Press Room --

Renowned Quilt Expert Sandy Schweitzer to Speak at ISM Lockport Gallery

LOCKPORT—The Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery’s “Sunday Series” of free public programs continues in conjunction with the current exhibition Amish & “English”: Quilts from the Illinois State Museum Collection.  The Museum is pleased to present “Women Speak with Needle and Thread,” a lecture by renowned quilt expert Alexandra “Sandy” Schweitzer on Sunday, May 22, 2011.   The presentation begins at 2:00 pm and will last approximately one hour.  Reservations are not required; seating is limited.  Doors open at noon. Admission is free.  

In her lecture and trunk show “Women Speak with Needle and Thread,” Sandy Schweitzer examines women’s views and issues as visually expressed through their quilting from the mid-1800s to the present.  For Schweitzer, quiltmaking represents a vital statement in the role that women have played—and continue to play—in our collective history. Their quilts are the visual expression of these statements and opinions relating to a range of ideas including the women’s movement and suffrage, temperance, politics, war, the environment, and community service.  Structured with a trunk show, Ms. Schweitzer will demonstrate the information provided in her lecture with examples of quilts from her personal collection.  Sandy Schweitzer is an American Quilter’s Society (AQS) Certified Quilt Appraiser, quilt historian, teacher and quiltmaker and is based in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

The exhibition Amish & “English”: Quilts from the Illinois State Museum Collection showcases full-sized quilts dating from 1870 thru 1950 by thirteen different makers including Illinois Amish and those outside of their community, who the Amish call “English.” The quilts are exhibited in pairs that reveal similarities and differences in fabrics, techniques, colors, formats and patterns and are on view through September 16, 2011.   

The Illinois State Museum fine and decorative arts collections are housed in Springfield and number in the thousands.  The collection includes over 400 quilts, reflecting not only the trends in quiltmaking over 175 years but the artistry and craftsmanship of Illinois quiltmakers. Over 90 percent of the quilts in the Museum’s collection were created by Illinois quiltmakers, including 150 quilts by Illinois Amish, a community in east central Illinois, near Arthur.