September always feels like a new beginning to me, sometimes
even more so than January 1st! It may be the fact that I still have
school aged children, yes 21 and 17, but still having to prepare for the first
day of school and buy those much needed supplies, pencils, pens, notebooks,
folders…..as well as a few new things for the wardrobe and for the 21 year old,
stocking up at Costco on some good food to keep him going for a little
while. Both of my children, young adults, are seniors this year, so it’s the start of a very big year in our
household. Big endings next spring,
which will lead both into big new beginnings a year from now. So chaos has been reigning in my life in more
ways than one! While we have kept Julie chained to the computer working on our
final edits and layouts for the upcoming book, I have popped in and out giving
my yea, nay, how about this….then dashing back to the workroom to create
products for our upcoming releases as well as some new pieces for some special
locations and events.
Fall also brings the start of new exhibits and events in the
Sampler World! Usually making Julie and
I wish we lived somewhere closer to wherever the action is. If you have a special event or activity
coming up that relates to samplers and historic needlework, let us know and we
will be happy to help promote it!
Opening this coming Saturday, September 8th and running
through November 15th, at
The Mercer Museum, Stitches in Time:
Bucks County Needlework Samplers.
Along
with the exhibit will be lectures and a discovery day for samplers…..this
exhibit is being curated by Kathy Lesieur. Stitches in Time will examine over
50 samplers from the Mercer Museum’s permanent collection, many of which have
never been exhibited, as well as borrowed pieces from premiere private
collections and prestigious local museums. The exhibit will feature 18th and
19th century Quaker samplers, exploring how they were influenced by the
English, and comparing these pieces with Pennsylvania German communities and
their methodology of teaching and transference of style and design. Contact the museum for further
information.
We are happy to announce that you will find some special
souvenirs at the museum exclusive to
them created by us, from images in their collection. Hopefully they will arrive in the nick of time for opening, but
we are still waiting for the last of the beads to arrive Tuesday to finish up
one of the special items. I hope you have time to go and see the exhibit and
enjoy some of the special activities they will be offering.
Chester County Historical Society in West Chester, concludes
their exhibit this week on September 7th if you haven’t had a chance
to visit, now is the time, quick!
IN STITCHES: Unraveling Their Stories. Westtown School and Chester County
Historical Society are providing a unique opportunity to see large portions of
their needlework collections in one exhibition.Learn how commonplace pieces become heirloom treasures. Enjoy select samplers and other embroidery
made by girls from Chester County and the surrounding area 200 years ago.
We are proud that you can also find pieces from our
collection and next week exclusive pieces we have designed for the museum shop
from images in theirs and Westtown Schools collection. Great little gifts to share with friends who
were not able to see the show or for you to add to your stitching toys. For more information contact the museum.
Recently I was made aware of an event coming up in 2013, I
have never been to Maine, so it’s very tempting to try and fit into my
schedule. If only Julie might let us loose for a week or so? Time to mark your calendars and see if it
might fit into your schedule too.
SACO Museum January 12 through March 2, 2013
"I MY NEEDLE PLY WITH SKILL": Maine Schoolgirl Needlework of the Federal Era
This is an in-depth look at the complex and lovely
needlework created in Maine by schoolgirls of the late 18th and early 19th
centuries. At a time when advanced academic opportunities for young women were
limited, private academies--often run by women--offered training not only in
academic subjects, but also in the fancy sewing skills that were still of
critical importance to future homemakers of the Federal era. While many of
these schools were well established in southern New England states by the late
18th century, Maine developed private academies a bit later. As these local
academies grew and flourished, new styles of samplers and needlework evolved
that were unique to Maine.
This exhibit both explores that evolution and offers a
glimpse of a period of blossoming female creativity and accomplishment that
transcended the societal limitations on women of the era. About 80 samplers and
other embroideries will be on view, drawn from the collections of the Dyer
Library/Saco Museum as well as other public and private collections in Maine
and beyond. The exhibition will also be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue
with an essay by Dyer Library/Saco Museum Executive Director Leslie Rounds. A
FREE public opening reception will take place.
Contact the museum for further details.
Mark your calendars for May 17 and 18, 2013. The first ever Penn Dry Goods Market Show
and Sale will be held at the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center. There
will be dealers in antiques, vintage textiles, quilts, needlework, linens, clothing,
textiles, accessories and tools, baskets and more. Including “US” In The
Company of Friends will be there with not only our needlework toys, but our
books as well. Some special goodies
just for the show to tempt you as well.
Besides the sellers, there will be lectures, workshops and
classes. How will we fit it into just two days? Candace Perry and Kathy Lesieur will be heading up this
event. For more information call
215.679.3103 or email info@swhwenkfelder.com
If your guild, museum or historical society is in need of a
lecture for an upcoming event or program, Joanne Martin Lukacher will be happy
to schedule her new lecture, “Imitation and Improvement: The Norfolk Sampler
Tradition”.
The image above was kindly provided by and is copyright to The Micheál and Elizabeth Feller Collection. Look for the Micheál and Elizabeth Feller Needlework Collection Volumes I and II at needleprint.blogspot.com
Ms. Lukacher's book of the
same title will be released February 2013 by In The Company of Friends. Ms. Lukacher identifies and interprets a
distinctive body of samplers executed by the girls of Norfolk during a dramatic
time of social and cultural change in the late 18th century
Britain. The motifs and style of these
samplers reveal a rich engagement with textile craft and industry that was both
regional and international in scope.
These works are analyzed for their exquisite beauty and skill and for
the civic, moral, and educational values that they embodied in Norfolk society
from 1730-1830. By closely studying the
intricate and distinguishing features of these samplers, Ms. Lukacher opens up
remarkable vistas onto a complex social landscape and the significant primary
place of textile art within.
Joanne is a native of Savannah, Georgia. She received her
B.A. in Art History from New College before studying architectural history and
historic preservation planning at Cornell University. After twenty years as an historic preservation consultant she
turned her attention to samplers and needlework, interning at the Textile
Conservation Workshop in South Salem, New York and conducting a survey of the
extensive sampler collections at Vassar College where she organized an exhibition
and symposium. Her investigations into
the Vassar sampler collections were published in an exhibition catalogue for
the Francis Lehman Loeb Art Center and in Sampler and Antique Needlework
Quarterly. In addition to the book,
“Imitation and Improvement: The Norfolk Sample Tradition”, her sampler research
is published periodically at the HudsonValleySamplerGuild.blogspot.com
The fee for her lecture is $300 plus travel and, if needed,
accommodations. Please contact Joanne
directly at lukacher@hv.rr.com
to arrange for her lecture.
