To Honor and Comfort: Native Quilting Traditions
(Interpretive Panel Version)

Click here to see our virtual exhibition, created in 1998 for the original touring version of To Honor and Comfort.

PICTURED: An unidentified Lakota quilter works on a patchwork quilt with Star blocks. Photo courtesy of Buechel Memorial Lakota Museum.

This exhibition has been displayed at the following sites: Akwesasne Museum, Hogansburg, NY; DaimlerChrysler Corporation, Auburn Hills, MI; Dubois Annual Quilt Festival, Dubois, WY; Montcalm Community College, Sidney, MI.

Of the many North American Indian expressive art forms, perhaps one of the least well known is quiltmaking. This exhibition celebrates quilting within diverse communities and pays homage to the artists who have expressed their cultural heritage and creativity through this art. It examines how quilts and quilting-the ceremonies surrounding them, the society of the artists who make them, and the passing on of traditions through quilts- bind neighbors and families within and across generations.

Quiltmaking in Native communities was first learned through contact with Euro-Americans. Native peoples became adept at quilting and began to use quilts for purposes unique to their own cultures. Quilts have been used as bed and shelter coverings, infants' swing cradles, weather insulation, and as soft places to sit on the ground. In some communities, quilts play important roles in tribal ceremonies, such as in the honoring of individuals and as fund-raisers. Native quilters get their design ideas from many sources. Some quilters use the design motifs of their specific tribe or clan or use patterns and colors reflecting close spiritual ties to the natural world.

To Honor and Comfort is a small version of the larger, national touring exhibition of the same name, developed by the Michigan State University Museum and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian. This interpretive panel version is designed for lower security venues which are unable to accommodate either of the larger exhibitions. If a secure environment is provided, a quilt may also be made available for loan.

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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

Rental fee (8-week period) :	$500, plus shipping
Number of pieces:	24 framed interpretive panels
Running feet required:	500 linear feet
Insurance Value:	$5000
Security requirement:	Lockable, limited access display area; fire protection according to local ordinances
Additional materials available:	Lectures; educational materials; related publications for resale; press materials.