Creating: Quilts of the Lakota at the Arthur Ross Gallery, February 9-April 7	Print Issue
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One of the 20 Lakota quilts at the Arthur Ross Gallery, February 9 through April 7. Unidentified Lakota artist, Untitled (White Bison and Pipes Lakota Star Quilt), cotton; lent by The Heritage Center at Red Cloud Indian School, Pine Ridge, South Dakota.

Creating: Quilts of the Lakota will present over 20 eye-dazzling 20th and 21st century quilts from the Heritage Center on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. This will be the first time most of these quilts will be exhibited publicly and published. The exhibition and related catalogue reflect a three-year collaboration between Penn’s Arthur Ross Gallery and The Heritage Center.

Mary V. Bordeaux, a member of the Lakota tribe, will curate this exhibition with the Arthur Ross Gallery. “Making items for family and the community is a large part of the Lakota’s way of life,” notes Ms. Bordeaux. Ms. Bordeaux, a Sicangu Lakota, selected the superb star quilts that reflect just a fraction of The Heritage Center’s collection. In the exhibition catalogue she notes, “When receiving a quilt... a Lakota person feels a sense of pride and respect, and those feelings are embodied in each and every quilt.”

To add historical and cultural context, 19th-century Lakota artifacts, including moccasins, a cradleboard and parfleche boxes, are included in the exhibition and lent by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. These Penn Museum artifacts reflect Native American sewing traditions prior to the introduction of quilting in the 1880s by missionaries at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Visitors will discover both Lakota quilting techniques and learn more about Lakota traditions. This exhibition promotes interdisciplinary learning, engages new audiences, and involves Penn faculty and students.

Related Programs

• Tours will be offered to the public on weekend afternoons at 1 p.m.
  
• Saturday, February 9:
          10 a.m. Gallery Tour with Curator Mary Bordeaux 
          11 a.m. Artist Talk with Lakota quilter Janyce Trask
  
• Friday, February 22:
          7:30 p.m. World Premier Reading of Miracle Play by Sheldon Wolf
  
• Wednesday, March 20:
          Time TBA; Hoop Dancer from South Dakota, Jasmine Pickner