Quilting Stories will show how 19th- and 20th-century Ohio quilters used fabric and thread to tell stories about family, heroes, healing, celebrations and even political causes. The exhibition opens June 1 at the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus and runs through Oct. 12.
“The quilts in the exhibit will cover about 200 years of quilting in Ohio,” says Leslie Floyd, curator of history at the Ohio Historical Society who helped assemble the exhibit. “Visitors will get to see several quilts that have been added to our collections in the last few years as well as long-time favorites like the Phebe Cook quilt and others that tell compelling stories and exhibit beautiful craftsmanship.”
Although Quilting Stories will feature just 22 of the more than 400 quilts in the Ohio Historical Society’s collection, these quilts, which range from traditional to contemporary, have a common thread „Ÿ all are excellent examples of the art of quilting and storytelling by Ohio quilters.
“This show will have some of the best quilts in terms of technique and style from our collections,” Floyd says. “Just as interesting, each quilt has a message — whether it was about love, friendship, happiness or political endorsement — that the quilter felt was important to immortalize in cloth.”
Every quilt reflects a choice of fabric, design and content, and often the quilter makes these choices to relay a narrative. It is these quilts that are featured in Quilting Stories: a proud mother fashions a quilt to honor her daughter’s marriage in 1858, and stitches into it her hope that it will be passed through the generations to relatives that neither of them will ever know; members of the Ladies’ Aid Society record the story of their community by stitching family names, remembrances of departed friends and relatives and past ministers of their church as well as Ohio governors and presidents - all to raise money to build a new church 120 years ago; and more.
The stories are as rich and varied as the quilts themselves and are proof positive of the creativity and inventiveness of their makers.
Two contemporary quilts that will be on display at the Ohio Historical Center are the winner of Ohio’s bicentennial quilt contest in 2003 and the World Peace quilt made in Bucyrus, which was selected by UNICEF for its 1993 European greeting card collection. Visitors also will get to see a quilt containing the signatures of famous Ohioans, such as Bob Hope, George Voinovich and Phyllis Diller, and a quilt assembled completely from materials made by members of the Society of Separatists of Zoar in the late 1800s.
Quilting became more common in America in the 1840s, when the American textile industry was able to supply fabric to most families at reasonable prices. Nineteenth-century women made quilts to express themselves artistically, to demonstrate their skills and to participate in a social network that extended beyond their own households. Some of the early quilts on display demonstrate that the fabric used in them was new, not used, and their condition suggests that they were made to be admired, rather than put to work.
In the early 20th century, quilt patterns and kits became popular among women who had less time to spend on needlework, but who nevertheless wanted to find an outlet for their creativity. During the Great Depression, magazines promoted quilting as a way to stay fashionable while being frugal. It was also a way to help family finances. Women in rural and urban areas did piecework, quilting and attached borders for pay.
Quilting enjoyed resurgence in the last quarter of the 20th century and continues to be a medium in which fiber artists all over the world express their creativity and tell their stories. In fact, in response to popularity of quilting, the Ohio Historical Society has stitched together a trio of quilt shows at its museums statewide for 2008. In addition to Quilting Stories, the National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center in Wilberforce is showing Quilting African American Women’s History: Our Challenges, Creativity, and Champions, which features more than 100 contemporary quilts telling the stories of African-American women through Nov.8. Running from June 17 through Jan. 4, 2009, at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, is Patterns from the Past: Quilts of Northern Ohio. This exhibit shows how the mingling of quilting styles reflects the varied customs and ethnic traditions of Ohio’s early settlers.
For more information, visit www.ohiohistory.org/quilts or call 800-686-6124.
Cutline: Featured in the Ohio Historical Center’s featured exhibition Quilting Stories, the Ohio Bicentennial Quilt won a statewide contest in 2003. It is constructed of pieced and appliqué blocks.