Events for: New England Quilt Museum

The Romantic aesthetic of the 1810 -1860 period embraced the imagination - combining history, nature, religion, and terror into a fascinating mélange expressed in the clothing of the era and influencing fashion design to the present day. The Romantic Movement rejected Enlightenment reason, and embraced instead the imagination and the unknown. Costume of the early 19th century integrates the elements of history, imagination, religion, and even landscape central to the Romantic sensibility. Lynne Z. Bassett examines these influences on women’s clothing from 1810 – 1860, alongside fine and decorative arts of the period and how Romanticism forms the roots of today’s Goth and Steampunk fashion movements.

In our contemporary world of stretchy fabrics and loosely cut clothes, the idea of wearing corsets, hoops, bustles, and hip pads, seems uncomfortable and restrictive. Old photos of tiny waists and tight fitting dresses in museum exhibits look so extreme to modern-day women. How could they function? Weren’t they confined by their clothes? The real story is much more complex. Women had led active full lives for hundreds of years, taking advantage of fashion’s changing shapes to construct their own social identities. Yet by the end of the nineteenth century, with the rise of the women’s suffrage movement and women in the work force leading more independent lives, the corset and the closely-tailored clothes worn over it became symbols of oppression. This talk by clothing historian Astrida Schaeffer explores how women's clothing went from fashion statement to political statement.

Born and raised in Lowell, award-winning author Matt W. Miller will share his newly published collection of poetry, The Wounded for the Water. “In these lyrical meditations, we are witness to our own drowning in family and history, in politics and love. We are dragged across reefs and pounded into the shore, realizing ultimately that the only way to avoid drowning is to embrace the maelstrom and breathe in the water.” Following the author’s reading and discussion, participants can explore the works in H₂Oh!--Vital, Powerful, Sacred Water. This exhibition encouraged quilt and textile artists to interpret one of the most vital resources on earth in their own unique individual style, whether abstract, graphic, or representational.

Laura Petrovich-Cheney is a contemporary sculptor, woodworker and artist who creates wall mounted quilts out of salvaged wood. Inspired by the destruction and loss caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Laura collects pieces of wrecked homes in order to piece them – and people’s memories – together in a new way. In this heartwarming presentation, Laura shares her personal history as a self taught, novice teenage quilter and how her career in the fashion world, experience as an art educator, and ultimately, a devastating hurricane provided the unexpected inspiration for her wood quilts. This lecture complements the NEQM’s exhibition, Wood Quilts: Works by Laura Petrovich-Cheney, on view October 6 through December 31, 2021. Audience members will receive free admission to examine the exhibit.

Tender the River captures in verse the history and legacy of the Merrimack River Valley, from the various indigenous tribes who first settled here, to the European settlers who supplanted them, to being the birthplace of America’s industrial revolution. The Merrimack River Valley has been America in microcosm.

Artist Linda Hoffman saved an orchard and reshaped her life at Old Frog Pond in Harvard, Mass. When she moved to the farm, she didn’t know anything about apple-growing. More than 20 years later, the farm is one of the few organic pick-your-own orchards in New England, as well as a hub for a thriving community of visual artists, writers, and spiritual seekers. Hoffman, a Zen practitioner, and a breast cancer survivor, has now written about her extraordinary journey.

Artist Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord made her first Spirit Book in 1992 and coined the name for the series which now numbers 101. The Spirit Books merge her response to the mystery and miracle of nature with the long-standing tradition of books as testaments of faith and belief. Working with handmade papers, natural materials, beads, and stitching, she has created contemplative objects that straddle the boundary between sculpture and book. Acknowledging the strength and the fragility of nature, they are both celebration and elegy. Susan’s involvement in the arts includes roles as artist, teacher, speaker, writer, designer, and publisher. She works in multiple media with a focus on sculptural bookmaking and calligraphy. Her work has been featured in magazines and books and exhibited across the U.S. and Canada and in South Korea. When Susan lived in North Billerica from 1979 to 1985, she was very involved in the Lowell art scene.

Steampunk is more than an aesthetic; it’s a framework for creating, thinking, and living that draws from the past to envision an alternative future. In this presentation, join artist and Modvic cofounder Bruce Rosenbaum for a deep exploration of understanding and making Steampunk art.

After tracing the roots of the Steampunk genre back to its origins, Rosenbaum looks at its underlying principles and concepts that extend beyond the realm of art—from adaptive reuse and resilience to collaborative and creative problem solving. This lecture offers not only a better understanding of the unique blend of history, art, and technology that lay the foundations for Steampunk design, but also a framework for collaborating and solving problems more creatively.

Rosenbaum’s sculpture of time-traveler Issac Singer Humachine will be on display in the NEQM galleries.