Hello, all - Yesterday, I drove down to Winterthur, a duPont family estate turned museum and gardens for the public to enjoy. Henry Francis du Pont collected many things, but with a focus on American Decorative Arts, it is a place that I imagine many on this list would enjoy visiting.
Devon wrote about Winterthur in the most recent IOLI Bulletin, specifically about the special Downton Abby costume exhibit that is there. I had wanted to get to see this exhibit, although felt no need to join the rush of crowds when it first opened. In fact, I specifically waited until now so that I could see a new exhibit, The Diligent Needle, on needlework. Winterthur seems to be on a three year cycle of needlework exhibits and connects them with a needlework symposium they have. I went to the one in 2008 (couldn't go in 2011 nor will be able to go this October). But, I knew I wished to see this exhibit, if nothing else for the appreciation of pieces made by hand. I was able to purchase a booklet ($7.95) in the gift shop that is basically the entire exhibit, signage and all. Love when a place produces something like this. Given that the exhibit just opened a week ago and that there is SO much focus on the Downton Abby exhibit, there isn't much on the website about this exhibit and perhaps not likely to be more than what is there. But, I thought some folks on this list would be interested to know more. The introduction covers it well: "For centuries, instruction in needlework was an important part of the a young woman's education. Both plain sewing and fancy embroidery required considerable time and effort to learn. As a result, women took great pride in their work. Needlework skills might be used to earn a living, to embellish clothing and household furnishings, or to simply create objects of beauty." The exhibit is divided into four categories: Diligence, Profit, Pleasure, and Ornament. No lace, but lovely things to look at. HOWEVER, here is the bobbin lace part of my day: Winterthur has two gift shops, one of them really more bookstore. Its area of needlework/quilting/rugs/textiles is always worth looking through. There were two books about collecting antique laces (Heather Toomer's big Antiques Laces book and another titled Graced By Lace) - from Devon's article, I know that there are at least a few pieces of lace in the Winterthur collections. However, sitting next to these two books was a copy of "Traditional Bedfordshire Lace" by Barbara Underwood, the one with the picture of a woman's head with a lace covering. Bobbin lace instruction, patterns, everything and totally out of place for the type of books they have there. I just laughed to myself and assumed that someone had ordered it by title alone and didn't realize how specific it was to instruction in bobbin lace, which is quite different than some of the other embroidery instruction books they had on the shelf. I wonder how long it will sit there. Anyway, if you are able to get to Winterthur, it really is a great place to visit - wandering the grounds and gardens, seeing the collections in the museum/house, and taking in the special exhibits. Oh, and even in the exhibit space on the first floor, that doesn't change much, they seem to rotate objects. In that space, duPont's collections are divided into things like Furniture, Metalwork, Ceramics, Paintings, and, of course, Textiles. In the textile area was a lovely whitework shawl that I don't think I had seen in my previous visits there. Off to work on my lace on this rainy and overcast day, arlene in NJ - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
