| Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,
New Brunswick, Newfoundland, New Hampshire, Nova Scotia, Prince
Edward Island, Quebec, Rhode
Island, Vermont
The Region I Events Calendar lists exhibitions
of costume, and costume-related exhibitions, the dates and
places of the National
and Regional Symposia, lectures, and workshops. Where available,
a telephone number has been included. Please use these numbers
to obtain additional information. Dates of exhibitions may
change. Where available, dates for the exhibitions are included.
If no
beginning date is given, the exhibition is already open.
CSA-sponsored programs in the Northeastern Region: Northeastern Region "Events, Workshops and Symposia" page.
American
Textile History Museum
491 Dutton Street
Lowell, MA.
978-441-0400
http://www.athm.org
"Textile Revolution: An Exploration through Space and Time"
Ongoing
Visit the new main exhibition, Textile Revolution: An Exploration through Space and Time, to spin, weave, recycle, and design your way through textile history. Simulate parachuting from a real single-engine plane, throw the shuttle on an authentic hand loom, and design your own clothing line on a computer. See how textiles are changing your world, from protective clothing for firefighters and soldiers to revolutionary "shark skin" suits for our gold-medal Olympic swimmers - and so much more. You'll never look at the fascinating world of textiles the same way again.
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"Inspired Design: Lasell College at ATHM"
Through August 1, 2010
American Textile History Museum Partners With Lasell College For "Inspired Design" Hat Exhibit. Everything old is new again at the American Textile History Museum, where a stunning new exhibit showcases contemporary hat designs by talented young designers from Lasell College along with the hats that inspired them from ATHM's amazing historic collection.
The exhibit includes dozens of pieces, both vintage and contemporary, from the whimsical to the dramatic. Since most museum visitors - like the students at the beginning of this semester - know very little about how hats are made, the exhibition also includes the blocks and other tools used to create the shape of each hat, along with basic materials and decorative elements that are blended into a finished design.
ATHM Curator Karen Herbaugh said the inspiration for the exhibit was generated last summer when ATHM staff and Lasell professors got together to discuss partnering on an exhibition as part of the Museum's 50th anniversary in 2010.
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"High Style: Betsy Bloomingdale and the Haute Couture"
August 14, 2010 - January 2, 2011
Armenian Library and Museum of America
Watertown, MA.
617-926-2562
http://www.almainc.org/
"Identifying Armenian Lace"
Ongoing
This new textile exhibit explores lace techniques, how Armenian lace compares with other lace types and the fascinating history of Armenian needle lace, including stories of girls and women who accomplished these incredible works of art, often under difficult conditions. Special collections, such as the Chad Collection of Laces (made by orphans of Malatia) and the Alice Riggs Collection (made by women of Aintab after the 1896 massacre) will be featured. Very fine lace collars, large doilies, three-dimensional flowers, household items and lace embellishing garments will be among the artifacts on display.
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"Fabric of a Culture: Traditional Armenian Costumes"
Ongoing
Mannequins have turned into muses at ALMA, each adorned with colorful costumes made of silks, angora wool and other textiles. The display is part of "Fabric of a Culture," a new textile exhibit featuring more than 20 authentic Armenian costumes from the late 19th century to 1915. See the largest North American display of authentic Armenian costumes from the late 19th century to 1915 and explore the regional style of Armenian clothing from the district of Kessaria in the West to the mountains of the Caucasus in the East.
The BATA Shoe Museum
327 Bloor St. West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1W7
Phone: (368) 979–7799
Fax: (368) 979–0078
Email: info@batashoemuseum.ca
http://www.batashoemuseum.ca/
"Beauty, Identity, Pride: North American Footwear"
Ongoing
Created by Indigenous peoples from diverse regions of North America, ninety pairs of shoes, boots and moccasins will showcase exquisite craftsmanship, regional patterns, and beautiful decoration. The exhibition features rarely seen artifacts chosen entirely from the Bata Shoe Museum's foremost and comprehensive collection of Native footwear.
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"All About Shoes: Footwear Through the Ages"
Ongoing
The Museum's flagship exhibition, All About Shoes, is a voyage through 4500 years of footwear: its evolution, uses over time, methods and materials of manufacture, and its place in our lives and imaginations. Admire ancient funerary sandals, Chinese silk shoes, haute couture pumps and a display of celebrity shoes found in the "Star Turns" mini-theatre.
