Colonial Williamsburg readies two shows of historic textiles

Log cabin show quilt, Geneva Luela Richards Graves (1862-1915), Hampshire County, Massachusetts, circa 1890, silks, metal bangles, wool, silk and metallic fringe and cotton foundation. Gift of Karen W. Cox, 2020.609.5
Log cabin show quilt, Geneva Luela Richards Graves (1862-1915), Hampshire County, Massachusetts, circa 1890, silks, metal bangles, wool, silk and metallic fringe and cotton foundation. Gift of Karen W. Cox, 2020.609.5
Log cabin show quilt, Geneva Luela Richards Graves (1862-1915), Hampshire County, Massachusetts, circa 1890, silks, metal bangles, wool, silk and metallic fringe and cotton foundation. Gift of Karen W. Cox, 2020.609.5

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Two new textile exhibitions will open at the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg on December 3, and are sure to delight museum visitors. Stitched in Time: American Needlework, an exhibition of nearly 60 examples of bedrugs, whitework, embroidered hand towels, quilted petticoats, samplers, mourning and commemorative needlework, crewelwork, needlework with religious and geographical influences as well as sewing accessories, will remain on view through January 2, 2025 at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum. Additionally, an entirely new rotation of objects in the popular exhibition The Art of the Quilter that opened in 2021 will feature 15 pieces, 12 of which are recent acquisitions that have never before been displayed. This configuration of the exhibition, which will remain on view through August 2023 at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, will include 11 large quilts, one woven coverlet and three doll-size quilts that tell stories about people from America’s past and the societies in which they lived.

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Encore! Colonial Williamsburg shows how Americans once made music

Harpsichord, Jacob Kirkman, London, England, 1762. Museum purchase, 1997-76

 

Harpsichord, Jacob Kirkman, London, England, 1762. Museum purchase, 1997-76

Harpsichord, Jacob Kirkman, London, England, 1762. Museum purchase, 1997-76

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Making Music in Early America, an exhibition opening on August 20 in the Mark M. and Rosemary W. Leckie Gallery at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, one of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, will envelop visitors in the musical world of the 18th and 19th centuries.

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Colonial Williamsburg receives rare 19th-century Navajo chief’s blanket

Chief’s Blanket, Navajo Nation, 1865-1870; Warp: native handspun wool, Weft: native handspun wool and raveled wool; gift of Rex and Pat Lucke, 2021.609.5. Photo credit: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Chief’s Blanket, Navajo Nation, 1865-1870; Warp: native handspun wool, Weft: native handspun wool and raveled wool; gift of Rex and Pat Lucke, 2021.609.5. Photo credit: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Chief’s Blanket, Navajo Nation, 1865-1870; Warp: native handspun wool, Weft: native handspun wool and raveled wool; gift of Rex and Pat Lucke, 2021.609.5. Photo credit: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — As America honors Native American Heritage Month in November, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation announces that it has received a rare Navajo First Phase Chief’s Blanket from the late classic period (1865-1870) in the terraced style. The weaving is the first of its kind to enter the foundation’s collection and joins two Navajo pictorial weavings that were acquired in 2019.Continue reading