Texas Quilt Museum Opens Nov. 13
Quilt: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (76” x 76”) by Ruth Cattles Cottrell
LA GRANGE, Texas — The city of La Grange soon will welcome visitors from all over the world as quilt artists and aficionados come to see the years-in-the-planning Texas Quilt Museum.
Nestled in the scenic hills of central Texas in Fayette County, the museum is the culmination of a lifelong dream of fifth-generation Texas quilters and cousins Karey Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant Puentes, also the President and Executive Vice-President, respectively, of Quilts, Inc., producers of trade and consumer quilt shows around the country.
The Grand Opening of the museum, located at 140 W. Colorado in La Grange, will take place on Nov. 13 at 1 p.m., and admission will be free all day.
Featuring 10,000 square feet of exhibition space and including a museum store, and the Pearce Memorial Library and Material Cultures Center, named for the pair’s grandmother, the museum also contains workspace for exhibition preparation.
The inaugural exhibit will showcase more than 60 quilts featured in the book Lone Stars III: A Legacy of Texas Quilts 1986-2011 (UT Press). It’s the third volume in a trilogy documenting the state’s quilt history.
“With this being the 175th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Texas, we definitely wanted the first quilts that the public will see in the Museum to be from the Lone Star State,” Bresenhan says. “But future exhibits will feature incredible quilts from all over the world.”
The Texas Quilt Museum is housed in two buildings that date back to the 1890s in the heart of La Grange’s downtown historic district. And while much has been renovated and restored in the buildings, they definitely maintain the flavor of past times.
“We fell in love with these structures as soon as we saw them, and felt immediately that they would make a wonderful home for the museum,” Puentes says. “What could be better than viewing great quilts in a historic building?”
In addition, the side of the building will feature a specially commissioned mural, Quilt…History in the Making, that will overlook a planned period garden called “Grandmother’s Flower Garden” after the well-known traditional quilt pattern.
“We just can’t wait to cut the ribbon and invite people in the front doors for the first time,” Bresenhan sums up. “And we’re very happy that people from all walks of life—not just quilters—will be able to appreciate the artistry and history of quilting at this Museum.”
Quilts, Inc. produces trade and consumer quilt shows all across the country, including the largest in the U.S., the International Quilt Festival/Houston, which in 2010 attracted more than 60,000 attendees from over 35 countries.
For more information about the Texas Quilt Museum, visit <www.TexasQuiltMuseum.org>.
