Great Lakes Native Quilting

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PICTURED: Strawberries and Flowers, Alice Olsen Williams (Anishnaabeg), 1991. Cotton and cotton/polyester fabric with polyester filling.

SCHEDULE FOR 2008-09:

Kalamazoo Valley Museum
Kalamazoo, Michigan
September 20, 2008 - January 25, 2009

This exhibition has been displayed at the following sites: Crooked Tree Arts Center, Petoskey, MI; Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, IN; Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, MI; Newaygo County Council for the Arts, Fremont, MI; Sloan Museum, Flint, MI.

Great Lakes Native Quilting is the first exhibition devoted to North American Indian quilting in the Great Lakes region. Organized by curator of folk arts Marsha MacDowell, the exhibit grew out of work for the Michigan State University Museum's previous major national research and exhibition project on Native quiltmaking in North America and Hawaii.

This exhibit examines the historical introduction of quilting as well as the contemporary use and meaning of quilts made by Oneida, Odawa, Potawatomi, Ojibwa, and Mohawk quiltmakers living in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, New York, and Ontario. It showcases the diversity of Native quiltmaking and pays tribute to the artists who continue to work in this expressive cultural medium.

The sixteen quilts included in the exhibit are primarily drawn from the Michigan State University Museum collection with additional loans from other private and public collections. The exhibit also includes photographs of quilters and quilting activities, biographical sketches of contemporary quilters, explanatory text panels, and four contextual settings which visually demonstrate the uses of quilts in Great Lakes Native communities, both historically and today.

This exhibition is eligible for funding through the Michigan Humanities Council's Arts and Humanities Touring Program. For more information, click here.

Rental fee
(8-week period): $4,500, plus shipping

Number of pieces: 16

Running feet required: 850 square feet, plus 200 linear feet of wall space

Insurance Value:
$30,000

Security requirement: Lockable, limited access display area; trained guards or comparable protection system; provisions to prevent public from touching objects; object handling by museum professionals; temperature and light controls; fire protection according to local ordinances

Additional materials available: Lectures; educational materials; related publications for resale; press materials.

Rental fee (8-week period):	$4,500, plus shipping
Number of pieces:	16
Running feet required:	850 square feet, plus 200 linear feet of wall space
Insurance Value:	$30,000
Security requirement:	Lockable, limited access display area; trained guards or comparable protection system; provisions to prevent public from touching objects; object handling by museum professionals; temperature and light controls; fire protection according to local ordinances
Additional materials available:	Lectures; educational materials; related publications for resale; press materials.

To purchase the publication, To Honor and Comfort: Native Quilting Traditions and other merchandise from the Michigan Traditional Arts Program Store, Click Here.

This traveling exhibition is a Michigan State University Museum, Michigan Traditional Arts Program activity supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, Jeffrey and Kitty Cole, and the MSU Office of the Provost.

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This is an activity supported by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs