Review: Quilt and Textile museums of Lowell, MA
In my non-professional crafty life, I enjoy making quilts. I recently finished a large pirate-ships-and-cowgirls-themed quilt--my seventeenth--as a gift for a good friend who was moving to another state. (You might wonder, what do pirate ships and cowgirls have to do with one another? Not much, really, when you consider it from a logical standpoint. However, had you met the friend for which the quilt was made, you'd think the combination was quite understandable and appropriate.)
I suppose technically quilting is an off-topic subject for this blog--while i have been called upon to create patchwork elements for costumes and entire quilts even as set decoration, such projects are really more the province of stitchers and props assistants, rather than crafts artisans.
I keep a paper quilt journal, which I only write in when i am working on a quilt or have just completed one. It's more of a scrapbook-journal, really, since it also includes photographs of my quilts in process and finished, scraps of fabric, sketches, and so forth. It's not a "personal diary" sort of journal since i only write in it about quilt-related topics, but it sort of functions as one, in a way, since often i am making a quilt for a friend or family member who is about to have some sort of momentous life-changing event (a marriage, a relocation, a new baby, etc). Reading over it when making my most recent entry the other day, i was reminded of my 2003 visit to a couple of museums that i think may interest the La Bricoleuse readership.
Here are my entries from that trip transcribed:
March 14, 2003
I am writing this from a hotel room in Lowell, MA, where [I am] about to go to the New England Quilt Museum and the American Textile History Museum. I have wanted to go to these museums since I first heard of their existence and realized they were in the area.
[...]
I read on their website about a project (ongoing) to document quilts owned by New Englanders or made in New England that have traveled elsewhere. They seem set on having people bring the quilts TO the museums for photographing & recording, which I understand on their behalf but that is very difficult for people like me who do not own automobiles. They ought to set up a volunteer service of people with cars who can travel to the homes of carless/elderly/disabled quilters & record their quilts. I am sure they probably don't have enough volunteers as it is, though, or there is some other reason this is unfeasible. Wow, someone is playing a vibrato organ right outside...
Notes from the museum--
--wabi sabi: Japanese concept of finding beauty & value in things that are old, reused, ephemeral, worn.
--Cool first names of Civil War era quilters listed in the library:
--Timexemia, Iora, Pamona, Ozella, Pecolia, Dicey Ann, Ocea
March 15, 2003
The Quilt Museum was amazing. I could imagine myself working there, or visiting more frequently if it were just easier to get to. It took...from 1:30pm to 4:30pm to get here on the train Tuesday, which is probably too much traveling...to go round-trip in a day.
Today...off to the Textile Museum. ...I am excited to see it as well, though i think it's going to be more manufacturing-oriented (due to Lowell's history as a mill town) & perhaps with some interesting stuff on fashion history.
The lady in the library @ the Quilt Museum yesterday was very nice & helped me find the books i wrote notes about. ...The quilts on display were all amazing, though i was surprised which ones had taken prizes--some of them that blew me away had not even placed, & others which had won honors left me kind of cold.
[...]
Other quilt museums to check out some day:
American Quilt Museum - Paducah, KY
LaConner Quilt Museum - LaConner, WA
Latimer Quilt and Textile Center - Tillamook, OR
People's Place Quilt Museum - Intercourse, PA
Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum - Golden, CO
San Jose Quilt Museum - San Jose, CA
Virginia Quilt Museum - Harrisonburg, VA
I didn't write in my quilt journal about the American Textile History Museum, but i vividly remember it--i loved it! Lowell has a long and complicated history as a mill town, and the museum itself is housed in one of the old textile mills. Some of the rooms have the mills restored to working order and running--you can buy yardage of the cloth they weave in the museum gift shop. There are many exhibits on a wide range of subjects--many displays of historical costume from the 18th century to the present, information on early labor struggles and stories of the lives of the women and children who worked in the mills
Lowell itself is a cool little town--there was obviously a very vibrant artistic community, tons of galleries and boutiques selling the work of local artisans. Many of the old mills have been converted into studio spaces and large open office spaces, and the cafes and coffeeshops have a very fun, funky, cosmopolitan spirit to them. A weekend in Lowell is an excellent quick-getaway vacation, if you like fiber arts, industrial history, fashion history, etc.
While i am on the subject of museums, here are two other links of possible interest:
"Luxury", an exhibit of the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC
There is a fairly extensive online component with lots of photographs, for those unable to attend the physical exhibition. Couture and extravagance through a range of historical eras.
