2015-2016 Lecturer:
Dr. Janneken Smucker
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Lecture and Dinner to support the Mennonite Archives of Ontario and Mennonite Studies at Conrad Grebel.
Tickets are $75 ($45 Charitable receipt). Contact Alison Enns (519) 885-0220 x 24217 or aenns@uwaterloo.ca
“Abstract Art or Country Craft: The Quilts of the Amish”
In this informal presentation Smucker will explore the diverse output of Amish quilt makers, challenging cultural assumptions while placing this beloved tradition in historical context, demonstrating just how hard it is to answer the question, “What makes an Amish quilt Amish?”
Quilt Exhibits
During the Bechtel lectures a variety of quilts, including vintage Amish quilts, will be on display in the John Toews Atrium.
In addition the Grebel Gallery in the MSCU Centre for Peace Advancement is featuring a display of quilts from Colombia.
Janneken Smucker, a 5th generation Mennonite quiltmaker
, is author of Amish Quilts: Crafting an American Icon (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013). As Assistant Professor of History at West Chester University, she specializes in digital history and American material culture. She has served as a board member for the national non-profit, Quilt Alliance since 2005 and is its current president. She has contributed to Unconventional and Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar, 1950-2000 (by Roderick Kiracofe
, Abrams, 2014), “Workt by Hand”: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts (Brooklyn Museum, 2013), Amish Abstractions: Quilts from the Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2009) and Midwestern Amish Crib Quilts: The Sara Miller Collection (Good Books, 2003). Janneken
earned her MA in Textile History from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and her PhD in the History of American Civilization from the University of Delaware. Learn more about Janneken
at www.janneken.org.
