Steampunk Quilts? You Betcha!

 

 

  

StitchPunk (through July 13)

Domestic Partners (through June 15)

New England Quilt Museum

18 Shattuck Street

Lowell, MA

 

On a recent trip home from Maine Emily wanted to stop at the New England Quilt Museum (NEQM). I was only mildly interested and planned to walk about and take photos instead. Into every life a little rain must fall and, in my case, threatening weather was a good thing. I went inside the NEQM and adored the two featured exhibits.

 

 

 

StitchPunk is, of course, wordplay on Steampunk, but it was also a marvel of imagination and creativity. First, though, let me say a few words about steampunk. It was all the rage in the late 1990s and into the first decade and a half of the 21^st century. The term is associated with dreamers and science fiction writers who use the trappings of the Victorian world, but replace modern technology with shiny brass gears and steam power rather than our current (pun intended) reliance on electricity and petroleum. Steampunk ardor has cooled a bit, but it still has allure. Its critics associate it with hipsters doing hipster things and those who dislike science fiction for its assumed lack of “science” and its alleged animus toward “progress.”  

 

 

Courtesy of a book by Simon Webb titled The Real World of Victorian Steampunk, I’m prepared to tell such people that they are nuts! Do you remember that Elon Musk design for a vacuum tube rail system? A steam-powered version was successfully demonstrated in 1867. In1903, the Wright Brothers flew the first airplane, right? Nope! Several steam-powered airplanes got off the ground in the 1880s and 1890s and traveled further than the flimsy gas-powered wood and canvas box of the Wrights. Solar power was proved a good idea in 1878, and in the same century steam-powered buses,  ocean-going boats, telephones, and fax machines were operational. So too were electric cars capable of reaching over 150 mph and the prototypes of Skye and computers. The very world of oil and gasoline to which fanatics so zealously cling came to dominate for the same reasons they remain: the discovery of oil led self-interested investors to promote machines using it and demote steam machines, some of which were superior. So there!

 

The show at the NEQM doesn’t seek to rekindle such battles, rather it focuses on stitchers and quilters who wanted to do create unique and unusual fabric art. Like steampunk writers, a lot of what they do upsets traditionalists. Is it a “quilt” if it contains wire, dryer vents, gears, hardware, jewelry, mannequin faces, and glass jars? Why not? As the below pictures show, it’s cool stuff no matter what labels you want to slap on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would suppose the wooden marionette fashioned by Bruce Rosenbaum, Isaac Singer: The Time Stitcher doesn’t fit rigid definitions either, though many of the pieces you see are decidedly sewing-related. (If you don’t know, this is the Singer associated with a famed line of sewing machines that still bear his name.)

 

 

 

 

 

You only have a few more weeks to catch Domestic Partners, which is more on the calm side–in both design and intent. Fiber artist Dawn Allen pays homage to the farm animals of her youth as well as domesticated companions, and woodland critters. Her show skirts the borders of “Ahh, cute!” but in a good way.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rob Weir

Thinking ‘Bout Sports

Right now every sport except gridiron football is in high gear. I’ll overlook the fact that basketball and hockey should have crowned their champions at least six weeks ago if I get a break from the NFL. Can’t stand the latter! I’d much rather view real football (aka/soccer) than watch steroid-enhanced monsters slap each other on the butt and pretend to play an exciting sport that ends in 6-3 scores. 

 

 

 

In the National Basketball Association I’m rooting for the Boston Celtics, who have the most talented team in the NBA. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Indiana Pacers or the Western Conference champ upsets them. The Celtics can be maddeningly  lethargic and play as if they are disinterestedly mailing it in. This is particularly the case of Jaysson Tatum, who gets by too much on reputation rather than his box scores. I hope he wakes up and wins his kudos. If he doesn’t, it’s not out of the realm of possibility the Celtics might move him rather than give him a max contract. 

