The International Quilt Study Center & Museum will host a free and public First Friday event on Japanese textiles, featuring guest lecturers Teresa Duryea Wong and Yoshiko Wada. The artists will present their research beginning at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 5.
Wong is the author of four books on quilt history, Japanese quilts, and American cotton. She will discuss Japanese artist Yoshiko Jinzenji, a subject of her book “Japanese Contemporary Quilts and Quilters.” Wong’s book tells the history of 40 years of quiltmaking in Japan and how the idea of the quilt was originally imported from America. The book also introduces dozens of talented quilt artists — former painters, graphic artists, seamstresses and homemakers who have made professional careers in quilting — along with antique American quilts and early Japanese quilts.
Jinzenji, the subject of Wong’s presentation, will lead two workshops at the museum on Oct. 6. Sponsored by the Omaha Modern Quilt Guild, “Quilting, Line + Color” will fuse Japanese design with modern techniques. Limited space is available for both sessions. Registration can be completed by calling the museum at 402-472-6549.
Wada is an artist, curator and co-author of reference books and essays on shibori, kimono, boro and contemporary textile art. She actively promotes sustainable practices in traditional textile craft, like natural dyeing and organic cotton, and works to empower regional craft communities in Japan, China, India and the U.S.
Wada is also president of the World Shibori Network and adjunct professor at the Institute of Textile and Clothing at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In 2010, she was declared a “Distinguished Craft Educator–Master of Medium” by the Smithsonian Institution and in 2016 was honored with an award for lifetime achievement in the field of textile art from the George Washington University Museum and the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C.
Refreshments will be served 4-7 p.m. as part of the event. Other exhibitions on display include “Cheddar Quilts from the Joanna S. Rose Collection,” “Color and Contour: Provençal Quilts and Domestic Objects,” and “Memory and Culture: Wood Quilts by Laura Petrovich-Cheney.” A complete listing of current and upcoming exhibitions can be found on the museum website.
