World’s largest quilt museum sends traveling exhibit to Cincinnati

She’s right — thoughts of quilts may make folks think of being comfy, warm and blanketed in love.

“Indigo and the Art of Quiltmaking,” the current exhibit at the museum, focuses on quilts that incorporate indigo, a dye many of us know well since it’s traditionally been used for blue jeans. The historic dye, derived from plants, turns blue when oxidized. You’ll see both natural and synthetic indigo in the exhibition that’s open through Jan. 11.

The 20 beautiful quilts on display — created from the early 1800s to 2015 — showcase a range of dyeing techniques as well as the skill and artistry of the women who created them. All are handmade and each one incorporates fabric dyed with indigo.

Fuller has given a number of tours for this show and said there are always a few quilters in each of the tour groups.

The background

“We did a quilt show from the International Quilt Museum in Nebraska in 2017 and it was quite popular and we thought it was time do another one,” Fuller said. “In general, at the Taft, we try to present a variety of different media. We’ve had both costume and clothing exhibits and we find people really enjoy textile shows.”

Fuller thinks visitors respond differently to fabric and textiles because quilts and clothing feel more personal.

“They feel more tactile and lots of people have their own special quilts in their family or ones that someone special has made for them. My grandmother taught me how to knit and sew when I was a kid. I still have several treasured blankets she knitted, one of her cross-stitch pieces, and a quilted pillow she made when my older daughter was born.”

Although most of the quilts on display are American, Fuller also requested that quilts from other countries be included so you’ll see a quilt from Nigeria, from India and from Japan.

Fuller has added a local touch to the traveling show. She commissioned local artist Devan Horton to create five pieces of fabric using different indigo dyeing techniques that visitors can touch and feel. In addition, you’ll see a video of Horton dyeing a piece of fabric in an indigo dye bath.

Fuller said her favorite artifact in this show is the “String Squares” quilt.

“I like it because it has a beautiful lively design and it’s very colorful,” said Fuller. “And also because we know more about the quilt maker and her fascinating life.”

Born in North Carolina to formerly enslaved parents, Rella Hall Thompson pieced together recycled fabrics from old clothing and drapery to create this design and often quilted with cotton twine left over from tying tobacco leaves together for curing. She made two or three quilts each winter, when farm chores were less demanding.

Visiting the quilt museum

In the fall of 2007, my Dayton Daily News editor asked me to travel to Lincoln, Nebraska, to meet and interview the woman who’d been hired to take over as director and CEO of the Dayton Art Institute.

Jan Driesbach was a gracious host, showing me not only the Sheldon Memorial Art Museum on the University of Nebraska campus where she’d been serving as director, but sharing other highlights of her city as well.

Visiting the International Quilt Museum was a special treat. The museum has the largest public collection of quilts in the world.

It all started when Ardis and Robert James gifted their collection of 1,000 historic and innovative quilts and eventually resulted in the construction of a 37,000-square-foot building on the University of Nebraska’s east campus.

“The museum now holds nearly 9,000 quilts spanning three centuries and 60 cultures,” said Driesbach, who is now living in Cleveland. She served the DAI from 2008-2011 and retired from her role as chief curator of the Akron Art Museum in 2017.

Driesbach has an intimate connection to indigo. She said she has “played around” with weaving at Praxis Fiber Workshop in Collinwood, Ohio, where they grow and process indigo.

“At first, Praxis used volunteers to assist in harvesting the indigo,” she said. “Then when COVID prevented people from assembling, Praxis sought out volunteers to raise indigo to great response. My husband, John, and I were among the people who participated in 2020 and were invited to use the dye that we had contributed to the following year.”

The dye at Praxis is used by both artists and students. A community banner from the center was among the pieces displayed an exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati.

“It’s fun creating your own dyes with natural materials — indigo, marigolds, cochineal,” Driesbach said. “Beautiful vibrant colors and much better for the environment than industrial dyeing processes.”

What is indigo?

Indigo, an ancient botanical pigment, produces shades of blue from pale sky to inky midnight. Most natural dyes yield warm earth tones that fade away relatively quickly, but indigo’s distinctive, cool hues are colorfast; they may lighten over time but always remain blue.

For thousands of years, people around the world have treasured indigo-dyed textiles for their dreamy color and resistance to fading. Each one incorporates fabric dyed with indigo.

Making a quilt

Quilts contain three layers: a top and backing of fabric, with padding sandwiched in between. Quilting means stitching all three of these components together.

While a quilt backing is usually plain, quiltmakers showcase their artistry in the quilt top, often sewing many small pieces of fabric together in geometric designs, which is called piecing or patchwork, according to the Taft Museum.

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