Last week at Winterthur, Linda Eaton announced that the entire textile collection is being photographed and will be available for viewing via computer in the near future. So, Devon, they have anticipated your wishes. They have always had wonderful staff photographers, skilled in bringing out the best in any object photographed. Evidence of this are the very lovely photos in publications Winterthur produces. You may like to know, Devon, that Amelia Peck, a Metropolitan Museum of Art Curator, was one of the presenters in the morning auditorium sessions, speaking about Candace Wheeler (1827-1923) who was the first woman to lead an American decorating firm, having started earlier in her career as a partner in a Tiffany business venture. This talk was "Making Art Embroidery Work for Women". Devon - Tricia Wilson Nguyen, Owner of Thistle Threads (mentioned several times in old Arachne correspondence) spoke about "Professional vs. Amateur: The Economics of Embroidery". This was fascinating. Nguyen conceived of, and led the making of a reproduction 17th Century embroidered jacket at Plimoth Plantation a few years ago. Devon made some of the gold lace on the jacket, styled after the famous surviving Layton jacket in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The V and A also owns a portrait of Layton wearing the jacket. What I realized the first time I viewed these 2 items in London was that the gold lace on the jacket and in the portrait were from different patterns. Probably the original became worn and was replaced on the jacket, with the old gold lace being melted down for re-use. When you want to buy silk and gold threads, Thistle Threads in the state of Massachusetts is one place to shop. Arlene - Yes, I took the second of two sessions of "Luxury Lives in the Details" workshop you described. Agree that the presenter, a cataloguer of Museum Collections was inexperienced and hesitant - quite unusual for Winterthur, which has always had very impressive experts on all the American Decorative Arts. I kept wishing she could come to Maine for some one-on-one time with me. The library of 4,000+ books I have collected would not exist, had I not spent a very educational week at Winterthur half a lifetime ago. It was a jointly-sponsored program Winterthur/EGA (offered to Embroiderers' Guild of America members). Only about a dozen people participated, and it has never been repeated. It greatly advanced my personal interests: Embroidery, Lace, Textiles used in period rooms, Conservation & Restoration, Collecting books and collecting textiles. Everyone should be so lucky. Further, I would like to mention that quite a few paid members of the staff in high positions are women, with Linda Eaton holding one of the most prestigious. Just saying....how nice it is. Arlene - I practice what I preach. That means I wear lace. It is a great way to start a conversation. Someone: please write a response to this, so that people who do not receive AOL mail will know to look at the Arachne Archives for it. Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center --------------------------------------------------------- In a message dated 10/17/2016 2:43:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
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 do not think they are all photographed....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....There is a handkerchief made this way at the Metropolitan Museum http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/221695 Devon -------------------------- From: Arlene Cohen Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2016 1:30 PM Subject: [lace] Ithaca Lace and Winterthur Needlework Symposium (I have deleted the Ithaca content that was part of this memo. Jeri) Dear all, ....I journeyed down to Winterthur in Delaware for a fabulous needlework symposium. A few pieces of related lace content to report here. 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. I very much admired the lace she was wearing around her neck and dangling from her ears! I had on my needlework necklace, showcasing the beauvais stitch, from France. 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. (Jeri, did you attend this workshop?) One of the pieces they had out was a beautiful bobbin and needlelace collar. Winterthur does not have much of these laces in their collections (you can go to their collections online and do a search)... The majority was bobbin lace, although the circular medallions were clearly needle lace. There are large open areas with a very loose looking mesh - my guess is that those are threads from some early conservation work years ago. Those three areas are so odd looking, I'm guessing the mesh or the ground that was originally there just simply went at some point and some sort of stabilizing ... was created. The cataloguer in charge of this workshop and showing these items did know know much about this piece. 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/
