Hillary on the Run by Sue Reich
Friday, November 25, 2011
This morning I printed off the documents I made Wednesday night with the images for each category of quilts for the president's exhibition. Then I went upstairs to the gallery and mentally placed the quilts in each area. It was easy to do with the images in front of me. It would help a little bit if I knew exactly which quilts we will have. But, it looks like my plan will work: the quilts with commemorative fabrics will be in the "main gallery hall" at the top of the stairs. Also in that large area will be the quilts that don't fall into a specific category, such as the FDR Donkey Quilt. The "WOW" quilt -- the first one a visitor will see when entering the gallery will be the Historic USA quilt. Pam has seen this quilt and says it is stunning. It has appliqued portraits of all the presidents up to FDR. The first gallery will have the handkerchief quilts and possibly the Lowell crazy quilt on the slant board. The next gallery will have the pictorial-style art quilts. Perhaps I will reverse those two. I'll have to think about that. The next gallery will have the quilts Washington Plume, Harrison Rose, and Whig's Defeat. I wish we had one more of these. The furthest gallery will have the five framed commemorative handkerchiefs that we are borrowing. Most of these relate to campaigns, but one is of presidents that have been assassinated. If we are able to borrow the two signature quilts, they will go in the last gallery and the framed handkerchiefs will probably be hung throughout the gallery.
The other day when Pam found the Hillary on the Run quilt, she asked me if I wanted to include it in the exhibition. She said it was a conservative quilt and would help balance the exhibition. I gave it some thought and decided it would not fit in to the exhibition. My reasoning was that it's not necessarily a conservative quilt -- that is debatable. Also, the pattern is one-of-a-kind as far as I know. I sent an email to Pam Wednesday evening telling her I didn't think it belonged in the exhibition and why.
Thanksgiving Day I received an email back from her which said: "Don't make the mistake that many twenty-first century people do about the importance of named patterns. Nineteenth century quilters named their patterns whatever they chose, and the names varied considerably. It wasn't until the pattern companies got serious in the early 1920's and 30's that there was anything close to a naming convention, and then Brackman sealed it. I will honor your decision if it comes from somewhere else other than the pattern name."
At first her response irritated me. What exactly is she saying, anyway? Is she saying pattern names don't matter? If so, why are we including three other quilts because of their pattern names? I will have to clarify this with her. However, her challenge of my reasoning has given me the opportunity to really look at the quilt and the exhibition and think about the criteria for including a quilt. I think it was a really good exercise. I came up with some pros and cons. Pam will be in the museum tomorrow so I will discuss it further with her.
This morning I printed off the documents I made Wednesday night with the images for each category of quilts for the president's exhibition. Then I went upstairs to the gallery and mentally placed the quilts in each area. It was easy to do with the images in front of me. It would help a little bit if I knew exactly which quilts we will have. But, it looks like my plan will work: the quilts with commemorative fabrics will be in the "main gallery hall" at the top of the stairs. Also in that large area will be the quilts that don't fall into a specific category, such as the FDR Donkey Quilt. The "WOW" quilt -- the first one a visitor will see when entering the gallery will be the Historic USA quilt. Pam has seen this quilt and says it is stunning. It has appliqued portraits of all the presidents up to FDR. The first gallery will have the handkerchief quilts and possibly the Lowell crazy quilt on the slant board. The next gallery will have the pictorial-style art quilts. Perhaps I will reverse those two. I'll have to think about that. The next gallery will have the quilts Washington Plume, Harrison Rose, and Whig's Defeat. I wish we had one more of these. The furthest gallery will have the five framed commemorative handkerchiefs that we are borrowing. Most of these relate to campaigns, but one is of presidents that have been assassinated. If we are able to borrow the two signature quilts, they will go in the last gallery and the framed handkerchiefs will probably be hung throughout the gallery.
The other day when Pam found the Hillary on the Run quilt, she asked me if I wanted to include it in the exhibition. She said it was a conservative quilt and would help balance the exhibition. I gave it some thought and decided it would not fit in to the exhibition. My reasoning was that it's not necessarily a conservative quilt -- that is debatable. Also, the pattern is one-of-a-kind as far as I know. I sent an email to Pam Wednesday evening telling her I didn't think it belonged in the exhibition and why.
Thanksgiving Day I received an email back from her which said: "Don't make the mistake that many twenty-first century people do about the importance of named patterns. Nineteenth century quilters named their patterns whatever they chose, and the names varied considerably. It wasn't until the pattern companies got serious in the early 1920's and 30's that there was anything close to a naming convention, and then Brackman sealed it. I will honor your decision if it comes from somewhere else other than the pattern name."
At first her response irritated me. What exactly is she saying, anyway? Is she saying pattern names don't matter? If so, why are we including three other quilts because of their pattern names? I will have to clarify this with her. However, her challenge of my reasoning has given me the opportunity to really look at the quilt and the exhibition and think about the criteria for including a quilt. I think it was a really good exercise. I came up with some pros and cons. Pam will be in the museum tomorrow so I will discuss it further with her.
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