Native Threads ? a collection of 12 full size quilts and other smaller works by some of the state’s best contemporary Native American quilters ? will be in Arkansas City beginning Saturday.
The exhibit will run through Jan. 19 at the Cherokee Strip Land Rush Museum, 31639 U.S. Highway 77. Admission to the museum is $4.50 for adults and $3.50 for seniors.
Icy weather has delayed delivery of the exhibit, a spokesperson for the museum said Thursday. Those wishing to view it should call (620) 442-6750 and be sure it has arrived.
Originally, quilt making was an art form learned by Native American women during the nineteenth century from white settlers and missionaries. Native American quilt makers creatively incorporated their own designs into their quilts and used colors that have symbolic meaning to their tribes.
Gradually, quilt making became a traditional art form, and Native American Kansans continue the practice today.
Native Threads is curated by Native American Joni Murphy, an art historian and faculty member at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence.
According to Murphy, these quilts are traditionally not sold, but instead serve a variety of purposes and functions within the community. Some are used functionally as altar cloths, room dividers, bed covers, sweat lodge coverings and burial shrouds.
Others are offered as symbols of respect. They are featured at raffles, given as gifts at ceremonies, births, graduations, basketball games, and funerals as tokens of honor. Native people believe that giving such honorable gifts away is a sign of being thankful.
Native Threads is organized by the Kansas Arts Commission and toured by ExhibitsUSA, a national program of Mid-America Arts Alliance. Mid-America is a private, nonprofit regional arts organization based in Kansas City, Missouri.