Inspiration: Quilt National '09 Exhibit

I mentioned yesterday that I took a little field trip. Almost daily I drive by most of the museums in my area and noticed that one of them is showing an exhibit from the Quilt National '09. I kept thinking I needed to go and since it ends this weekend, I finally made it there.

The museum that is showing it is quite unique, so this post is going to be about it as well.

We have a few art museums and an air museum, but we also have one dedicated to the history of the county and a ship that was built in the 1970's and early 1980's. I don't want to go into all the details here so please check out the full story here on their website. The man who built the ship wanted to sail it from Lake Superior in Duluth to Norway. He called it the Hjemkomst, which means homecoming in Norwegian, and built it himself with the help of some friends. He was diagnosed with cancer while working on it and sadly, he did die before seeing through with the sailing of it. His family, however, did make it a point to sail to Norway in his honor. Now the ship is on display here and is pretty much the landmark for my hometown. I have been to the museum so many times over the years and still enjoy going from time to time to see the other exhibits.

A newer replica to the museum is of a stave church which was built on the site a few years ago. I have yet to be inside of it and one day I will. The outside is just amazing and really pays tribute to the large population of Norwegian descendents. (I am personally about a quarter Norwegian and a fraction Danish, so I grew up surrounded by Scandinavian items.)

Anyway. I have a soft spot for unique museums and feel blessed to be near one. Do you live near a museum that celebrates a specific cultural group? Or a museum built around a unique item?

The main reason I went, like I mentioned, was to see the quilts on display. I didn't get photos of all of them, mostly because of the poor lighting, but there also were fewer than I was expecting and I would say about half of them were not interesting to me.

This quilt is an abstract representaion of a display of embroidery floss. I had a "why didn't I think if that?" moment when I saw it.

This is made up of yo yos on a background. Seeing it opened my mind to how versitle they really are. I don't always care for some of the traditional uses for them, but this.. oh the possibilites!

These squares are only a couple inches each. So much detail in them.

The one thing I really got out of this exhibit was examining the quilts up close. What you don't see when viewing all the fabulous pieces online is construction. And if the person who made it doesn't go into detail, it's hard to figure out how it was put together. In person, it's possible to see those things. I will definately be keeping my eyes open for other exhibits and shows in my area. I know the quilt guild here does a show and I have thought about joining them. I looked over their website though and most of the work online is not me. I suppose I could always go to a meeting to check it out further. It would be nice to have face-to-face interaction with other quilters in addition to all of you!