Quilts from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh in new exhibit at quilt museum

The International Quilt Study Center and Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will highlight a vibrant textile tradition shown in its rich cultural context: that of the lives of women in diverse regions of the Indian subcontinent.

"South Asian Seams: Quilts from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh," opening May 15, will consist of more than 40 examples of South Asian "ralli" and "kantha" textiles. It will also feature an assortment of large-scale photographs depicting the women who make these quilts and the people who use them.

Patchwork, embroidery and applique all figure prominently in ralli, a traditional quilted textile from northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. In the eastern Indian states of Bihar and West Bengal and across the border into Bangladesh, women create kantha and sujuni bedcoverings using quilting stitches as the primary decorative elements. Constructed from layers of old cotton sari and dhoti (women's and men's wrapped garments), kantha provide a way for women to give new life to old cloth.

This exhibition runs through Nov. 7 and is co-curated by Marin Hanson, IQSC curator of exhibitions, and guest curator Patricia Stoddard, a leading expert on Pakistani and Indian quilted textiles. Her book, "Ralli Quilts: Traditional Textiles of Pakistan and India," is the only published work on the topic. Stoddard will teach a weeklong summer seminar for graduate students in June.

Programming associated with the exhibition includes:

* May 15 -- 2 p.m., public lecture on Maharashtra quilts by Geeta Khandelwal, Indian textile collector

* May 25 -- noon, Tuesday Talk with Hanson describing the IQSC fall 2009 research trip to India

* June 27 -- 2 p.m., public lecture by Stoddard

* July 31 -- 2 p.m., demonstration and trunk show by members of the Kala Raksha women's fair trade cooperative, Gujarat, India

Exhibition funding is provided by the Robert and Ardis James Foundation, the Nebraska Humanities Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.

For information on hours and admission visit www.quiltstudy.org or call (402) 472-6549.

The International Quilt Study Center and Museum is the home of the largest publicly held quilt collection in the world. Established in 1997, the center opened a its new museum at 1523 N. 33rd St. in 2008 [map]. The privately funded, environmentally sustainable museum houses more than 3,000 quilts, state-of-the-art research and storage space, and spacious galleries. The center's mission is to collect, preserve, study, exhibit, and promote discovery of quilts and quiltmaking traditions from many cultures, countries and times.

WRITER: Maureen Ose