Quilts-Textiles-Fabric-Fiber-Arts

A Call for Quilts from the Adirondack Museum

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Do you have an exceptional bed quilt or pieced wall hanging that was made in, inspired by, or depicts the Adirondack region?

The Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake is seeking quilts for &#8220The Second Annual Great Adirondack Quilt Show&#8221 to be held from September 14 to October 17, 2010. The show will be part of the museum’s Fabric and Fiber Arts Festival and will complement the exhibit &#8220Common Threads: 150 Years of Adirondack Quilts and Comforters.&#8221

There will be two divisions in the show. Historic quilts (those made before 1970) can be of any theme or technique, but must have been made in the Adirondacks. Modern quilts (those made after 1970) should have a visible connection to the Adirondack region.

An eligible quilt might depict an Adirondack scene in applique or be composed of pieced blocks chosen because the pattern is reminiscent of the region &#8211 &#8220Pine Tree,&#8221 Wild Goose Chase,&#8221 or &#8220North Star,&#8221 for example.

A &#8220People’s Choice&#8221 award will be presented to one quilt in each division.

Although the show will not be juried, applicants must complete a registration form prior to September 11, 2010. A statement by the maker is required to complete the application process. For additional information or to receive an application, please contact Hallie Bond via email at [email protected] , by telephone at (518) 352-7311, ext. 105, or through the postal service at P.O. Box 99, Blue Mountain Lake, NY, 12812.

Photo: Winner of the &#8220Best in Show&#8221 award at the quilt show held as part of the Adirondack Museum’s Fabric and Fiber Arts Festival on September 19, 2009. The quilt is &#8220Poppies&#8221 and was made by Betty deHaas Walp of Johnsburg, New York, in 2006.

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Exhibit Offers Rare Look at WWII Relief Quilts

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The faded color and worn edges of this “Bow Ties” quilt bespeak the toll of the long days of World War II in the Netherlands. There is still time to see this and other authentic WWII relief quilts in an interpretive exhibit at the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Discovery Center in Sackets Harbor, NY. The exhibit includes a DVD with An Keuning-Tichelaar telling how she received and distributed the quilts to refugees in war-torn Netherlands.

“Passing on the Comfort: World War II, Quilts & The Women Who Made a Difference” offers a rare look into world history, heartbreak and humanity Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 5 pm. The New York Council for the Humanities- the Mennonite Heritage Association, Croghan, NY- the Town of Hounsfield, National Grid, Key Bank Foundation- and the Seaway Trail Foundation, and volunteer docents are making this exhibit possible for the first time in New York state. More info: 315-646-1000, www.seawaytrail.com.

Adirondack Museum Offers More Quilt Exhibits

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The Adirondack Museum has launched a new online exhibit, &#8220Common Threads: 150 Year of Adirondack Quilts and Comforters&#8221 that will share quilts and Adirondack quilting history. The online exhibit includes quilts, text, and historic photographs and is a companion piece to a special exhibition, also named &#8220Common Threads&#8221 that will open to the public at the Blue Mountain Lake museum on May 22, 2009.

The exhibit will include more than forty quilts: historic pieces from the Adirondack Museum’s textile collection, as well as contemporary quilts, comforters, and pieced wall hangings on loan from quilters in communities throughout the region. Demonstrations of handwork will accompany the exhibit throughout the summer. According to an Adirondack Museum announcement:

The Adirondack region has supported an active pieced-textile tradition for over a century and a half. From bedcovers, plain or fancy, meant to keep families warm through long Adirondack winters, to stunning art quilts of the twenty-first century, the quilts and comforters of the North Country mirror national trends and also tell a unique story of life in the mountains. &#8220Common Threads: 150 Years of Adirondack Quilts and Comforters&#8221 explores the themes of women’s work, domestic life, social networks in a rural area, generational continuity among women, and women’s artistic response to life in the Adirondacks.

&#8220Common Threads&#8221 will include a family-friendly discovery area where kids can explore pattern and design, try simple stitching on child-sized quilt frames, or enjoy illustrated quilt-themed children’s books. The Adirondack Museum has also developed a special &#8220Toddler Tour&#8221 of the quilt exhibit &#8220that will lead the smallest visitors on a fun (and fast) search for color, shapes, and animals among the quilts on display.&#8221

Museum Curator Hallie Bond will offer an illustrated Monday Evening Lecture on July, 27, 2009 entitled &#8220Common Threads &#8211 Adirondack Quilts Tell Their Stories.&#8221 The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. and will be held in the Auditorium.

The Adirondack Fabric and Fiber Arts Festival will be held on September 12, 2009. A celebration of traditional and contemporary fiber arts, the Festival will include demonstrations, a juried artisan’s market, and hands-on activities. In addition, folksinger, song writer Peggy Lynn will offer a special musical presentation, &#8220A Stitch in Time: Songs Celebrating the Art and Heritage of Quilting.&#8221

Rare World War II Relief Quilts Make First NY Stop

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For the first time in New York state, a rare collection of quilts and comforters used by children, Jewish fugitives, Nazi Resistance workers, and Mennonite refugees fleeing the post-war Soviet Union who were given shelter by a Dutch Mennonite woman will be seen Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays April 24-June 28 at the Seaway Trail Discovery Center in Sackets Harbor, Jefferson County, NY.

The New York Council for the Humanities, Mennonite Heritage Association, Seaway Trail Foundation, Town of Hounsfield, National Grid and Key Bank are sponsoring “Passing on the Comfort: World War II, Quilts & The Women Who Made a Difference” that tells the story of a young Mennonite minister and his newlywed wife who participated with the Resistance movement in the Netherlands.

The professionally designed interpretive and interactive exhibit that features a rare collection of quilts and comforters made by Mennonite women in the United States and Canada- interpretive panels with historic images of wartime life in the Netherlands, and a DVD sharing the story of An and Herman Keuning-Tichelaar who sheltered people in their parsonage. In the DVD, Keuning-Tichelaar herself says, “I sorted my memories as I folded and unfolded the (few, worn) quilts telling my unspoken tales.&#8221

Phyllis Lyndecker, president of the Mennonite Heritage Association, says, “We are always making quilts for relief efforts and this exhibit is a special opportunity to see quilts that reached their destinations and actually provided comfort and security to those in need.”

Great Lakes Seaway Trail Foundation President Teresa Mitchell says, “The Great Lakes Seaway Trail pleased to host this rare exhibit illustrating the intertwining of global history, philosophy, ethics, and religion.”

Mitchell says she expects the exhibit to attract quiltmakers, family, school and church groups, veterans, tourists and senior citizens. The quilting tradition is a popular cultural and arts heritage travel theme for the 518-mile-long byway that has clusters of Mennonite and Amish quilters in its 11 counties along the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, Niagara River and Lake Erie in New York and Pennsylvania. A 22-mile loop tour off the Great Lakes Seaway Trail in Orleans County, NY, features more than 40 traditional quilt block patterns painted on barns.

The Seaway Trail Foundation has won Upstate History Alliance and New York State Governor’s Tourism awards for its heritage programming related to historic shipwrecks. In August, the three-story, limestone Seaway Trail Discovery Center (built in 1817 as the Union Hotel) will host a presentation on the World War II refugees who found “safe haven” in Oswego, NY from 1944-1946 in Oswego, NY.

For more information on the Great Lakes Seaway Trail, visit www.seawaytrail.com or call Seaway Trail Foundation, 315-646-1000.