Winterthur has some very nice pieces of lace in its collection because one of the members of the Dupont family was a member of the Needle and Bobbin Club and her collection has ended up at Winterthur. Pieces from this collection were shown when the members of the IOLI visited Winterthur during the Harrisburg IOLI convention. However, I donât think they are all photographed. (I wrote a little about the collection when I wrote the article about their Downton Abbey exhibit for the IOLI.) One bit of a problem for Winterthur is that the lace in this collection is not American made and Winterthur is supposed to be a museum about American Decorative Arts. However, while there for the Downton Abbey exhibit I took a tour and the guide asked us if we were more interested in American Decorative Arts or in the lives of people like the Duponts during the Gilded Age, and the Gilded Age won the vote at least in my tour group. So, I am hoping that if Winterthur starts to move toward the idea that the collectors like the Duponts were very interesting people, the next step might be photographing and displaying the lace. I think the piece that Arlene directed us to is not the victim of mending. The diamond like braid structure is characteristic of a kind of lace called Valenciennes de Gand in which an enterprising nun in Ghent developed a lace in which orphans of varying skill levels could make motifs that could be assembled into these pieces with this braided mesh background. There is a handkerchief made this way at the Metropolitan Museum http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/221695 Devon
Sent from Mail for Windows 10 From: Arlene Cohen Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2016 1:30 PM To: Arachne Lace Subject: [lace] Ithaca Lace and Winterthur Needlework Symposium Dear all, Here's my little report from my first Ithaca Lace Day/Weekend experience: B first of all, I had a wonderful time! B I can never complain when there is in-person shopping for lace books and threads, raffles for lace-related items, and the opportunity to be with other people who are passionate about what you are passionate about, who 'get' it. B For that, I am grateful. B I got to reconnect with my first lace teacher - I lost touch with her when I moved to NJ about 18 years ago and it was SO good to see her and let her know that she had started me on a great path of lace learning. I loved Allie Marguccio's talk Saturday midday about the OIDFA 2016 event in Slovenia - she is a wealth of knowledge about Slovenia and its history and lace background and so for this major lace event to take place in her family's country of origin, she brought that much more enjoyment and enthusiasm to the table. B For every report and piece shared in every place around the web about the OIDFA events this past summer, it adds to the greater enjoyment for those of us unable to go. B What an amazing event it must have been - in retrospect, I wished I could have been there. Saturday evening, Carolyn Wetzel spoke about a Spanish needlelace of silk and gold. B Here is the easiest way to get an image in many people's mind: B can you picture the book "75x Lace", the book from 2000 celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Rijksmuseum's lace collection (?not sure if I have the wording correct there) in Amsterdam? B The golden lace on the cover is this type of lace, called frisado, as a few other Arachnids have mentioned. B Carolyn has been learning and studying about this lace. B Fascinating connections of history and lace here. As for classes, I did a somewhat unusual thing, which was take one class on Saturday/Sunday (total of 9 hours) and a different class on Monday (6 hours). B This was absolutely perfect for me - I know my style of learning and such and was glad for the opportunity for exposure to two different things that I could then explore further on my own (which I will!) B I had emailed the teachers before signing up, asking if this would be okay, as I had gotten the sense that most people spent the entire 15 hours (if they could indeed stay for Monday, which not everyone can) in one class. Saturday and Sunday I was with Allie Marguccio learning Idrija. B While the focus of this class was intended to get folks thinking about changing colors in Idrija lace, some of us who had never done Idrija before started with a practice sampler of corners. B I moved on to small motif and colored thread and enjoyed immensely learning all that Allie offered and her teaching style. B In addition, I learned about the website http://www.lacepatterns.eu/B where you can purchase individual patterns after looking at the nearly 1500 (!) that are offered. B My order is already on its way to me. On Monday, I joined the Aemilia Ars needlelace class. B I do a lot of needlework in my life and have only dabble a little into the needle laces, so was interested to learn more about this. B Carolyn Wetzel was also a fabulous teacher and I enjoyed immensely the time with needle in hand. B Vickie Green already wrote a great report here on the class. B Although my piece is not yet finished, it is something that I know will be soon and will likely be followed by more needle lace explorations. Just a couple of days after this wonderful lace weekend, I journeyed down to Winterthur in Delaware for a fabulous needlework symposium. B A few pieces of related lace content to report here. B First of all, I got to meet Jeri Ames in person, after reading so many of her helpful words here on Arachne for so long. B I very much admired the lace she was wearing around her neck and dangling from her ears! B I had on my needlework necklace, showcasing the beauvais stitch, from France. B Secondly, one of my afternoon workshops was more or less a "show and tell" session of items from the Winterthur collections of needlework, particularly focused on "luxury", with some great discussion on what that term meant. B (Jeri, did you attend this workshop?) B One of the pieces they had out was a beautiful bobbin and needlelace collar. B Winterthur does not have much of these laces in their collections (you can go to their collections online and do a search), although here is the piece I saw: http://museumcollection.winterthur.org/single-record.php?resultsperpage=60&vi ew=catalog&srchtype=advanced&hasImage=on&ObjObjectName=&CreOrigin=&Earliest=& Latest=&CreCreatorLocal_tab=&materialsearch=&ObjObjectID=&ObjCategory=&DesMat erial_tab=&DesTechnique_tab=&AccCreditLineLocal=&CreMarkSignature=&recid=2002 .0001.001.120&srchfld=&srchtxt=bobbin+lace&id=56c9&rownum=1&version=100&src=r esults-imagelink-only#.WAOuojKZPBI The majority was bobbin lace, although the circular medallions were clearly needle lace. B The large open areas with a very loose looking mesh - my guess is that those are threads from some early conservation work from some years ago. B Those three areas are so odd looking, I'm guessing the mesh or the ground that was originally there just simply gone at some point and some sort of stabilizing something was created. B The cataloguer in charge of this workshop and showing these items did know know much about this piece. Overall, so much in this last week, over these two trips! Arlene C. in NJ - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/ - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
