museum

Next: New York City where the American Folk Art Museum celebrates the Year of the Quilt with the second rotation of their Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum through October 16, 2011.

Broken Star, Clara Bontraeger, Haven, Kansas,

 1925–1935, 73 1/2 x 67 1/4 in.

American Folk Art Museum,

gift of David Pottinger, 1980.37.47

The Museum's Lincoln Square Branch is also hosting a quilt exhibit, Super Stars: Quilts from the American Folk Art Museum through September 25, 2011. Click here for information: American Folk Art Museum

Detail of a Pieced and Embroidered Quilt, circa 1825-50 ,

 Nancy Newton (1801-1887), Marlborough, New Hampshire. 

Cotton, silk, 93 1/2" x 101". 

Collection of Old Sturbridge Village, #26.23.218.

Onto Massachusetts where Old Sturbridge Village is exhibiting a new rotation of their collection in the show More Beautiful Than Any Other: Quilts from the OSV Collection through June 30, 2011.  Click here for information: Old Sturbridge Village.

Civil War Soldier's quilt with each block bound separately

New England Quilt Museum

And then to Lowell, Massachusetts where the New England Quilt Museum has two shows of antique quilts. One Foot Square, Quilted & Bound: Block by Block Quilts from 1837 to the Present  includes antique and modern quilts constructed with an unusual technique (sometimes called the potholder technique) in which each block is quilted, bound and then joined into a whole. There are several Civil War pieces made for wounded soldiers, rare quilts indeed. The show is curated by Pam Weeks, whose book on the subject comes out this fall. Through July 10, 2011.  

Detail from the Multiple Chintz Medallion Coverlet

New England Quilt Museum

The NEQM also has a small exhibit in honor of the Royal Wedding, Two Royal Quilts for the Royal Wedding. One is  The Princess Charlotte Commemorative Quilt, donated by the Binney Family, which commemorates Charlotte's marriage. The Multiple Chintz Medallion Coverlet, donated by Janet and David Marcus,  labeled a "piece of patchwork.finished two days previous to the death of H.R.H. Princess Charlotte." Click here for more: NEQM

Detail of a quilt from about 1870-1890 from the collection of the

Vermont Historical Society

And if you are there on the weekend of June 24-26, take in the Vermont Quilt Festival in Essex Junction. The antique quilt exhibit will be Patterns of History: Quilts from the Vermont Historical Society Collection, a show of nearly half of the more than 150 quilts in the collection of the Vermont Historical Society. Click here for information: Vermont Quilt Festival.

Grandmother Snell's Quilt

Collection of the Shelburne Museum

Onto the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne Vermont. The summer season's quilt show is A Passion for Quilts: Joan Lintault Collects, pieces made by and collected by one of the pioneering art quilt makers of the 20th century,
http://shelburnemuseum.org/exhibitions/a-passion-for-quilts-joan-lintault-collects/?gallery

I try to keep track of the shows of antique quilts on my webpage. Click here:
http://www.barbarabrackman.com/faqs1.aspx