Exhibition of Native American Quilts Premieres at Smithsonian

Indian Quilt
"Grand Entry Lone Star Quilt," 1995, by Shirley Grady, New Town, N.D.
Acollection of more than 40 quilts from Native communities throughout North America and Hawaii will be presented in "To Honor and Comfort: Native Quilting Traditions," a traveling exhibition premiering at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in New York City from Oct. 19, 1997, through Jan. 4, 1998. The exhibition's Smithsonian debut launches a two-year nationwide tour to eight cities.

"To Honor and Comfort" is a collaboration between the National Museum of the American Indian and Michigan State University Museum, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Services (SITES), and Atlatl, a nonprofit organization that promotes the arts in Native communities.

Indian Quilt
"Daybreak/Dawn Quilt," 1995, by Charlie and Julia Grinell, Parshall, N.D.
In conjunction with the exhibition, The National Museum of the American Indian has commissioned a quilt to be designed and created by Native quilters, which will become the first Native American quilt in the museum's permanent collection.

Curated by Dr. Kurt Dewhurst, director of Michigan State University Museum, and Dr. Marsha MacDowell, curator of Folk Arts at Michigan State University Museum, the exhibition will examine ceremonial and everyday uses of quilts and the ways in which quilt making strengthens Native communities. By presenting North American and Hawaiian quilts together for the first time, "To Honor and Comfort" aims to illustrate the similarities and differences in the history and meaning of quilts within diverse Native communities. By re-creating Native ceremonies as part of the gallery design, the exhibition team hopes to convey how quilts and quilt making reflect Native cultural heritage and creativity in an everchanging world.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Contact: George Gustav Heye Center
National Museum of the American Indian,
Smithsonian Institution
One Bowling Green
New York, NY 10004
(212) 825-6700;
Web: http://www.si.edu/nmai

Danyelle Means (Oglala Lakota), project manager for the National Museum of the American Indian, explains, "My family and I want to share this ceremony to help non-Native visitors to view the quilt in a traditional context of a living culture."

A 160-page publication, edited by Dewhurst and MacDowell, will accompany the exhibition, featuring 150 documentary photographs, and essays on contemporary and historical quilting traditions, as well as profiles of quilters from around the country. Published by the Museum of New Mexico Press, the book will be sold for $50, cloth, and $35, paper.