Quilt Center draws a crowd

 4 comment(s)  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

By LAURA CHAPMAN / Lincoln Journal Star

People with a passion for quilts  stood as long as 90 minutes Sunday for a first look at the new International Quilt Study Center and Museum.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln  center opened its doors to the public and was greeted by an overflow crowd of  1,500 visitors, according to center staff.

Enough of a crowd had gathered at 33rd and Holdrege streets by 1 p.m. the staff opened the doors 30 minutes early, said Patricia Crews, director of the center. The center closed at 4:30 p.m.

View Slideshow

Visitors to the grand opening of the International Quilt Study Center and Museum explore the Nancy Crow Design Wall. (Gwyneth Roberts)

“We’re thrilled with the turnout,” Crews said. “We always said we had no idea if it would be in the hundreds or thousands.”

Susie Powell of Grand Island waited patiently to get a glimpse of the new center. She was impressed with the building’s curved glass wall and brick masonry, arranged to resemble patchwork blocks.

“The design is unique,” Powell said, “kind of like a quilt.”

Now that it’s open, the center already has 800 people booked for guided tours in April, Crews said.

When the center started in 1997 after a donation of 800 quilts from Robert and Ardis James, organizers always hoped they’d have a building of their own. Their hopes have been realized sooner than expected, Crews said.

After a decade of featuring exhibits in galleries across campus, and gathering a collection that has grown to more than 2,300 quilts, Crews said staff learned lessons that made starting a center easier to plan.

And now they have a home.

* * * 

Powell, a quilter for 10 years, came to Lincoln for the weekend and decided to check out the center before driving home.

A member of the Prairie Pioneer quilt guild and a lifelong seamstress, Powell admired some of the modern art pieces on display from the Nancy Crow collection. Although different from her own style of quilting, Powell said she appreciated the diversity of the center’s collection.

The center is important to quilters, she said, so their work can live on like many of the displayed quilts, whose creators died years ago.

“Some of the quilts tell the story of the quilters,” she said.

While waiting in line, Powell met a woman from California who came to see the new center.

Although they were strangers, she said, by the time they arrived in the galleries, they were talking like old friends.

“It’s just the spirit of the quilter,” she said.

Marjorie Kostelnik, dean of UNL’s College of Education and Human Sciences, stood at the center’s front door and greeted visitors as they walked in.

Her welcome alway included a question: “Where are you from?”

The answers varied, with all parts of Nebraska represented.  Others travelled greater distances.

Visitors hailed from nine countries outside the United States: Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Australia, England, Scotland, Korea and Thailand.

They also came from surrounding states such as Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and North Dakota. Others traveled from Washington and New York.

“A lot of people said ‘I came here for this,’” she said.

While pleased with the turnout from faraway places, Kostelnik said she was happy to hear a lot of the first visitors were from Lincoln.

Among the attendees were some of the construction workers who helped build the center, and UNL employees who’d previously had a tour but wanted to show the museum off to their families.

Hopefully the center will become a way for the university to build a bridge with the community, she said, but it has also built a bridge between East and City campuses.

Proof, she said, can be seen by the number of faculty and staff from both campuses — in and out of the textiles, clothing and design department — getting involved with the center.

In the future, the center plans to hold events that will appeal to more than just quilt fans. For example, an Earth Day celebration in April will feature tree plantings around the environmentally friendly building.

Kathy Spitsen of Lincoln first heard about UNL’s quilt study center 10 years ago. Excited about the prospect of working with a quilt collection, she called and offered to help.

She never got a call back.

“I guess they didn’t need me then,” she said with a laugh.

After hearing a request for volunteers for the new building, she volunteered her services again.

This time, she got the call.

As crowds of people poured in and out of the gallery, Spitsen happily watched on, talking about all of the interesting displays and opportunities the center features.

A quilter for 18 years, Spitsen said it was the love of quilts that encouraged her to get involved. Although she is only available to work on the weekends, Spitsen said she would love to do it every day, because the center has so much excitement going on inside its walls.

“I’m just so glad to be a part of this,” she said.

Reach Laura Chapman at lchapman@journalstar.com.