Going West At Smithsonian American Art Museum

Exhibition "Going West! Quilts and Community", Oct. 5, 2007 - Jan. 21, 2008, at Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street N.W. Farragut North (Red line) and Farragut West (Blue and Orange lines) Metrorail stations.

"Going West! Quilts and Community" reveals the essential role that quilts and the making of quilts played in the lives of women on the frontier. The Great Platte River Road was the principal route for America's western expansion as early as the 1830s. Pioneers headed for a new life in the Nebraska Territory packed their wagons with necessities that almost always included quilts.

Quilts served an important purpose along the difficult journey, whether used as sturdy domestic bedding along the trail or packed tenderly in the trunk as a tie to all that had been left behind. Independent curator Sandi Fox is the guest curator for the exhibition, which will feature more than 50 quilts.

"Going West! Quilts and Community" is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum with generous support from Helen and Peter Bing.

The accompanying catalog, written by Sandi Fox, is forthcoming in 2007.

By www.americanart.si.edu