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"On a Pedestal: From Renaissance Chopines to Baroque Heels"
Through September 20, 2010
The artifacts shown here are showcased in the Bata Shoe Museum's newest exhibition On a Pedestal: From Renaissance Chopines to Baroque Heels. The exhibition explores two of the most extreme forms of footwear ever worn in Western fashion, the outrageous platform chopine and its eventual replacement, the high heel. On a Pedestal offers visitors a once in a lifetime opportunity to see exceptionally rare examples of Renaissance and Baroque footwear on loan from numerous renowned International museums including: Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Museo Bardini, Florence; Castello Sforzesco, Milan; Livrustkammaren and Skoklosters Slott, both Stockholm; Museo Palazzo Mocenigo and Museo Correr, both Venice; Ambras Castle, Austria; Boston Museum of Fine Art, Boston and Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto as well as shoes from the Bata Shoe Museum's own collection.
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Frugal Fashion Week Gala
July 23, 2010
On Friday, July 23rd, frugalistas will descend upon the Bata Shoe Museum for the first Frugal Fashion Week Gala! As a build up to FFW, the Bata Shoe Museum will be hosting a special FFW Celeb and Designer Shoe Exhibit. The exhibit will be open to the public in early July. Check back for further details.
Then on the 23rd, join FFW for canapés and cocktails and dance the night away to a special guest DJ. The entire Museum will be open and the central staircase will be transformed into a runway for models to show off the shoes from the Browns Shoes Celeb & Designer Shoe Project. Afterwards there will be a silent auction where guests can bid on these specially designed shoes.
Proceeds from FFW 2010 benefit Windfall, Canada's only new clothing and basic-needs item bank.
The Cohasset Historical Society
106 South Main Street
Cohasset, MA 02025
Tel.: 781-383-1434
http://www.cohassethistoricalsociety.org/
The society has one of the largest collections of women's and girl's clothing from the early 1800s through the mid 1900s. The Society's Helen Howes Vosoff collection of theatrical artifacts records the history of summer performing arts in Cohasset from its start in the 1800's to its present day South Shore Music Circus.
The Connecticut Historical Society
One Elizabeth Street
Hartford, CT 06105
860-236-5621
http://www.chs.org
"Connecticut Needlework: Women, Art, and Family, 1740-1840"
October 5, 2010 - March 26, 2011
Early American needlework is an art form created almost exclusively by women and girls. As art, these needlework pictures and useful household objects burst with color, imaginative design, and evidence of close observation. As history, these same items reveal clues to the lives and times of the girls and women who set those countless stitches into cloth. The exhibition, Connecticut Needlework: Women, Art, and Family, 1740-1840, showcases more than seventy fascinating examples - many never previously exhibited. Beautifully decorated clothing, bedding, and accessories, school work by children as young as 6 years old, and masterpieces of needlework art depicting classical scenes, bucolic landscapes, and perfectly-rendered flora and fauna will all be featured. The final gallery will display needlework dedicated to preserving family history and highlight the work of one remarkable family - and an even more unusual young woman within that family, Prudence Punderson.
Historic Deerfield
PO Box 321
84B Old Main Street
Deerfield, Massachusetts 01342
413-774-5581
http://www.historic-deerfield.org/
"Celebrating the Fiber Arts: The Helen Geier Flynt Textile Gallery"
Ongoing
Examine one of the finest collections of early American textiles and costumes ever assembled! A testament to the passion of Historic Deerfield's cofounder Helen Geier Flynt during 60 years of collecting, this gallery presents examples of embroidery, woven silks, bed hangings, coverlets, quilts, costumes, and accessories from about 1600 to the end of the 19th century. Permanent with changing elements.
McCord Museum of Canadian History
690 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 1E9
http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en
"Dream Weavers - Costumes by Cirque du Soleil"
Through October 11, 2010
Comprised of costume components, photos, audio and video documents, the exhibition will captivate visitors as they delve into the magical world of Cirque du Soleil. Dream Weavers - Costumes by Cirque du Soleil pays homage to the savoir-faire of the costume designers and artisans at Cirque du Soleil and takes visitors on a voyage into the mesmerizing realm of its shows.
The exhibition opens a window into Cirque's costume workshop and introduces museum visitors to a universe of colour and texture unlike any of its kind. Featured are the various steps in costume and accessory production, from dyes and design to hats, lace and shoes. It's a behind the scenes look at the artistry that goes into each piece and each show.
