Quilts in 4-part harmony exhibit opens Friday at quilt museum
Released on 10/27/2009, at 2:00 AM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
WHEN: Friday, Oct. 30, 2009, through Mar. 28, 2010
WHERE: International Quilt Study Center and Museum, 1523 N. 33rd Street
The exhibition, "Four-Part Harmony: The Linda Carlson Four-Block Quilt Collection," will open Oct. 30 at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
More than two dozen quilts will be shown in two rotations. Rotation 1 runs Oct. 30 through Jan. 10. The second rotation opens Jan. 13 and runs through March 28. Collector and author Linda Carlson and Carolyn Ducey, curator of collections at the museum, chose the quilts on display from a collection donated to the center in 2004 by Carlson and her husband, Dr. John V. Carlson.
The four-block style was popular during a classic era of American quilt making starting in the 1840s and continuing into the early 1900s. The large, symmetrical patterns were inspired by fast-changing styles of the 19th century. New fabric production and sewing techniques also influenced the quilt makers. This exhibition shows how quilting reflected cultural and political trends as well as other practical effects of new sewing tools and dyeing technologies.
Linda Carlson is a well-known quilting author: her first two books, "Roots, Feathers and Blooms: Four-Block Quilts, Their History and Patterns," and "Four-Blocks Continued," were published in 1994 and 1997, and her third followed in 2002, "Quilting to Soothe the Soul: Create Memories for Today, Tomorrow and Forever."
Exhibition programming, all free with museum admission, includes:
* Sunday, Nov. 1, 2 p.m. -- Public lecture, "Roots of the Large Four-Block Quilt," Linda Carlson.
* Tuesday, Jan. 12, noon, Tuesday Talk -- "A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Exhibition Installation."
* Sunday, Feb. 21, 2 p.m. -- "Meet the Curator" book signing and conversation with Linda Carlson.
* Tuesday, March 16, noon, Tuesday Talk -- "Four-Block Quilts in the IQSC Collection," Carolyn Ducey.
The International Quilt Study Center and Museum, 1523 N. 33rd St., was founded in 1997 and is the home of the largest publicly held quilt collection in the world. The museum opened in its new location in 2008. The privately funded, glass and brick "green" building houses more than 3,000 quilts, as well as state-of-the-art research and storage space, and custom-crafted galleries. The facility enhances the center's ability to pursue its mission to collect, preserve, study, exhibit and promote discovery of quilts and quilt-making traditions from many cultures, countries and times. The International Quilt Study Center is an academic program of the Department of Textiles, Clothing and Design in the UNL College of Education and Human Sciences.
The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Sundays; closed Mondays and major holidays. Docent-led tours begin at 11 a.m. Wednesdays and 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturdays. Reserved guided tours for groups of 10 or more are available during public hours. Please schedule at least four weeks in advance. Call (402) 472-6579 or e-mail iqsc-tours@unlnotes.unl.edu.
The museum will close during the UNL holiday closedown on these dates: Dec. 24-25 and 28-31, and Jan. 1. Admission is $5 for adults (over 18); $3 for non-UNL students with ID and children; $10 for families; free for children under 5, museum members, and UNL faculty, staff and students with ID. For more information, call 472-6459 or visit www.quiltstudy.org.