Quilts Illustrated: 50 Years of the Black Hills Quilt Show
EXHIBITION
Quilts Illustrated: 50 Years of the Black Hills Quilt Show
On display May 25 – September 22, 2024
The Journey Museum, in partnership with the Black Hills Quilters Guild and the Black Hills Historical Society, announces the opening of a new exhibit, Quilts Illustrated: 50 Years of the Black Hills Quilt Show. The exhibit will open to the public on May 25th and will be on view through September 22, 2024. To welcome the community to the museum, admission to the exhibit is free.
Quilting is an expressive art and craft form popular in America for over 200 years. Quilts uniquely capture human experience and creativity through eye-catching patterns and colorful fabrics. This exhibit celebrates the art of quilting and the cultural impact of the 50th anniversary of Black Hills Quilt Show in Rapid City. Since 1974, the Quilt Show has been a community staple, drawing together thousands of quilters, their families, tourists, and vendors. Each year, the Black Hills Quilt Show offers a one-of-a-kind creative visual experience.
Quilts Illustrated features 27 quilts, ranging from king size to miniatures. They represent the variety of quilt show categories over the past fify years. Visitors will delight in the creativity of area quilters and their quilts made by hand or machine, and designed with a wide range of techniques, patterns, and fabric choices representative of the decades. In honor of quilting history, the exhibit includes an antique and vintage section featuring several Civil War-era quilts and a signature quilt signed in the 1950’s by Rapid City area residents and people from surrounding communities.
Visitors can also closely examine and touch a special “Touch Me Quilt” created by members of the Black Hills Quilters Guild. This quilt was made especially for Journey Museum visitors who want to feel the texture and examine the construction of a quilt, inspiring future quilt makers.
The exhibit also features a special fundraiser in the Feathered Star Quilt, created by Black Hills Quilt Guild members Jean Stenberg and Rebecca Smith. Raffle tickets for the quilt are available for sale at the museum during the exhibit and all proceeds will support the Journey Museum’s exhibition program.
Bright Star Nation
Carol Wilcox
EXHIBITION
Bright Star Nation
Carol Wilcox
On display May 20, 2024 – September 10, 2024
Carol Wilcox is an artistic quilter that witnessed her grandmother, other relatives and friends, gather to make unique pieces. They used what they had on hand in their homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Sewing was often her family’s social and cultural activity. She states her process for quilting is a creative journey and it is as important as the end product. She did not go to a special school as sewing was a part of her family’s everyday life back to the time of buffalo robes.
Currently, Carol willingly shares her techniques and experiences; she teaches at the Artspace Center on Pine Ridge. She even extends lessons for those who stop by her home. “Quilts and blankets replaced the buffalo robes not just for warmth and comfort but also in honoring ceremonies and as special gifts in general. Wrapping a quilt around a person is to honor them and acknowledge those that have gone before. It is a present with depth, an offering of creativity and culture along with acknowledgment to ancestors.” This is why she prefers to make hers in traditional ways and by hand even though there are machines that can do all of it.
She credits the missionaries that arrived and started teaching quilting on the reservation. When they showed the lone star on a quilt, it was readily accepted by the Lakota and other Northern Plains Tribes as they identify as the “Star People.” For this reason, Carol specifically named this collection “Bright Star Nation.”
Prices for the quilts and carriers can be obtained by contacting The Journey Museum at (605) 394-6923. Purchase inquiries after the closing of the exhibition can be directed to the artist at cjwilcox@goldenwest.net.
The Sioux Indian Museum, managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Arts and Crafts Board, is located in the Journey Museum, 222 New York Street, Rapid City, SD 57701. For admission fees and hours of operation please visit https://www.doi.gov/ iacb/our-museums/sioux or call (605) 394-6923.