Seminar
Keynote Address and Special Presentations
Keynote Address
VIRGINIA GUNN: Reflections on Quilt History: Accomplishments and Challenges
Virginia Gunn is a professor of Clothing, Textiles, and Interiors in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Akron in Ohio. She teaches courses on the history of costume and fashion, the history of interior design, and material-culture studies. She holds a BS in home economics education from Kansas State University, an MS in applied art from Syracuse University, and a PhD in history from the University of Akron. She is a past president (1990-93) and board member (1984-94) of the American Quilt Study Group and edited Uncoverings from 1994 to 2003. Her publications focus on quilts, coverlets, and women's history.
Special Presentations
MERIKAY WALDVOGEL: Anne Orr: A Second Look
Anne Champe Orr, of Nashville, Tennessee, played a short-lived, but interesting role in the history of 20th century quilts. Known primarily for her needlework designs published monthly in Good Housekeeping in the 1920s, she ventured into the arena of quilt design as the 1930s quilt revival took hold. In 1933, she was selected to judge the final round of quilts at the 1933 Sears Quilt Contest.
Merikay Waldvogel, a nationally known expert on 20th century quiltmaking, welcomes this opportunity to expand on the information she has previously published on the Anne Orr Studio. Her lecture will include quilt slides, Orr family photos and readings of unpublished Anne Orr correspondence found recently at Berry College in Georgia. The letters offer insights into her 1930s quilt career, including a mention of the 1933 quilt contest results.
Merikay Waldvogel is a nationally known quilt authority who lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. She co-directed the Quilts of Tennessee state quilt survey in the 1980s when she first learned about Anne Orr and her quilt business based in Nashville. Her 1990 article in Uncoverings discussed the marketing of Anne Orr's quilts.
ANITA SHACKELFORD: Red & Green Quilts
Enjoy a walk with Anita Shackelford as she narrates the collection of mid-nineteenth century red and green quilts which includes some rare or one of a kind designs. Many are in pristine condition; others show characteristic changes in the fabrics of that period.
Anita Shackelford has been a quiltmaker since 1967 and began teaching in 1980. She is an internationally recognized teacher and lecturer who loves combining applique and fine hand quilting to create new quilts in 19th century style. She also enjoys using her sewing machine for many parts of the creative process and has recently added longarm quilting to the mix. Her work and antique quilts from her collection have been featured in several gallery and museum exhibits.