MSU Museum Symposium on Quilt History Collections and Research, Oct. 8-10
Michigan State University Museum announces a major event this fall: “Unpacking Collections: The Legacy of Cuesta Benberry and a Symposium on Using Quilt History Collections,” to explore the connections between using collections in making or studying quilts.
The symposium is set for Oct. 8-10, 2010 in East Lansing, Mich., and is planned in conjunction with an exhibition that showcases examples of materials from the Cuesta Benberry Quilt History Collections that were recently acquired by the MSU Museum.
Scholars and creative artists use private and public collections of objects and archival materials to inform their work. What do they collect? Where do they find collections and how exactly do they use them? What do they do with the collections when they are done? How have they been inspired by collections? What obstacles do they encounter when building or using collections? These questions and more will be explored in the MSU Museum symposium.
“We were wonderfully surprised and honored that Cuesta Benberry’s collections have come to the Michigan State University Museum,” says Marsha MacDowell, MSU Museum curator and MSU professor of art and art history. “Research-based collections like hers are critical to still under-studied but important aspects of quilt history and of African American art and cultural history. We know that this collection of primary materials will enable scholars here on campus and around the world to benefit from Cuesta’s trail-blazing work and to carry it forward. Her collections and others held at the MSU Museum allow us also to examine the importance of building and using collections in creative, scholarly, and educational ways,” she adds.
To download the symposium brochure and to register by mail or online, go to: http://museum.msu.edu/Events/cbsymposium/