Maine State Museum
83 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0083
http://www.maine.gov/museum/exhibits/index.html
"Uncommon Threads: Wabanaki Textiles, Clothing, and Costume"
Through September 4, 2010
Uncommon Threads is a landmark exhibition for the State Museum. In it, co-curators Bruce Bourque and Laurie LaBar, bring together, for the first time, significant historic examples of the beautiful but little known textile arts of the Wabanakis, the Native people of Maine, southeastern Quebec, and the Maritime Provinces.
Many of the one hundred objects in this unprecedented exhibition come from the State Museum's own collections. Museums and private collections throughout the U.S., Canada, and Australia lent other objects, including a beautifully decorated ceremonial chief's coat from the 1800s and a complex, intricately twined bag dating to the late 1600s. Touch and sound stations throughout the exhibition supplement these artifacts and provide another level of educational interaction and engagement for visitors of all ages.
A companion volume, Uncommon Threads: Wabanaki Textiles, Clothing, and Costume, authored by Bruce Bourque and Laurie LaBar, will be available for sale at the Museum Store for the exhibit's duration.
Museum of Costume and Textile of Quebec
349 Riverside Drive
Saint-Lambert, Quebec J4P 1A8
450-923-6601
info@mctq.org
www.mctq.org
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Avenue of the Arts
465 Huntington Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02115-5523
617-267-9300
http://www.mfa.org/index.asp
"Avedon Fashion 1944-2000"
August 10, 2010 - January 17, 2011
Richard Avedon was one of the greatest image-makers of the twentieth century. He revolutionized fashion photography with his imaginative portrayals of the "good life," showing beautiful women, wearing extraordinary clothes, in glamorous settings. Full of spontaneity and flair, his images promoted the ideal of the modern American woman, and his enormous success defined the role of the high-profile fashion photographer that we know today. This traveling exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of Avedon's fashion contribution.
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"Scaasi: American Couturier"
September 25, 2010 - June 19, 2011
This exhibition celebrates the designer Arnold Scaasi and the MFA's recent acquisition of his archive and more than 100 of his designs. Arnold Scaasi, who began his business in New York in the mid-1950s was one of the few New York designers to concentrate on custom-made clothing rather than ready-to-wear. He has designed for the 20th century's most celebrated artists and most fashionable socialites, including Broadway, TV, and movie stars, such as Arlene Francis, Mitzi Gaynor, Barbra Streisand, Diahann Carroll, Mary Tyler Moore, and Elizabeth Taylor; Palm Beach and New York socialites including Mary Sanford, Ivana Trump, Joetta Norban, Gayfryd Steinberg, and Edna Morris; and First Ladies Mamie Eisenhower and Barbara and Laura Bush. His work has always been synonymous with luxurious materials, exuberant color, and refined silhouettes.
Scaasi became an immediate success upon launching his first ready-to-wear line in 1956. By the end of 1958, he had won the Coty American Fashion Critics Award for best designer of the year and had seen his clothing featured on the covers of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, all before reaching age 30. Despite his success, the growing emphasis on a youth market and changes on Seventh Avenue caused the designer to stop making ready-to-wear and to focus on his custom clientele. He has said that he preferred working directly with his clients making luxurious and dramatic garments that suited their lifestyles.
"Scaasi: American Couturier" explores the designer's relationship with his clients and how the garments created for them suited their lifestyles and helped them to establish a strong public image, whether it was the youthful sophistication of Barbra Streisand, the fashionable and always appropriately dressed first lady Mamie Eisenhower, or the extraordinarily beautiful and feminine Elizabeth Taylor. The exhibition will feature several garments made for his most famous client, Barbra Streisand, including the custom-made and now infamous black sequined pantsuit that, under the lights of the Oscar stage, appeared see-through. Also on display will be clothing worn by Arlene Francis, Mrs. Joseph Norban (whose husband was a part owner of the famed nightclub El Morocco), and Mrs. Saul Steinberg, one of New York's most photographed women during the 1980s and 1990s.
