Organized by the American Textile History Museum in association with the Center for Appalachian Studies and Services at the East Tennessee State University, and the Kentucky Folk Art Center at Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky.
Travel venues:
Kentucky Folk Art Center, Morehead State University, Morehead, KY
June 24 - September 23, 2001
McClung Museum, University of Tennessee and East Tennessee Historical Society, Knoxville, TN
October 5, 2001 - February 3, 2002
North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh, NC
March 7, 2002 - July 7 2002
National Museums of Scotland, The Royal Museum, Edinburgh, Scotland
March 15, 2003 - June 1, 2003
Coverlet (detail) woven by
Eliza Kimball Greever, c. 1830.
West Coast collector and curator of the exhibition Neil S. Vincent selected the head coverings for the show from his extensive collection of costumes and accessories. "These are classic designs that represent the best historic examples of artistry and craftsmanship. They are the purest form of fashion whose only function is to be fashionable," Vincent said.
Forty-three coverlets and a small selection of quilts, clothing, weaving drafts and accessories dating from 1830 to 1930, focus on thirty-two women to trace the important role handweaving played in Appalachian culture as part of a rich, decorative mountain arts tradition. This exhibition brings together the most extensive collection of woven art from the region ever assembled for the public. These art objects offer insight into overshot coverlet weaving with their bold patterns and unusual, bright color combinations. Many of the pieces are being shown for the first time outside the artists' local communities, giving visitors the opportunity to discover the relationship between traditional weaving and contemporary graphic design.
With the exception of Allie Josephine Mast, the weavers whose works are showcased in the exhibition did not consider themselves to be professionals. Some put their creative energies into dyeing and color selection, while others were most interested in pattern design. They used weaving to express their artistic talents and to beautify their homes; they wove coverlets in celebration of important events, or gave them as gifts to their extended families. Although two of the weavers in the exhibit were involved with settlement school craft programs, many southern Appalachian women were unaware of the programs, and wove coverlets for the pure artistry of it. These women continued their "quiet work" long after people in other parts of the country had put away their spinning wheels and looms in favor of factory-made materials.
Appalachia is a region that has long enjoyed a distinctive artistic tradition developed from a unique combination of cultural, social, and geographical circumstances. This exhibition features southern Appalachia, which includes Western North Carolina, Eastern Kentucky, East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, to call attention to the extraordinary, yet little known textile art of this region. Included in the display are family history anecdotes told by the lenders, who are referred to as the "keepers of the cloth." Their stories reveal that many of the weavers made a conscious decision to create beautiful objects for their own pleasure–not out of financial need–dispelling the notion of Appalachia as a poverty-ridden, art poor region. These artistic creations have been held by generations of family members who carefully kept their family stories, records and textiles intact. They survive as testimony to the artists who continued the traditions of their foremothers. As the twenty-first century gets underway, Appalachia is changing with the rapid movement of people in and out of the region, weakening the bonds of family and community memory, and removing the woven objects from their cultural context.
Purposefully twisting fibers into yarns and crossing them into fabric is an action from ancient times. Overshot is a type of weave which can be accomplished on a relatively simple 4-harness handloom, and means that a series of weft threads lie loose or "float" over a plain weave ground to give the material a raised appearance. Even though there is often an illusion of circles, each pattern is actually a geometric grouping of small blocks. Coloration greatly changes the appearance of a pattern. The coverlets featured in this exhibition were woven with wool and cotton yarns. Wool could be dyed before it was carded or after it was spun. Controlling the hue of each color helped define the complexity and character of the design. Proportion, repetition, rhythm, and attention to detail characterize the work as art.
Kathleen Curtis Wilson is an Appalachian scholar, author, and curator. Her research includes Appalachian women's culture, the connection between Appalachia, Scotland and Ireland, and traditional handcrafts. She is currently the Mary Mildred Sullivan Fellow at the Center for Appalachian Studies and Services at East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee. In addition to her work on southern Appalachian textiles, she has studied the settlement school movement. Textile Art from Southern Appalachia is the product of nearly twenty years of research and documentation by her, including repeated interviews with the lenders–who are mostly elderly women descendants of the artists–over the course of this time. She has written the companion book for the exhibition. Wilson will be featured in special speaking programs here and abroad in connection with the exhibition.
This project is supported in part by grants from the Henry Luce Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Cannon Foundation, Inc., and the Lowell Institute.
