Shelburne Museum Quilt Exhibits

The Patchwork Quilts of Rosie Lee Tompkins at the Shelburne Museum
Shelburne Museum Quilt Exhibitions - Shelburne, Vermont
Shelburne is nationally known for its exhibits, including its collection of antique quilts. In addition to its own collection, the museum regularly hosts special quilt shows. In the summer of 2007, it featured three special quilting exhibitions: "The Patchwork Art of Rosie Lee Tompkins," "Stars and Bars: A Gift of Amish Quilts," and "Contemporary Vermont Quilts."
While the quilts were the drawing card for our visit, once we arrived we discovered how unique the Shelburne is. The "museum" isn't what one would normally expect. It is actually a 45 acre village of 39 restored or reconstructed buildings reproducing various aspects of living in 18th and 19th century Vermont. Each of the buildings either exhibited artifacts related to its original function (i.e. Blacksmith Shop) or served to house specific museum collections (the quilts were located in one of the 39 buildings along with hats and other textile exhibits). The Shelburne admission ticket is good for two days and as we discovered two days are needed for a halfway decent sampling of what it offers.
Some of the exhibits Jo most enjoyed were the doll house collection, the glassware and ceramics exhibits, the weaving cottage, early American paintings, the Impressionist Paintings, the Vermont Settlers House-Cabin, the Dutton House Tavern, and the 1950s House. Some of the exhibits I enjoyed and I think would interest most husbands of quilters were: the early 1900s train station restoration, the Ticonderoga Lake Champlain Steamboat, the Blacksmith Shop, the hand tools exhibit in the Shaker Shed, the saw mill, and the 1950s house with a 1953 Pontiac “Woody” station wagon parked outside.
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The Shelburne Round Barn
The entrance to Shelburne is through the Round Barn, originally built in 1901 in East Passumpsic, Vermont.


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Contemporary Vermont Quilt Show in the Round Barn

< < < Two contemporary art quilts by a Vermont Quilter. Unfortunately our notes omitted the name of this quilt artist.
One of the challenges we faced in recording Shelburne Quilts is their rule against using flash photography. This coupled with their somewhat sparse use of artificial light hampered our photos.
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Pamela Druhen created these two works. To the right is "Spring Falls" inspired by a woodland waterfall on the west slope of Warren Mountain. > > >

"Gilding the Lily" is a free form border piece that after it was completed Druhen felt it needed a natural addition so she added the piece of driftwood.
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The Round Barn had three levels with special exhibits on each level. The main level hosted the Vermont Contemporary Quilts. One level down was the E-Bay Celebrity Online Collection and the lowest level had a Contemporary Chandelier Exhibit. And naturally the barn itself, circa 1901, was an interesting piece of Vermont Americana.
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< < < The garden adjacent to the Textile Cottage housing the Shelburne Antique Quilt Collection and special quilting exhibits.
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The Patch Work Art of Rosie Lee Tompkins - African American Quilts |
"Tompkins introduced free form into every element of design and construction of her quilts. Her process resulted in non-uniform sets of blocks, and assembling these blocks allowed for further improvisation. She purchased most of her materials from thrift shops which provided her with a variety of fabrics and textures and gave her unlimited opportunities to create unusual combinations."
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Effie Mae Howard was a private, humble person whose quilt artistry began to gain more attention than she wanted, so she created the pseudonym Rosie Lee Tompkins which allowed her to exhibit her works yet maintain the privacy she desired. |

Later in life Effie Mae began infusing more spiritual themes into her quilts, although she believed her spirituality was involved with all of her creations. |
Antique Quilts & More Scenes from the Shelburne Museum
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Quilt Show Links
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The Quilts of Gee's Bend: Masterpieces from
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Several generations of African American Women in the community of Gee's Bend, Alabama engaged in the traditional art of quilting.Taking fabrics from their everyday lives, they fashioned quilts into compositions that more resemble abstract paintings than more familiar quilt patterns. [More Info]


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