Quilts have played a prominent role in Marian Ann Montgomery’s life.
The first stitch began with her great-grandmother, who was a talented quilter.
“My mother, later in life, woke me up one morning and said, ‘Would you like to see your great grandmother’s quilt?’ And she showed it to me by throwing it on the bed,”
But she never met that great grandmother who helped pass the time with a needle and thread, and she’s not a prolific quilter herself.
No, quilts have woven the fabric of
This month, the largest exhibition ever dedicated to quilting, called Quilt Mania, is opening in 11 museums and venues around the Metroplex. Montgomery, who lives in Preston Hollow with husband Barry and dog Benjamin, is acting as the project’s coordinating curator.
“There will be 150 quilts in this exhibition, and no one place in town could hold all of this,” she says.
The Quilt Mania idea started small in 2000 after she’d finished a gig as founding curator and director of exhibitions of the Women’s Museum. Bonny Speed, then director of the Trammel and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, came to her with an idea to do an exhibit of Japanese quilts.
“Quilting originated in
From that conversation, a roundtable started. And before they knew it, places such as the
In addition to the dozens of quilts, some of the venues, such as the MAC and The Science Place, will have exhibits that feature quilt-like artwork and the advancing technology of the craft.
So what does it say about quilting that its appeal and scope can cover such a mix of venues?
“That it’s universal, and that we all sleep under something,”
She received her bachelor’s in home economics education from
But it wasn’t until a stint in
“When you end up as the curator of fashion and textiles at the
Upon her return to
“I really found a home with them,” she says.
And she has a great amount of admiration for the dedication that 19th century women settlers showed to quilting.
“American women on the frontier really took it to an art form. It was their only gallery,” she says. “These women couldn’t go to art school, they couldn’t study with the Impressionists in
And now, with the help of those like