 

 I’m rooting for the New York Rangers to win hockey’s Stanley Cup, though my head tells me they won’t get past the Florida Panthers. I’ve nothing against the Panthers, except that they play in Florida. I refuse to root for anything or anybody from that IQ-challenged state. (I don’t even like the weather!) If the Rangers fall, I really hope  the Edmonton Oilers win the Cup. It’s been 31 years since Canada hoisted a Stanley Cup and it will go wild when a Canadian team is finally triumphant. Few in Sunrise, Florida will look up from their pina coladas if the Panthers to win. 

 

 The Major League Baseball Season is nearly one-third finished with its162-game season. Fans still seem to like the pitch clock, but MLB continues to face challenges. One of them is the luxury tax, which was supposed to bring parity. It has not. May is almost over and just 11 (of 30) teams have a winning record. Eight are in large media markets, with only Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Cleveland representing so-called small markets. 

 

 MLB has produced some surprises. I did not expect the Yankees to be in first place or the Red Sox to have a winning record. I love the fact that Tampa Bay and the Houston Astros have sucked. Tampa often plays “dirty” baseball and everyone knows about the “cheating” Astros. I also delight in seeing the Twins and Angels struggle, Minnesota because they are perennial tomato can playoff fodder for real contenders; the Angels for pathetic management that has wasted the career of Mike Trout. 

 

 I’ve been heartened by the success of Cleveland and Kansas City, though both need to start putting butts in the seats or pressure will mount to move them. This is also the case in Cincinnati, Miami, and Pittsburgh. Instead of expansion—heaven forbid still another wave of AAA ball masquerading as the big leagues–MLB needs to either institute a salary floor or move failing teams. Montreal ought to be choice number one; it’s twice as large as Charlotte, another frequent candidate. (BTW, Nashville has a more rabid baseball base than Charlotte.) 

 

 MLB has decided to abandon Oakland for Las Vegas—desert heat, hookers, and gambling, what could go wrong? I’m glad that Oakland is giving MLB the middle finger to the tune of just 6,000 fans per home game; there’s no reason why fans should line the pockets of the greedy. I’d love to see the Dodgers fall flat as they try to buy a World Series. They won’t though; they’re just too good. 

 

Pro sports need new awards categories. The Cleveland Guardians probably won’t win the World Series, but Stephen Vogt should be Manager of the Year for keeping them in the running and for taking over from Terry Francona, surely a future Hall of Fame skipper. 

 

 There should be a Most Outstanding Player for whomever is the best at their craft, and the Most Valuable Player should be reserved for the one who truly means the most to a team. For instance, Mike Trout is as perennial MVP candidate, but is he really all that “valuable?” Each year he won or was considered, the Angels finished near the bottom of their division. Did they need Trout to finish fourth? 

 

 I’ve been thinking about this during the NHL season. If you are voting on the best player in the NHL, you start considering Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Auston Matthews, Leon Draisatil, and Connor MacDavid. Only the last two are still playing for the Cup. However, the most valuable is Artemi Panarin of the Rangers. It’s impossible to imagine New York’s success without him. 

 

 By the way, the most valuable player on the Celtics is Derrick White.

 

 Several other general thoughts:

       Can people just give Caitlin Clark a break? She’s played only a handful of games in the Women’s National Basketball League and gets flak for not being dominant. Gee, how can that be? She only went from college ball to competition against the finest female competitors in the world! What she has done is triple attendance everywhere she has played.

·          Shame, shame, shame on black commentators and players pulling the race card on Clark! Is it her fault that others see her a proverbial Great White Hope? Or that endorsements have come her way? Isn’t the real villain the NBA, which provides half of the WNBA budget? Let’s see, Clark is the consensus #1 pick and makes $76,500; the minimum NBA salary is $1.1 million for pine-riders!

·          Think the networks regret shelling out over $7 billion to broadcast NASCAR? Auto racing has devotees who go to the track, but it’s a terrible sport for TV.

·          Golf is even worse on TV. Plus, the PGA/LIV split has really taken a divot out of its viewing audience. 