New England Quilt Museum
18 Shattuck Street
Lowell, MA. 01852
978-452-4207
http://www.nequiltmuseum.org/
"Women's Writes: Signature Quilts and Their Stories"
Through July 11, 2010
The NEQM's groundbreaking exhibition on women's material history, Women's Writes: Signature Quilts and Their Stories tells the little-known story of women in the 19th and early 20th centuries taking social action by combining needle and thread with the power of the pen. The curators for the exhibit, NEQM Acting Curator Laura Lane and quilt historian Lorie Chase, have assembled an extensive group of signature quilts, drawn from both the museum's own permanent collection and borrowed from private collections, showcasing the wide stylistic and political range of signature quilts.
At a time when women did not have the vote, property rights, or occupational opportunities, and were just beginning to have beyond-basic literacy skills, creating signature quilts was a chance at self-expression and self-sufficiency. Frequently made as charity fund-raisers, signature quilts gave women a measure of both political and economic independence, enabling them to fund their favorite social causes entirely on their own. Groups of women raised money for temperance, abolition, church renovations, the Red Cross, and women's social clubs by raffling off signature quilts. Many women's groups also signed the quilts they made for troops during the Civil War, often adding patriotic verses to their signatures.
While making signature quilts for political or social causes was a major means of women's self-expression, many more personal signature quilts were made. These quilts, too, provided a means for women to assert a more active role within their families and communities. The giving of a signature quilt placed women front and center at major family or local events, such as marriages, births, the departure of an important town resident, or the commemoration of a civic event. The more personal quilts provided an even greater chance at expression, and many signers added favorite poems or Bible verses, as well as personal messages to recipients, making signature quilts a unique window into everyday American women's values. With family quilts making up a large proportion of these works, they are also of significant interest to genealogists.
"Contemporary Broderie Perse: An Elegant Revival"
July 15, 2010 - October 17, 2010
Curated by Anita Loscalzo
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"African-American Quilts Today: A Celebration of Motherhood, Sisterhood & the Matriarchs"
October 21, 2010 - January 3, 2011
Curated by Pearlie Johnson
Old Sturbridge Village
1 Old Sturbridge Village Road
Sturbridge, MA 01566
508-347-3362
1-800-see-1830
www.osv.org
Peabody Essex Museum
East India Square
Salem, MA. 01970
978-745-9500
http://www.pem.org/
"The Kennedys: Portrait of a Family"
Through July 18, 2010
An intimate, behind-the-scenes look at the legendary first family through the lens of acclaimed photographer Richard Avedon. This exhibition unveils a selection of portraits taken of president-elect John F. Kennedy and his family in January 1961, in Palm Beach, Fla., before the Kennedys took residence at the White House. Individual photographs and enlarged contact sheets of unedited negatives (printed and signed by Avedon) offer unique insight on Avedon's photographic practice, aesthetic judgments and the ways in which these decisions contributed to the Kennedy mystique. PEM is the exclusive New England venue for this exhibition. The Kennedys was organized by Phillip Prodger, PEM's curator of photography.
Created by the National Museum of American History and organized for travel by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), The Kennedys | Portrait of a Family is supported by the Rudolf Eickemeyer Jr. Fund and Collins Design, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. The exhibition and national tour are sponsored by The History Channel.
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Harvard University
11 Divinity Ave
Cambridge, MA
http://www.peabody.harvard.edu/default.html
Rhode Island School of Design
Museum of Art
224 Benefit Street
Providence, RI 02903
401-454-6500
http://www.risdmuseum.org/Default.aspx
"Designing Traditions Biennial: Student Explorations in the Asian Textile Collection"
Through November 14, 2010 (closed August)
The Designing Traditions Biennial showcases contemporary student textile designs alongside Asian textiles and clothing from the Museum's permanent collection. Comprising some of the earliest donations to the Museum, the Asian textiles collection was conceived at the outset as a design resource for RISD students. To honor a long tradition of fruitful exchanges between the Museum and the School, intricately crafted objects drawn from Japan to the Middle East are selected to inspire the newest generation of designers. Innovative textiles, as well as hand-drawn and computer-generated designs, will show the breadth of creativity sparked by even the smallest details of traditional craftsmanship.
Shelburne Museum
U.S.Route 7, P.O. Box 10
Shelburne, Vermont 05842
802-985-3346
http://www.shelburnemuseum.org
"Embellishments: The Art of the Crazy Quilt"
Through October 24, 2010
This new exhibit features 19 examples of Victorian crazy quilts drawn primarily from the Museum's renowned collection, including eight recently acquired pieces on view for the first time.
