Lincoln museum celebrates National Quilting Day

During International Quilting Day a Lincoln Museum celebrates women.

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN)- Lincoln’s own quilt musuem celebrated International Quilting Day alongside International Women’s Month today.

Carolyn Ducey, Artist B. James curator of collections, sifted through the history of women and the art form of quilting, which tells the stories of generations.

“Quilting is so important to women and to the International women’s month because it was one of the few art forms that women were allowed to participate in and really it’s a functional artwork so really they were making something of use, but what we find is even as they were making something that had a function to it, it still was still their art form, it was their special piece,” Ducey said.

There are currently moer than 7,000 quilts being stored at the IQM with 61 countries and cultures represented.

Ducey says that the quilts in the collection have surpassed the threshold of time for these women.

“A lot of the quilts we have in the collection have never been used, have never ever been washed because it was that woman’s masterpiece and that’s what it meant to her and so even within that structure of what was expected of women, women lavished time and attention in their art, in their calling to create art which I think is a universal thing,” Ducey said.

Executive Director of the American quilty study group Carrie Dell spoke about how the quilts tie into International Quilting Day.

“So there’s something about quilts that is very accessible to people and so they’re just drawn to them in a really wonderful way and when you can then take that curiosity and translate it through all of the research we’ve do and the knowledge that we have and the support we give to people that are still continuing the traditions today, it’s just a very gratifying thing that we can do here at the museum,” Dell said.