 

 Rob Weir

Small Towns: Cheshire County New Hampshire

 

In Southern New Hampshire nearly every settlement from Keene in the east to Manchester 69 miles westward is small. Keene is a vibrant college town of roughly 23,000 people, which makes it a metropolis by the standards of Route 101. The next biggest place is Peterborough, which has 6,400 residents. It's famous for a folk music venue that has operated for many years and for the MacDowell residency program where visual artists, writers, architects, and other creative people gather in the woods to collaborate and work on their projects. MacDowell was where Thornton Wilder wrote “Our Town” with Peterborough as his model. However, I would like to concentrate on three smaller towns: Dublin, Harrisville, and Hancock. 

 

 

 

Perhaps you’ve heard of Dublin population 1,500 and can't recall why. If you have ever picked up Yankee Magazine or the Farmer's Almanac, they are published in Dublin. The center of town is a classic New England white village, the exceptions being the fieldstone library and the red Yankee Magazine building. Dublin is in the middle of the Monadnock region, a region in which to enjoy nature and then kick back in a town dotted with small inns and restaurants. There are three large lakes within the town limits, the largest being Dublin Pond. It's also home to the genteel Dublin School, a private college prep institution of just 170 students spread across more than 500 acres–roughly three per student! Dublin has long been an unconventional town for New Hampshire–more crunchy and arty than sawdust- and plaid-covered. It has quite a few devotees of the Baha'i faith, courtesy of a 1912 visit from Abdu’l-Bahá, the Persian-born son of the founder of Baha'i. In the summertime it hosts the Walden Music School.

 

 

 

If you drive up the hill by the parking lot of Yankee Magazine Publishing and travel about 5 miles you will come to Harrisville. It has a special place in my heart, because when I was an undergraduate at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, the very first book I read in a labor history class  (my eventual graduate school specialty) was Factory under the Elms by John Borden Armstrong. It profiled Harrisville and taught me a lot about then-alien concepts: macroeconomics, the immigrant cycle, demographics, and ethnographic history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harrisville was–and is–a textiles village. It was named for Milan Harris who opened the first woolen mill there. It is a picturesque village of just 984 people and much of it looks as it might have appeared in the 19th century. There are old brick and stone factories, mill ponds, canals, and raceways that provided water power to run the machines. Think Lowell, Massachusetts in miniature. Much of the town has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and Harrisville Designs still produces yarns and cloth for purchase at the factory store. Harrisville is a friendly place, but because it is so small it depends on a few people doing a lot of things. I struck up a conversation with Frederick, who was repairing windows sills and pointing bricks and blocks. He is one of just two people who oversee the historical complex. His partner Cat, a graphics design artist, was gracious enough to put aside her work preparing upper stories of factories for housing and business conversion to show Emily and me around the old mills. “Old,” though, is a bit of an oxymoron. There are historic photos to be viewed and a relatively large weaving and twisting room still using classic textile machinery, but much of the post-industrial space has been beautifully renovated. Bringing retrofitted buildings into the 21st century has required removing walls, installing modern furnishings, and replacing inefficient energy sources with solar power, heat pumps, and up-to-date furnaces. Harrisville is a fascinating place just to walk around and imagine yourself in a different time period. It even has a general store that pretty much takes care of all local needs from crackers to coffee.

 

 

 

Hancock was actually our primary goal for the day because it is home to the Farm at Wolf Pine Hollow. Every May it becomes a riot of color because its 118 acres are planted in more than a half million tulip bulbs. The village proper has 1700 people but they are spread out and the center looks as if there couldn't contain more than a few hundred. Hancock is quiet and operates at a casual pace. There are several cafes, but don't expect fast service. Somewhere it has a bell fashioned by Paul Revere, but that didn't seem exciting enough to seek out. Like most of the towns in Cheshire County it’s located in watersheds of the Ashuelot and Contoocook rivers, hence there are lakes dotting the landscape, including extensive Nabanusit Lake.

 

Cheshire County New Hampshire is a place where you go to operate in slow gear. That is unless you wish to climb the Monadnock ridges or burn energy paddling in the ponds. We opted for taking our time to poke about, stop, and enjoy the views.

 

Rob Weir