Read House & Gardens
42 The Strand, New Castle, DE 19720 (directions)
(302) 322-8411
Wednesday - Friday, Sunday, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

April 4 - June 17, 2018

Featuring the quilts and needlepoint of University of Delaware graduate student Aliza Alperin-Sheriff, Crafting Identity highlights contemporary textile art in conversation with the Read House and its former inhabitants to spark a discussion about identity.

The things we make, possess, and display all contribute to how we understand ourselves. Antique beds made with modern quilts will raise questions about the intersection of art and utility and about the roles of women. Modern needlepoint maps displayed alongside maps from the early republic will question how 19th-century Americans understood themselves, their new country, and the world beyond. Looking at contemporary art that evokes the sense of home, past and present, in the two-hundred-year-old Read House will help visitors see how history shapes us and how we shape the stories we tell about the past.
 

Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Opening Reception and Talk
Join us at the Read House for a special opening reception (5:00 p.m.) and lecture (5:45 p.m.). Petra Clark, a University of Delaware PhD candidate in English, will present a talk entitled, “More than a Feather in One’s Cap: The Nineteenth-Century Taxidermy Bird Hat Controversy,” which explores the intersection of women’s fashion and environmental consciousness.

Click here for for details and to reserve for the opening reception and talk.