Eye Candy Quilts

In my last post I ended up at the wonderful Michigan State University Museum where I was lucky to take in two exhibits. The first featured Quilts of Southwest China.

The exhibit closed in East Lansing on May 1 but will begin a national tour. The MSU Museum was the site of the world debut for the exhibit.

The exhibit goes next to  International Quilt Study Center and Museum at University of Nebraska in Lincoln in June.

It's also coming toMathers Museum of World Cultures in Bloomington, Indiana and Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. Check websites for schedules.

The museum at MSU and the Yunnan Nationalities Museum (Kumming) led a bi-national consortium of American and Chinese museums fostering "an effort to document this textile tradition and, at the same time, advance an understanding of the intangible and tangible cultural heritage of China."

Like American quilts, the quilts and bed coverings of China contain intricate patterns and colorful fabrics.

And, they were used for the same reasons -- to cover a bed and those who slept within.

Marsha MacDowell, curator of the exhibit, offered a fascinating interview on the WKAR Radio program, "Current State." If you are a fan of quilting, take a listen!

This isn't the first quilt exhibit MSU has hosted. It has quite an extensive collection of quilts in its permanent folk art collection and has also hosted other quilt exhibits. But this one might have been one of my favorites, with the magnificent colors.



Look closely -- you'll find traditional symbols like dragons and other animals along with the flowers and tucked in the complex patterns.

              
The details are amazing.

              
I'm a quilt collector myself, though I don't venture near quilting myself. All I could say while looking at these was that I wished one or two or ten of them were in my collection!

I leave you with a few details from the quilts -- glorious eye candy!

 

(I confess -- visiting this exhibit almost made me want to pick up a needle!

Next time we'll look at an exhibit that reminded me a great deal of the later years of Downton Abbey!