Welcome to January, friends! You know, I’ve lived in Iowa my whole life and for 34 of my 35 years, January has been among my least-favorite Iowa experiences. Yes, the occasional snow day is nice. I do like snuggling up under a blanket in the evenings to watch a movie or read a book, but the rest of it I could really do without. Nevertheless, here we are in another January and still in the midst of a global pandemic to boot! At least I have the good fortune to live in a beautiful community among wonderful people.
Over the past nine months, the movers and shakers in our community have worked tirelessly devising creative opportunities for us to still experience some of our favorite events and traditions—the Madison County Airing of the Quilts, the Third Thursday Bazaar, the Holiday of Lights Reverse Parade—just to name a few. No doubt, those creative geniuses are still hard at work divining new ideas for the new year but for now, things are a little slow. It is January after all—not really a convenient time to move events outdoors for safety!
So, while the local social calendar is a little sparse, I’ve decided that The Winterset Citizen needs a face lift and a slight shift in focus. Instead of just weekly “Weekend in Winterset” posts, I’m going to throw the doors wide open on topics. Let’s explore together all the wonderful aspects of being a Winterset Citizen! In fact, if you’ve got a suggestion for a topic (person, place, thing or idea) I’d LOVE to hear it.
Today’s Feature: The Iowa Quilt Museum
I sat down with Iowa Quilt Museum director, Megan Barrett, this week (we had a lovely chat!) to learn more about this community citizen located on the south side of our town square.
Background
The Iowa Quilt Museum is still kind of the ‘new kid on the block’ in regards to cultural institutions in Winterset. This textile museum opened its doors Memorial Day weekend in 2016. While many people may assume that it was the brain child of Marianne Fons (co-founder of Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting), the idea was actually hatched with Pat & Nancy Corkrean.
Once the board of directors was put together, the location was chosen, and the plans were in place, fundraising began. Over $215,000 was raised, most of it from within our community, for the opening of the museum. The initial fundraising campaign was captured through the creation of a red and white quilt instead of the more traditional plaques or name plates often used to signify fundraising campaigns. Donors at various levels could have their names embroidered in a ‘piano key’ or ‘star’ block round the border of the quilt, or even choose a local landmark to have digitally embroidered into the quilt. The quilt was completed in October of last year and now hangs prominently in the museum. You’re invited to stop in and see it!
Current Events
The IQM is a ‘display-only’ museum which means that they have no permanent collection or archives. They display four exhibits each year and the quilts for each are borrowed from private collectors, other museums or the artists themselves. The focus of the exhibits ranges from historical quilts to modern/contemporary but all are made in the American quilt-making tradition. The mission of the IQM is to promote appreciation of the American quilt and the art of quiltmaking.
The current exhibit on display, which just opened a week ago, is titled, String Theory: String-pieced Quilts from Past to Present. I won’t go into great detail here about the exhibit, but you can learn more at the IQM website.
In addition to exhibits, the museum keeps a robust schedule of programming related to the art of quilting. Of course, this year all of the programming has moved to an online forum, but that hasn’t slowed them down. In fact, they’ve created more programming opportunities this year through virtual means than they would have if the pandemic had not hit. Because the virtual nature of the programming, they’ve also welcomed participants from across the county and around the globe.
Today, the IQM is starting a new series of program, Virtual Iowa Quiltscape, that will ‘air’ each Tuesday at Twelve. These virtual meet-ups happen via Zoom and will feature a variety of topics—some of them related to the String Theory exhibit, other on just quilt-related topics. For example, today’s session features author Tangular Irby sharing her debut children’s book, Pearl and Her Gee’s Bend Quilt. This book was just released in December and will be available for purchase at the Iowa Quilt Museum Gift Shop.
To Join the Zoom meeting, click on the following link, or type the Meeting ID into Zoom:
https://zoom.us/j/94395735155
Meeting ID: 943 9573 5155
Community Involvement
In addition to welcoming thousands of visitors each year to view their exhibits, the Iowa Quilt Museum is an active community citizen through their involvement in local events and hosting the Airing of the Quilts. Most anytime that there is a ‘downtown’ shopping event, the Iowa Quilt Museum gift shop will be open and participating. If you’ve never been to the gift shop, I encourage you to stop in sometime. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the variety of their selection. They also have an online gift shop.
The Madison County Airing of the Quilts is a community-wide event that has consistently grown in size since the first celebration in 2018. During this one-day extravaganza, hundreds of quilts are displayed in dozens of locations around the community—covered bridges, the court house, city park, even on vintage cars in the parking lot across from Monumental park! In previous years, quilts were also displayed in local churches and that practice will continue when it’s safe again. When the 2020 Airing of the Quilts had to adjust to being held all outdoors, a new feature was added and quilts were displayed on the exterior of homes along Court Avenue creating a “Quilt Walk”. Here are some pictures of just a few of the several hundred quilts on display last June.
How to Support
Although they have received some financial aid this year through the CARES Act, the lack of travel has really taken a toll on their visitor numbers and, in turn, revenue. So, how can a civic-minded citizen like yourself support the Iowa Quilt Museum?
As a non-profit organization, the IQM always welcomes financial donations to help support their mission through exhibits and programming. You can also purchase an annual membership. Memberships are great for locals—you can have free admission to the museum any time AND you get a 10% discount in the gift shop. (There are some additional benefits at higher membership levels.) Next time you need a gift, check the IQM gift shop and when you have family or friends visiting town, take them to see the IQM (and other local attractions). These few things, which are easy to do, can make a big difference to an organization.
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