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Quilt Museum Focus on Today's Quilters
The Museum of the American Quilter's Society in Paducah, KY is an interesting
stopover for RVers in Western Kentucky. Located at 215 Jefferson Street in
historic Paducah, the museum's collection includes over 200 quilts, the work of
over 182 quilt makers. The works in the collection were made from 1980 on.
In
1983, after attending the National Quilting Association show in Bell Buckle,
Tennessee, and the Houston Quilt Festival, Bill and Meredith Schroeder of
Paducah, Ky., decided they would bring attention to the extraordinary work
today's quilt makers were creating. The first annual AQS Quilt Show and Contest
were held in Paducah in 1985, and the first issue of American Quilter magazine
was published that same year.
When the Museum opened in April 1991, its
collection contained fewer than 85 quilts on loan from the founders. Since that
time these and many others have been donated to the museum.
The core of the
collection includes quilts donated by the Schroeders (founders of the museum)
and the AQS Quilt Show & Contest purchase award winners donated through the
American Quilter's Society. Also included are a number of other donations and
purchases.
Group tours are provided by trained museum volunteers and staff.
Guides offer highlights of the current exhibits and the museum's permanent
collection of quilts by today's quiltmakers. The tour focuses on today's
quilters and their stories, providing a highly personalized view of the
traditional and creative process of quilting. Additional docents are available
in the galleries to answer questions about quilts, the museum, and the region.
Photography and touching of the quilts is not permitted.
Following the guided
tour, visitors can tour the quilt exhibits on their own, reading the detailed
labels displayed with each quilt, and visit the museum gift and book shop.
Visits usually last 75-120 minutes, with a minimum of 30 minutes for the guided
tour (40-45 is preferred).
The 2006 AQS Quilt Exposition will be held August
23-26, at Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville.
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