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Travel ThreadsBeauty and History are the Fabric of QuiltingBy Sandra Scott
Whatever your feelings about quilting it will forever be changed by visiting one of the many quilt museums and exhibits across the United States. Learn about Amish culture at the new Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum and explore controversial free speech issues at a recent exhibit at the San Jose Quilt and Textile Museum. People who associate quilts with grandma recycling scraps of material into bedcovers commemorating major family events are in for a wonderful surprise. While quilts are still made to be family heirlooms, they are also a way for people to express and share their artistry, emotions, and points of view.
The museum’s exhibits are eclectic and provocative. Works may be as a utilitarian as a horse quilt designed by Sharon Robinson to a thought provoking special exhibit on death and dying. The success of the museum is evidenced by the fact it has once again outgrown its location. Sometime in 2005 the museum will move to a much larger location allowing for more exhibit areas.
The million-dollar collection of antique quilts that once graced the walls of a clothing company's corporate offices is the centerpiece of the exhibit that showcases the fabric of Amish history. They represent the golden period of Amish quilting from the 1880s to the 1940s. Amish quilts are distinguished by the use of plain fabric. It is a common misconception that the “plain people” only liked plain things. Bright colors and bold designs characterize Amish quilts. Lancaster Amish typically used dark thread for quilting stitches but seldom used black material. Visiting the museum will give new understanding of the Amish culture for in a community of conformity individuality shows through. Normally only solid colors were used but occasionally the backing may have print fabric. However, the Amish now create quilts using printed fabric for the tourist trade.
Quilts can move social issues forward such as the AIDS quilt project or explore interpretations of free speech as did a recent exhibit in San Jose. Whatever your interests, there are quilt connections in nearly every location. Lighthouse aficionados can visit, and even enter, the annual Seaway Trail Quilt Competition and Exhibition showcasing the travel experiences found along the Seaway Trail, one of America’s Byways. The historic lighthouses of the Seaway Trail will be the featured theme for the 2005 Quilt Competition and Exhibition.
If you go: The Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum: 37 North Market Street, Lancaster, PA, www.quiltandtextilemuseum.com, (717) 299-6440 Seaway Trail Quilt Competition and Exhibition: Seaway Trail Foundation Sackets Harbor, NY, www.seawaytrail.com, (800) Seaway-T Gentle Arts: www.gentleartsneworleans.com, 4500 Dryades Street, New Orleans, La (504) 895 5628 Quilt Visions: www.quiltvisions.org, (858) 484-5201 AIDS Memorial Quilt: www.aidsquilt.org, (404) 688-5500 Other museums of interest: The New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA, www.nequiltmuseum.org, (978) 452-4207 The Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, Golden, Colorado stop by www.rmqm.org, (303) 277-0377. The Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg, VA, www.vaquiltmuseum.org. (504) 433-3818 La Conner Quilt Museum, La Conner, WA, www.laconnerquilts.com, (360) 466-4288 |
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Leave your quilting at home but let the
threads work their way through your travels. Whether you are a novice or a
professional, a traditionalist or a fiber artist, or perhaps not a quilter at
all, seeking out quilts and other fiber arts will enhance your travel
experience. Quilts reflect the times, the mood, and the history of an area and
its people. 
No matter where one travels in the United States
there are dedicated quilt museums or changing exhibits. The West Coast may seem
an unlikely place for the very first quilt museum. Jane Przybysz, the director
of the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, feels it was a case of “critical
mass.” Three important elements came together at just the right time. In the
1970s the back-to-basic movement of the hippie generation that favored natural
fabrics merged with the spirit of the past rekindled by the enthusiasm of the
Bicentennial. However it was the commitment of the Santa Clara Quilting Guild
that fused the first two elements to give birth to the San Jose Museum of Quilts
and Textiles, the nation’s first museum dedicated to quilting.
Quilts often reflect the history of
an area and its people. The Quilt and Textile Museum in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
is dedicated to Amish quilts. One tiny stitch by one tiny stitch the Amish
ladies created masterpieces to last for generations. 
Quilting has transitioned from what is
generally regarded as the oldest surviving example of patchwork, an Egyptian
canopy quilt c. 980 BC, now housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, to fiber art
masterpieces. In fact there is a renaissance in all types of quilting. Patti
Sevier, director of internationally acclaimed Quilt Visions, attributes the
resurgence of quilting to a “…reaction to the high tech world. Fiber arts are
tactile and you have something concrete to show for your efforts at the end of
the day.” 
There seems to be a quilt connection
wherever one travels. If you visit New Orleans take that tattered, treasured
family heirloom with you. Bryce Reverly, of Gentle Arts, is a consultant for the
Smithsonian and auction houses in NYC. She has designed a special washing tray
for cleaning delicate quilts before she restores and preserves them using
special techniques to repair damaged areas and prevent further deterioration.
She also appraises quilts. It may come as a wonderful surprise to find that old
quilt tucked away in the attic, too worn to be of use but part of your family
history so it can’t be discarded, has great monetary value.
Quilt viewing can take you places
that you may never get a chance to visit. As part of the internationally
acclaimed Quilt Visions 2004, view Ree Nancarrow’s impression of Alaska in
“Nenana Flats,” or Noriko Endo’s “Nature in Oregon.” Their vision of places
familiar to them may inspire a quilt to commemorate your travels.
Visiting a quilt museum is a pleasant
antidote to the traditional tourist activity and can be a welcome break from a
business trip. All you need is an hour or two and in return you get to refresh
your mind and spirit. You will return home with new ideas and inspirations
whether it is creating a quilt in the style of the Amish or taking your quilting
to new levels of artistry by capturing the essence of your travels in fabric.
Your travels will inspire your quilting with imagination and creativity and, in
turn, an interest in quilts will give new directions to your travels.