Elizabeth Macarthur’s Quilt at the National Gallery of Victoria
The gallery had sold out of the glossy, colour catalogue for Making the Australian Quilt: 1800–1950 by the time I saw the exhibition last week. But I had a terrific chat with the young woman serving at the museum shop while I placed an order to have the catalogue mailed out (at a discounted rate,…
Exquisite Threads: English Embroidery 1600s-1900s at the National Gallery of Victoria
Popped into the NGV at lunchtime to see a small – but perfectly formed – display of embroidered pieces. Absolutely beautiful, of course, but also thought-provoking. What better way to prevent aristocratic women from doing anything useful than to encourage them to spend thousands of hours embroidering? Or was the embroidery a vital means of…