附註:"UMI Number: 3461235--T.p. verso.
103年科技部補助人文及社會科學研究圖書設備計畫規劃主題 : 藝術學 : 博物館蒐藏與文化展示.
Thesis supervisor: John Raeburn.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 192-200).
Regional instituions and the shaping of community culture -- Sewing the land : quilts and agriculture at the Iowa State Fair -- A mission to stitch : the Michianna Mennonite Relief Sale -- National institutions and the balancing of utility and aesthetics -- How to display and American quilt : quilts and the Smithsonian Institution -- Contested quiltmaking : The American Quilters Society.
摘要:Quilts are a unique medium that is deeply layered with meaning, highly gendered, intimately tied to social and cultural communities, and richly interdisciplinary. Though quilts are utilitarian in origin, their circulation and display take them far beyond the home--to art galleries, history museums, state fairs, quilt shows, and philanthropic auctions. As they move, individuals and institutions make significant intellectual and emotional investments in how quilts are classified, judged, and valued. In this highly politicized work, individuals and institutions shape public culture through debates about quilts' utility, workmanship, and aesthetics; they create and display quilts to further their cultural heritage, manifest their faith, delineate aesthetic values, reinforce disciplinary boundaries, and elevate their artistic status. This project uses four representative case studies to demonstrate the cultural work that women and institutions conduct using quilts and to explore what is at stake in that work. Through research into the Iowa State Fair quilt competition and the Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale Quilt Auction, I reveal how women employ their quilts and quilt displays to promulgate their values and shape their communities. In case studies of larger institutions--the Smithsonian Institution and the American Quilter's Society--I investigate how quilts intersect with other artistic and historic objects in their creation, interpretation, and display. Each chapter includes historical research, observations from site visits, and evidence from qualitative interviews--research that provides a historical view of each institution and an analysis of how they currently categorize, judge, and display quilts. , Together, these case studies reveal that individual efforts at quilt display intersect in broader public culture, where conversations about how to value and interpret quilts are also essential conversations about aesthetics, community values, disciplinarity, and the value of women's work.
