Last-Minute Art Getaways: ‘Let Me Quilt One More Day’

From traditional to contemporary, see 250 years of American quilts.

Kate Themel, New Year’s Eve (2012), fiber/textiles, 44" x 41"
Photo: Courtesy of the artist

Needleworkers, textile artists, and anybody who appreciates folk art and the decorative arts might want to catch the final days of “Let Me Quilt One More Day,” closing Sunday, January 4, at the New Britain Museum of American Art. (artnet News readers might recall the NBMAA from “Get Outta Town! 30 Art Day Trips”). We’ve done the research for you, so off you go.

What: Encompassing 250 years of American quilt-making, this show includes more than 40 quilts from before 1776 up through the present day. They were gathered from museums (including the New Haven Museum and Historical Society and the Fenimore Art Museum), private collectors, and artists under the advisement of quilt authority Lynne Z. Bassett. NBMAA director Dr. Douglas Hyland places his museum’s exhibition along the continuum that is the evolution of the modern quilting movement and credits “Abstract Design in American Quilts,” a 1971 exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, with “open[ing] ‘our eyes to the power of quilts as art.’”

When: The museum is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11 AM to 5 PM; Thursday from 11 AM to 8 PM.; Saturday from 10 AM to 5 PM.; and Sunday from noon to 5 PM.

Where: The New Britain Museum of American Art, at 56 Lexington Street, New Britain, Connecticut.

Why: Quilting is to textile arts what baseball is to American athletics.

Perks: If you want to spend the night in a 19th-century New England country manor, Simsbury 1820 House, an historic inn set on a hill overlooking in Simsbury, Connecticut, is a half-hour’s drive north.

How: From New York by car it’s about two hours via I-684 North and I-84 East. From New York by train, it’s about two-and-a-half hours to the closest Amtrak station, in Kensington, from where you can take a four-mile cab ride to the museum. This works great as a day trip.

 


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