Wichita Art Museum Will Host Fall Quilt Show

Monday, 21 May 2007 00:42

WICHITA, KS - The Wichita Art Museum is pleased to announce it will welcome Art of the Needle: Masterpiece Quilts from the Shelburne Museum October 14, 2007 through January 13, 2008.

“These quilts are among the highest quality quilts in the country,” explains Stephen Gleissner, chief curator at the Wichita Art Museum. “The Wichita Art Museum is fortunate to be able to share this exhibition with the Midwest. It is a spectacular show that is not to be missed.”

Forty of the finest examples of nineteenth-century textile art and one very rare eighteenth-century quilt comprise this exhibition, drawn from the Shelburne Museum’s world-renowned permanent collection of over 400 American quilts. The Shelburne was the first museum to exhibit quilts as works of art in 1952. The quilts in this exhibition are grouped into eight principal construction or design themes: album, Amish, appliqué, chintz appliqué, pieced, Victorian (crazy and log cabin), white work, and whole cloth. Each category highlights a particular quilting method or design style. Taken together they embody an extraordinary range of artistic impulses—from the exacting precision of stitching in white work quilts to the exhilarating color and chaos of crazy quilts. Art of the Needle will resonate with history enthusiasts appreciating quilts as records of a time and a place, and with art lovers who will be impressed with the quilts’ often dramatic visual qualities.

The Wichita Art Museum is the fourth museum to feature Art of the Needle. Others include the Norton Museum of Art (West Palm Beach, FL), the San Antonio Museum of Art (San Antonio, TX), and the National Heritage Museum (Lexington, MA). After leaving Wichita, the exhibition will conclude its tour at the Cincinnati Art Museum (Cincinnati, OH).

Organized by the Shelburne Museum, Vermont, the Wichita venue is made possible by the City of Wichita, The Lattner Family Foundation, Inc., Boeing IDS-Wichita, the Friends of the Wichita Art Museum, Inc. and KMUW, Wichita Public Radio.

Accompanying Art of the Needle is Quilts from the Prairie Quilt Guild, which will feature brilliantly crafted quilts created by local quilters that show how the great tradition of American quilting thrives strongly in our region.

The Wichita Art Museum opened in 1935. It is home to The Roland P. Murdock Collection, one of the premier collections of American Art in the country. The Museum is proud to be supported through public and private funds, owned by the City of Wichita and managed by a private entity, Wichita Art Museum, Inc. Located at 1400 West Museum Boulevard. A number of quilt-related events are being planned including quilt demonstrations, a quilt symposium, senior days and family activities. All events will be posted at www.wichitaartmuseum.org