18th Century Midwife's Educational "Machine"
A series of soft-sculptural anatomically-accurate models of wombs, fetuses, infants, pelvises, etc., made from linen, leather, and actual human bones, created by a reknowned 18th-century French midwife and obstetric educator. Not as gross as it might sound, truly amazing both in construction and that it has survived to the present in such amazing condition. This link was sent to me by vairavi.
I suppose technically quilting is an off-topic subject for this blog--while i have been called upon to create patchwork elements for costumes and entire quilts even as set decoration, such projects are really more the province of stitchers and props assistants, rather than crafts artisans.
I keep a paper quilt journal, which I only write in when i am working on a quilt or have just completed one. It's more of a scrapbook-journal, really, since it also includes photographs of my quilts in process and finished, scraps of fabric, sketches, and so forth. It's not a "personal diary" sort of journal since i only write in it about quilt-related topics, but it sort of functions as one, in a way, since often i am making a quilt for a friend or family member who is about to have some sort of momentous life-changing event (a marriage, a relocation, a new baby, etc). Reading over it when making my most recent entry the other day, i was reminded of my 2003 visit to a couple of museums that i think may interest the La Bricoleuse readership.
Here are my entries from that trip transcribed:
March 14, 2003
I am writing this from a hotel room in Lowell, MA, where [I am] about to go to the New England Quilt Museum and the American Textile History Museum. I have wanted to go to these museums since I first heard of their existence and realized they were in the area.
[...]
I read on their website about a project (ongoing) to document quilts owned by New Englanders or made in New England that have traveled elsewhere. They seem set on having people bring the quilts TO the museums for photographing & recording, which I understand on their behalf but that is very difficult for people like me who do not own automobiles. They ought to set up a volunteer service of people with cars who can travel to the homes of carless/elderly/disabled quilters & record their quilts. I am sure they probably don't have enough volunteers as it is, though, or there is some other reason this is unfeasible. Wow, someone is playing a vibrato organ right outside...
Notes from the museum--
--wabi sabi: Japanese concept of finding beauty & value in things that are old, reused, ephemeral, worn.
--Cool first names of Civil War era quilters listed in the library:
--Timexemia, Iora, Pamona, Ozella, Pecolia, Dicey Ann, Ocea
March 15, 2003
The Quilt Museum was amazing. I could imagine myself working there, or visiting more frequently if it were just easier to get to. It took...from 1:30pm to 4:30pm to get here on the train Tuesday, which is probably too much traveling...to go round-trip in a day.
Today...off to the Textile Museum. ...I am excited to see it as well, though i think it's going to be more manufacturing-oriented (due to Lowell's history as a mill town) & perhaps with some interesting stuff on fashion history.
The lady in the library @ the Quilt Museum yesterday was very nice & helped me find the books i wrote notes about. ...The quilts on display were all amazing, though i was surprised which ones had taken prizes--some of them that blew me away had not even placed, & others which had won honors left me kind of cold.
[...]
Other quilt museums to check out some day:
American Quilt Museum - Paducah, KY
LaConner Quilt Museum - LaConner, WA
Latimer Quilt and Textile Center - Tillamook, OR
People's Place Quilt Museum - Intercourse, PA
Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum - Golden, CO
San Jose Quilt Museum - San Jose, CA
Virginia Quilt Museum - Harrisonburg, VA
I didn't write in my quilt journal about the American Textile History Museum, but i vividly remember it--i loved it! Lowell has a long and complicated history as a mill town, and the museum itself is housed in one of the old textile mills. Some of the rooms have the mills restored to working order and running--you can buy yardage of the cloth they weave in the museum gift shop. There are many exhibits on a wide range of subjects--many displays of historical costume from the 18th century to the present, information on early labor struggles and stories of the lives of the women and children who worked in the mills
Lowell itself is a cool little town--there was obviously a very vibrant artistic community, tons of galleries and boutiques selling the work of local artisans. Many of the old mills have been converted into studio spaces and large open office spaces, and the cafes and coffeeshops have a very fun, funky, cosmopolitan spirit to them. A weekend in Lowell is an excellent quick-getaway vacation, if you like fiber arts, industrial history, fashion history, etc.
While i am on the subject of museums, here are two other links of possible interest:
"Luxury", an exhibit of the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC
There is a fairly extensive online component with lots of photographs, for those unable to attend the physical exhibition. Couture and extravagance through a range of historical eras.
18th Century Midwife's Educational "Machine"
A series of soft-sculptural anatomically-accurate models of wombs, fetuses, infants, pelvises, etc., made from linen, leather, and actual human bones, created by a reknowned 18th-century French midwife and obstetric educator. Not as gross as it might sound, truly amazing both in construction and that it has survived to the present in such amazing condition. This link was sent to me by vairavi.