Victorian quilts composed of various types of cloth, cut into irregular shapes and sizes and embellished with areas of decorative embroidery, paint and beads are called crazy quilts. They were created as artistic statements, not as functional bed coverings and most often were displayed draped on parlor seating furniture, tables or bureaus, on piano tops or at the foot of a bed.
Rather than favoring symmetrical, repetitive, and geometric patterns, which had dominated quiltmaking for hundreds of years, there is a preference for random, asymmetrical, irregular one-of-a-kind designs during the last quarter of the 19th century in America. The resulting improvisatory nature of the pattern was considered odd, bizarre, strange or "crazy." The spontaneous nature of the crazy quilt was one of its main attractions in a society frequently bound by rigid rules of behavior, dress and decoration.
Slater Mill Historic Site Visitor Center
& the Weaver's Guild of Rhode Island
Pawtucket, RI
401-725-8368
http://www.slatermill.org
"Seekonk Lace ~ from Slater Mill's Textile Collection"
September 9-October 29, 2010
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"Wearable Art Show & Sale"
November 4-January 2, 2011
Textile Gallery
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI
401-874-4574
http://www.uri.edu/hss/tmd/Gallery.html
The Mark Twain House
351 Farmington Ave.
Hartford, CT 06105
(860) 247-0998
info@marktwainhouse.org
http://www.marktwainhouse.org/
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
600 Main Street
Hartford, CT 06103
860-278-2670
http://www.wadsworthatheneum.org
info@wadsworthatheneum.org
"The Upholstered Woman: Women's Fashions of the 1870s and 1880s"
Part I: Women's Fashions of the 1870s
April 22 - September 12, 2010
Part II: Women's Fashions of 1880-1885
November 10, 2010 - March 20, 2011
Part III: Women's Fashions of 1885-1890
April 13 - September 4, 2011
The prosperity of the middle and upper classes in Post-Civil War America, along with technological developments in machine sewing, weaving, lace making, and pattern drafting, created a fashion for elaborately embellished women's garments. Like the deeply tufted and carved furniture of the late Victorian era, dresses were closely fitted, draped with contrasting fabrics, and trimmed with a myriad of furbelows, including fringe, ribbons and braid, lace, faux flowers and pearls.
As they made their rounds of carefully choreographed social calls, the wives of American businessmen showcased their husbands' financial success. Dubbed "conspicuous consumption" by Thorstein Veblen in his 1899 book analyzing the late Victorian economy, these displays played an important role in establishing one's social position.
While the costume and textile galleries are unavailable during building renovations, the 1870s Goodwin Parlor of the Wadsworth Atheneum offers an excellent opportunity to explore these and other themes of Victorian fashion, including the parallels between interior decorating styles and costume design.
Wenham Museum
132 Main Street
Wenham, MA. 01984
978-468-2377
www.wenhammuseum.org
"Guilded Age Glamour: A Visit to the Dressmaker"
Through October 24, 2010
This summer's featured exhibit will showcase Wenham Museum's most beautiful Gilded Age dresses dating from the 1860s to the 1890s. The gallery will have the look and feel of a high-end, 19th century dressmaker's shop and display extravagant fashion creations from one of the most elegant periods in American history.
The dressmaker's shop experience will include the best dress-up on the North Shore for young visitors with outfits and accessories that will reproduce the look of the elegant, historic ladies' fashions on display. Visitors will also be able to create their own dress and fashion designs at an art table (just like real designers do) and dress dolls in outfits similar to those they can try on themselves. Costume admirers will enjoy the debut of two never-before-exhibited Les Petite Dames de Mode created by fashion designer, John Burbidge.
The Gilded Age in America was the period between the end of the Civil War in 1865 and the beginning of the 20th century. The term "gilded age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their 1873 novel The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. Although the novel pokes fun at some of the excesses of wealth, it was that very same wealth that provided the opportunity for remarkable creativity in industry and art, including the art of fashion.
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"Les Petite Dames de Mode with Fashion Designer John Burbidge"
Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 2pm
Doll and costume enthusiasts enjoy a rare opportunity to meet John Burbidge, bridal designer for Priscilla of Boston and creator of Les Petite Dames de Mode. Discover the history of women's fashion from 1855 to 1914 as he shares the story of The Little Ladies of Fashion, 29-inch fashion mannequins dressed in hand sewn Victorian and Edwardian couture gowns of the Gilded Age. Visit Gilded Age Glamour: A Visit to the Dressmaker special summer exhibition. Book signing to follow.
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