Visit London's V&A Museum for Quilts: 1700- 2010

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed)
Mar 11th 2010 at 10:01AM

If you're looking for a crafty excuse to visit London in the next few months, I've got a good one for you: Quilts 1700 - 2010, a new exhibit opening at the V&A Museum.

The exhibit, which opens March 20th and runs through July 4th, focuses on quilts both historic and contemporary. The quilt pictured above, "At the End of the Day", is a 2007 creation of artist Natasha Kerr; historic quilts include those commemorating the lives of Admiral Lord Nelson, Charles II and the Duke of Wellington, among others.

(Bonus for fans of Tracy Chevalier, who wrote the novel Girl with the Pearl Earring, which became a movie starring Scarlett Johansson -- she's written a story based on the George 111 quilt, which is in the museum's magazine. There's a great video of her research process here.)

The historic quilts are worth a visit on their own -- although if you watch Chevalier's video and hear her talking about how stained the old quilts are (and how they got that way) it's a bit gag-inducing. But it's the contemporary quilts that I find the most interesting, mostly because I love how soft, feminine fiber arts are becoming so bad-ass and edgy. If you're of a similar mind, also add to your Spring itinerary the Contemporary Art Museum in Montreal, and beat a path to Luanne Martineau's exhibit which features her felt and fabric "drulptures" -- her word for a combination of drawing and sculptures. Martineau's exhibit runs through April 25th.

Tags: art, fiber, london, montreal, museums, quilt, quilt exhibit, quilts, scarlett johansson, ScarlettJohansson, Victoria and Albert Museum