The new exhibit entitled, Stitching Pieces of Time: Kentucky Quilting Traditions and The Wade Hall Quilt Collection, includes archival photos, oral histories and historical information to enhance the exhibit experience. The main exhibit element features a virtual representation of 32 out the 64 quilts from the Wade Hall Quilt Collection hanging in the real life William T. Young Library. Photographic images of the real life quilts were used as textures for the quilt prims hanging throughout the virtual library. Some of the quilts are scattered on the floor of the library to provide flow and staging areas for animations and information areas.

The real life Wade Hall Quilt Collection is a donated collection by Dr. Wade Hall, a “retired professor of English and the Humanities at Bellarmine College in Louisville, Kentucky.” As a collector of American quilts for over 30 years, Dr. Hall collected these treasures predominantly in the Ohio Valley region within a 100 mile radius of Lexington, Kentucky, the home of the real life University of Kentucky.

The collection consists of over 100 quilts, of which 64 currently hang on the fifth floor of the William T. Young Library since the building’s dedication in 1998. Not only are these large examples of love utilitarian, but they also represent a level of community and cultural bonding as women gathered to create these amazing pieces of art.

Since Eastern pioneer women first migrated to 18th century Kentucky, the tradition of hand making blankets for protection against the cold came along with them. The natural progression of the hand-made quilting craft involved moving from large embroidered pieces, to patchwork quilts that utilized every piece of usable fabric.

As generations of children grew up under these secure examples of family life, sentimentality for these textile treasures grew in popularity that has not waned over the years. With age, condition and design quality, quilts have increased in desirability and value. Today, not only are contemporary and antique quilts highly sought after by collectors, but the tradition of creating new quilts has continued with designs growing ever more complex.

Like the University of Kentucky, institutions all over the country have realized the value of these artistic works and have striven to preserve them. In Kentucky, the Kentucky Quilt Project of the 1970s was an initiating effort to encourage folks to dig their family quilts out of storage in an effort to document the styles and number of quilts possible throughout the state.

Another feature of the virtual exhibit is the inclusion of information about a more recent folk-art tradition that drew its influence from the older quilt traditions: Barn Quilt Panels. The folk-art tradition of quilt making has taken on a new form of celebration through the custom of adding hand-painted quilt pattern squares to the outside of barns. Begun in 2001 in Adams County, Ohio, the practice quickly headed south into Kentucky with multitudes of barns adding this colorful decoration.

The overall exhibit was opened on November 21st with a Kentucky Harvest Festival held at the front of the virtual library. Another milestone was achieved during this festival as the island hosted its first live streaming music event. In staying with the celebration of Kentucky folk-art traditions, a concurrent performance of bluegrass music on campus, known in real life as the Bluegrass in the Bluegrass series hosted by the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music, was streamed in-world for one hour. With avatars playing the real life performers in-world, the music of Hog Operation provided the perfect backdrop for the autumn celebration and exhibit opening.

For more information:

University of Kentucky Island-

http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20of%20KY/179/147/30

The Wade Hall Quilt Collection-

http://www.uky.edu/Libraries/libpage.php?lweb_id=456&llib_id=14

The Hog Operation-

http://www.hogoperation.com/

Kentucky Quilt Trail-

http://www.kentuckyquilttrail.org/

Kentucky Arts Council (Quilt Trails)-

http://artscouncil.ky.gov/QTrails/QTrails.htm

UK Island Blog-

http://ukisland.wordpress.com/

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