Heinz History Center Quilt Show

Transcription

1 The 250th Anniversary Quilt. Heinz History Center Quilt Show BY Jane Miller Quilt shows aren t just for quilters at the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. Mix a traditional quilt show with a museum mission for education, add in photo-op moments, and there was something for everyone at the annual Quilter s Weekend in January 2009.

2 The event was not intended to be another quilt show. We wanted to make it interesting for people who do quilt, with vendors and displays, but we also wanted to capture and share the tradition of quilting with people who don t quilt, and spark some interest in some young folks to take it up, said Terri Blanchette, the museum s exhibit director. This photo shows some of the blocks that were made for the adult version of the 250th Anniversary Quilt before they were completed and assembled. Area History The History Center, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is the largest history museum in Pennsylvania. For one weekend each year, quilts blend with the region s drama and a history that ranges from the Revolutionary War to the manufacturer of steel to the Pittsburgh Steelers football team. The museum owns an extensive collection of antique quilts, which were displayed for three months about 10 years ago, but many are too fragile to display regularly. As Pittsburgh s 250th birthday (November 2008) neared, museum staff wondered how they could incorporate Pittsburgh history into a future exhibit. They thought of a commemorative quilt. Then out of the blue a guild member called us and asked if we would consider an event, said Blanchette. The North Pittsburgh Quilters Guild hoped to promote their spring quilt show by involving children and families. We collaborated, brainstormed, and all of a sudden we had a quilt show, said Carol Hartman, guild president in 2007 when

3 plans began for the first show held in January If you take a history class on quilting and mix it in with a quilt show this is what you could end up with, said Blanchette. She also easily found volunteer quilters eager to make blocks for the commemorative quilt that proclaimed Pittsburgh firsts in fabric, such as the first bottle of ketchup, produced by Heinz in 1876, as well as the first Big Mac served at a Pittsburgh McDonald s Restaurant. Children Got Involved At the first event, children made crayon-colored blocks as well as arranged precut fabrics into blocks that were sewn on the spot by quilters with sewing machines. Visitors hand-tied quilts to be donated to community-service projects, and demonstrators worked on the Pittsburgh 250 quilt that was in progress. But the show was rather light on quilts for a group of travelers from Bedford, Pa., home of the National Museum of American Coverlets. The Bedford County Historical Society was disappointed, but they said, Oh, we d be happy to donate our stands for a weekend, said Blanchette, and the show quickly grew in its second year. How It Grew Quilter s Weekend now involves more than a dozen guilds in southwestern Pennsylvania, as well as vendors. More than 50 quilts are displayed throughout the Young visitors plan their Nine-Patch blocks at the History Center. 275,000 square-foot museum. Each year the History Center plans to display a limited number of quilts from its collection. The Pittsburgh Friendship Quilt, otherwise known as the Thousands of Pieces of Pittsburgh, made of 32,000 squares arranged 8-feet high and 80-feet wide, was hung for this year s show. Created between 1987 and 1988, mostly by visitors to the Buhl Science Center, the quilt includes the signatures of former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford as well as the signature of Pittsburgh s beloved Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Although new quilts show changes in quilting Trillium A close-up of Betty Kania s appliquéd block.

4 from hand-piecing and quilting to the use of machines in art quilts, most of the newer quilts have educational purposes, such as the Pennsylvania Wildflowers, by Betty Kania, comprised of appliqué blocks of a dozen native wildflowers. I didn t use the colors suggested in the pattern. My daughter is an environmental educator and she said, Mom, you have to do this accurately so kids can learn from it, said Kania, with a chuckle. Quilts Have a Theme Most antique quilts are gleaned from private collections that fit the theme. The theme Generations, refers to a quilt started by a Barbara Mecklenburg s Sunbonnet quilt is displayed in front of a 1949 trolley, a common site in Pittsburgh until they were taken out of service in Now... get INSTANT digital access to Quilter s World! Sign up for a one-year digital subscription and you ll get... the current issue instantly!... the next five issues as they come out, one every other month.... two years of back issues (instantly accessible and easily searchable!).... all of the articles and patterns with enlargeable type and images. Zoom in on text and photos! Get your digital subscription to Quilter s World right now! Find out more at Digital.Quilters-World.com

5 Christine Bethea adjusts her grandmother s crazy quilt that she slept under as her grandmother quilted. It is displayed in front of a Conestoga Wagon circa The story behind the wagon is that George Fleck used this wagon to move his family across the Allegheny Mountains to western Pennsylvania in person in one generation and completed by a person in another. You d never think of finishing a Picasso, but quilters consider it an honor to finish a quilt started by another person, says Christine Bethea, quilt artist and historian. There were many mother/ daughter teams. One quilt was comprised of appliqué blocks made by a mother in Montana during the 1920s and 30s from leftover dress scraps. Dresses for the Sunbonnet Ladies include feedsack fabrics from the Great Depression. Fifty years later the blocks inspired daughter, Barbara Mecklenburg, to become a quilter at age 71. Barbara became an active and muchloved member of our guild for 10 years, says Hartman. The stories behind the quilts are as diverse as the quilters, says Bethea, who also coordinated an exhibit of African-American heritage quilts for the museum. The display includes one of her family favorites, a crazy quilt created by her grandmother. I played and slept under that quilt as my grandmother was quilting it, she says. Museum Shows Have Impact Bethea knows the impact a museum exhibit can hold. Twenty years ago I was at a quilt show at a museum when that memory of playing beneath that quilt hit me. I said, Oh, yeah, I do have warm and fuzzy memories of quilts. It changed my life s pattern, says the former advertising writer, who now teaches quilting and owns an art studio. It is hoped that memories of the Quilter s Weekend will also inspire new quilters as it leads to a deeper appreciation for the art. Quilting is one of the few things that even those who don t sit and work on quilts get as much enjoyment from it as those who do, says Blanchette. QW Go to org to get more information about the 2010 event.