Making the Australian Quilt 1800–1950
With a needle on cloth, Mary Jane Hannaford preserved her sharp observations of people as stout appliquéd figures set amidst interpretative renditions of Australian animals. Late in life she embroidered favourite verses and slyly captioned her pictures in quilts for her family. Close to one hundred years later, she has a room dedicated to her art in National Gallery of Victoria's exhibition Making the Australian Quilt 1800—1950.
Leslie Levy, Executive Director of the International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska, opened the exhibition with the remark that our familiarity with quilts as domestic items in daily use can discount them as an art form but the choice no longer had to be made between 'utilitarian or on the wall.' Co-curators Katie Somerville (Senior Curator, Fashion and Textiles at NGV) and Dr Annette Gero have honoured the stories and intentions of all the makers, even when unknown.
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Comments (2)
Thanks for reading ABR Arts online.
'The Fabric of Society: Australia's Quilt Heritage from Convict Times to 1960' is a richly detailed book written by Annette Gero, who co-curated the exhibition I wrote about in Australian Book Review. I'd recommend it as a comprehensively splendid overview of the history of patchwork and quilting in Australia, with lavish photographs and bonus patterns to extend the reader's engagement with the subject - it's available from the author's website.
Happy birthday to your mother-in-law!
Margaret Robson Kett
My Mother-in-Law is an avid quilter, part of the British Quilting association. In actual fact quilting is her life. She is soon to turn 80, my husband is flying back to the UK along with his seven siblings spread around the globe to celebrate her birthday.
She has visited us several times in Australia and has been super excited learning about Australian quilts.
I was wondering if you could point us in the direction of a book on the history of Australian quilts.
Many thanks,
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