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Elegant Webs of Lace
Antique Treasure to Contemporary Fiber Art
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
through
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Tompkins County Public Library
The Finger Lakes Lace Guild has reserved all of the display cases in the Library for this exhibit.
Anyone who wishes to volunteer, or has items/information to display, please contact coordinator Shirley Egan.
More info below.
As part of our educational mission, the Guild is pleased to provide demonstrations, short talks,
and displays about lace and lacemaking at your community, school, arts/crafts or historical society fair, or other event.
Please contact us about availability well in advance.
Venues where the Guild has demonstrated in the past include:
- Newark Valley Historical Society Spring Festival and Harvest Festival
- Farmers’ Museum Harvest Festival (Cooperstown)
- Ithaca Festival
- The Wheat Harvest Festival (King Ferry)
- Fort Saint Marie Among the Iroquois (Syracuse)
- New York State Fair
- Corning-Painted Post Historical Society’s Benjamin Patterson Inn
Thematic Plan For Library Exhibit
Note 1: This is only a rough draft (as of 3/19/06) to get general concepts started.
Note 2: Themes have not yet been assigned to specific case locations.
- What Is Lace? - explain how made and how to tell different techniques apart; display various techniques, tools, materials, lacemaking in progress. Show how to tell handmade lace from machine-made lace. Folk vs. Fashion Lace – explain their different origins & uses. Use blow up photos to show details since magnifiers could be a fire hazard. Illustrate with old laces as well as new, with traditional as well as contemporary lace designs. (large case #1)
- Lace as a capsule of western social history (“A Thread Runs Through It”) – Shirley Egan – origins, place in history of textiles, costume, art, economics (use as international currency, smuggling, protective tariffs). Class distinction and sumptuary laws. Lace and gender/status: Use of lace by men and disparity between men’s and women’s status in 17th century & its inversion by the late 18th /early 19th century. Large scale cottage industry & child labor. Industrialization and gradual ‘democratization’ of lace in 19th-20th; its fall from favor in the 1920s and renaissance in the late 20th. (large case #2)
- Antique Lace - collection, identification, conservation. How to store and treat lace. Realize how valuable an old box in the attic might be (intrinsically and as family heirloom). Show the right and wrong care of lace. (medium case #1)
- Lace in the Americas – From Quebec to Brazil: Discuss early lacemaking and lace usage in the Americas. Include stories of Ipswich laces, New Paltz, Upper Canada, photo of theater curtain in Puerto Rico, Nanduti lace; George Washington portrait wearing his Alencon lace; “economic missionaries” and Indian Lace in Wisconsin, Brazil. (medium case # 2)
- Contemporary Lace and Lacemaking (“Not Your Grandmother’s Antimacassars”) – Jean Jagendorf – Lace as art. New approaches & designs/techniques by contemporary lacemakers, show large, sculptural pieces, color usage, 3-D lace, use of metal, jewelry etc. (medium case #3).
- The Finger Lakes Lace Guild & Ithaca Lace Day – Cathy Whalen – Explain about educational purpose, founding & history, workshops, demonstration and outreach, schools, historic fairs, etc. Newsletters, photos and samples from past activities. Show our “logo in lace” of the Finger Lakes. (see lace logo on pg. 1; created by Jean Jagendorf.) Fun, fellowship, learn an unusual new skill (Think Recruitment tool). Ithaca Lace Day – Celebrating 26 years – Explain what Ithaca Lace Day is (and when, where this year, lecture time). Relate to the origins of the “lace day” in lace-making economies, photos, commemorative objects from past lace days. (wall case #1 case)
- Lace and Computers – Cync Brantley and Dani Rotach – The amount of time it took to make lace and its potential for lucrative profit spurred invention of machines that were among the first successes of complex programming in the industrial revolution. Show punch cards, 0’s and 1’s to cross and twist, explain connection to modern computers, democratization of lace, relate to themes 1 & 2. (wall case #2 case).
- Lace and Books – Holly Van Sciver – Explain that knowing how to make lace was almost lost, explain role of books in preserving knowledge and documenting lace when lace scholarship began in the 20th century. Feature books in library’s collection if any suitable. Role of books in early 20th century, renaissance of publishing in late 20th century. FLLG’s volunteer work to create and publish the Bibliography of rare lace books in the Cornell Library’s collection. (wall case #3)
- Lace in Literature – Shirley Egan – From Nancy Drew to Lewis Carroll. Parallels between lace & the culture of wealth & ostentation in the community read book, The Great Gatsby. Lace was not in fashion in the time of the Great Gatsby – why was this? How was lace used in the 1920’s? Relate to themes 2 & 7. (wall case #4)
© Copyright 2005, 2006 Finger Lakes Lace Guild. All rights reserved.
Updated August 4, 2006
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