Sunday @ The Bower Museum

17th August, 2010 - Posted by cmwhitten - No Comments

On Sunday my family and I, along with some friends, attended the Bower Museum in Santa Ana. I was on a mission to see the quilt exhibit they currently have on display before it comes to an end in January.

The exhibit was smaller than I had expected but was nevertheless a nice sampling of quilts representative of a bygone era. We met the Docent of this exhibit who answered all of our questions and was very knowledgeable about quilting; even though she admitted to only being an admirer and not a quilter herself.

 

 After we were done looking at the quilts, we wandered through the rest of the museum – permanent collections depicting California history, along with paintings, sculpture, jewelry and myriad artifacts from Asia and Meso-America. Borneo and the Pacific Islands were also prominently represented at the Bower.

I was struck by something the docent said to me during our visit: she referred to quilting as an artform — and having given this a lot of thought, I believe she is most definitely right. As a quilt designer, I often downplay samples and quilts that I give away as gifts to family and friends. But when you consider all of the steps involved in making a quilt, it is by no means a small undertaking. From the selection of a pattern and the fabric, to the cutting and piecing. Often times we are working on many different projects simultaneously and typically have a pile of unfinished quilt tops at any given time. But when we get the quilt top completed and have finished sewing on the binding, we let out a sigh of satisfaction — behold the art we have created!

I know from my own personal experience and from that of my quilting pals that we are always excited to share our finished work with others. We will often take a quilt to a guild meeting for Show and Tell. The time and effort that has gone into producing this piece of art is validated in the positive feedback from our peers; and the epithany that we have truly created something to be proud of quickly follows.

It doesn’t matter if your seams don’t match exactly or if you have some other minor imperfection! What you have created can be considered a unique piece of art that will be cherished for many generations to come.

As I witnessed at the Bower Museum, color preference or style and the degree of expertise can vary from person to person; but whatever your skill level, each of us has something unique to contribute to the art of quilting; along with an obligation that ensures the great quilting tradition lives on for future generations.

Have a great week!