NYC Textile Adventure

I went into NYC yesterday (yes, Friday the 13th, and no, nothing bad happened) with several of my "hooligan" friends (as Leandra referred to them) -- kls_eloise , Jane B., and Cheryl G., who was a wonderful last-minute addition to the group. The purpose of the visit was to see the Bard Center's exhibit of 16th and 17th centuries embroideries from the Met, and to see a selling exhibition of Tudor and Stuart textiles being held at a private gallery.

The Franses Gallery was the first stop. OMG!!! What an amazing exhibit!! If you have the time to get down to NYC within the next month, I highly recommend it! The only caveat is that the gallery is only open on weekdays, 10am to 5pm. If you can't make it, the exhibit is online at www.fransesexhibition.com.  AND IT'S JUST BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL MARCH 13TH. It's a small gallery on the east side, but it's full of absolutely amazing stuff, and you get to see it up close and personal. Want to lean in close to the late 17th century curtain stitched in flamepoint? Go ahead! Want to spend 10 minutes arguing with your friends about how the side of a sweetbag was sewn up? Fine with them! The woman who staffed the gallery was absolutely lovely,  answered every question to the best of her knowledge, let us wander around to our heart's content, and even let Cheryl take a few pictures (no flash, of course). I have to say that we were all very giddy after we got out of there.

After a nice lunch at an Italian restaurant on the upper west side, we tackled the exhibit at the Bard Center. Now don't get me wrong -- it was a wonderful exhibit. But the dim lighting and the very, very stern guards, immediately brought us (me, at least) back down to earth. At any rate, there's a lot of great pieces in the exhibit, including 4 pairs of gloves for me to drool over (yay!). There's also some hideously tacky 17th century beadwork items that made us all laugh, as well as a lot of stumpwork. Whereas many of the works at the Franses fell within the SCA's time period, I would say that most of the pieces at the Bard's exhibit were post-1600. Of course, that didn't stop me or Cheryl from buying the exhibit catalog. :)

I'd been a little reluctant to take a vacation day to go down to NYC, but let me tell you, the Franses exhibit alone was worth the time and effort. Go see it if you can, before these items go back into private hands.