Texas Quilt Museum
Celebrating an art form in La Grange
Among the first gifts commemorating the birth of each of my children were quilts custom-made by Aunt Jean. Each of my now grown children cherishes the gift and are passing its enjoyment along to their children. Similar stories are told around the globe.
Quilting is a big thing in Texas and around the world. There are over 150 quilt guilds in Texas alone. The largest gathering of quilt practitioners in the world is held annually in Houston at the International Quilt Festival. Many museums across the state also present annual exhibits of quilts. Who can’t appreciate the creativity and skill that goes into making a beautiful quilt? I’ll bet my wife and I are not alone in our effort to preserve and enjoy quilts made by past generations of skilled quilters in our family.
A venue in La Grange, the Texas Quilt Museum, celebrates quilts and quilt making year-round with a series of changing exhibits. It opened in 2011 in a beautifully restored 19th-century storefront within sight of the Fayette County courthouse. This museum was cofounded by Nancy O’Bryant Puentes and Karey Bresenhan, authors of the three-volume series Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts. (The most recent volume was published by the University of Texas Press in 2011.) The three galleries of the museum comprise 10,000 square feet in spaces you’d swear were designed for the display of quilts rather than for an 1890s vintage furniture store.
Left Morning Mist by Linda Anderson. Right The Texas Quilt Museum is housed in two historic 1890s buildings, which provide a showcase for both antique and contemporary quilt art — like Baltimore in Bloom by Sally McGee — with high ceilings, brick walls and original hardwood floors. Recently, the museum welcomed visitors from Chile, bringing the total of countries represented by guests to 52.
On exhibit through March 25 is “Sacred Threads 2015,” which explores themes of spiri-tuality, joy, inspiration, peace, grief and heal-ing. Also on exhibit is “SAA’s Tranquility Exhibition.” It features 26 works from members of the Studio Art Quilt Associates on the theme of tranquility. And finally, “Quilts: A World of Beauty Prize Winners 2016” features 32 award-winning quilts from the prestigious annual Juried Show of the International Quilt Association.
The same aesthetic that’s appreciated through the artistry in the museum can be enjoyed in the period garden – named “Grandmother’s Flower Garden” after a beloved Depression-era quilt pattern – in the adjacent lot. The simple parterre style is typical of “city gardens” in Fayette County and Central Texas constructed around the time of the buildings — 1890 through the 1930s. The garden has four central beds with perimeter beds on three sides. The side of the museum building facing the garden has been taken over by a mural of quilt designs. The formality of the period garden relates well with the formal and colorful quilts depicted in the mural.
