Celebrating the Fiber Arts
A permanent exhibition with changing elements, Celebrating the Fiber Arts is on display in The Helen Geier Flynt Textile Gallery, a permanent exhibition area in the Flynt Center of Early New England Life dedicated to the display of objects from the collections of textiles, clothing and embroidery. A testament to over 60 years of collecting, it organizes objects by the four natural fibers—silk, wool, cotton, and linen. Needlework is a particular strength, including samplers and pictures.
TEXTILE FRAGMENT
France, 1750-1770. Textile: silk. F.356A. Fragment of drawloom-woven silk which may have been the petticoat to a matching gown in Historic Deerfield’s collection, F.356. The pattern features polychrome, Chinoiserie-inspired landscapes repeated three times across the selvage width, which is 33 1/4″. Probably woven in Amsterdam in the mid-18th century.
The museum also holds several early and important quilts and bedrugs, and a set of reproduction Ashley Bedhangings .
Learn more about the conservation of shoes in the Fiber Arts exhibition in the article, Putting Our Best Feet Forward: Shoes Get Conserved at Historic Deerfield
SAMPLER
By Stata Hawks (b. 1792), Deerfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts (1805). Textile: polychrome silk floss; unbleached plain weave linen. 2007.35.1. Photo by Penny Leveritt.
SHOES
England, c. 1765. Textile: red-pink glazed wool (calamanco); unbleached plain weave linen; leather. 2004.26. Museum Collections Fund Purchase with Funds Donated by James Ciaschini in Memory of his Mother Eva Ferioli.