ME S D A ’ s New T e x t i l e G a l l e r y
first southern textile for the new museum, an embroidered cotton coverlet worked by Elizabeth Abrams in 1807. Over the next forty- five years the museum would acquire many more important southern textiles: quilts, cover- lets, samplers, needlework pictures, and house- hold linens—each one woven and stitched with the stories of southern craftswomen. This summer MESDA opens its new
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Textile Gallery, the first in a series of renovated galleries made possible through the generosity of two anonymous friends of MESDA. The gal- lery, guest curated by textile historian Kathleen Staples, allows the museum to share more of its textile collection than ever before—in an environment that is good for the objects, the visitor, and the planet. The new gallery may look red, but it’s really
green. MESDA is the first institution in North Carolina to use Pratt and Lambert’s new eco- friendly, zero-VOC paint (meaning it does not release any Volatile Organic Compounds). The floors in the new gallery are renewable cork and the low-voltage lighting uses significantly less energy than the lights elsewhere in the museum.
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n 1964, shortly before MESDA opened to the public, Frank Horton acquired his
What’s good for the earth is also good for the objects. Textiles are extremely sensitive to light and other environmental conditions. Nationally recognized designer Ralph Harvard and lighting designer Herbert Brito, both of whom donated their services to MESDA, were careful to design a gallery that is both aesthetically pleasing and conservationally protective. m
by Daniel K. Ackermann
Daniel K. Ackermann is Associate Curator of MESDA at Old Salem Museums & Gardens.
New MESDA focus tours featuring the textile gallery will begin this summer. For more information visit
MESDA.org/Tours.
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