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History Colorado Center in Denver, Colorado is home to the Woodard Collection of Rio Grande textiles. From the same family, the Luther Bean Museum received the Woodard Collection of southwest pottery, retablos (Hispanic sacred paintings on wood), and antiques. Part of the internship was to visit museums with collections similar to ours and to learn […]

We were fortunate to work with Tom Worley from Facilities Services and met with Tom initially to discuss options for mounting hardware and hanging methods for the Rio Grande textiles. Because the textiles would be mounted high up on the stairwell walls, and installation would take place from the top of a ladder maneuvered on […]

We had set the date of Saturday, March 9, 2019 for the sewing party and I had sent an advance email, requesting volunteers from our museum advisory committee to help sew. The sewing of the Velcro/twill strips does not need to be done by a professional, but it does require care and attention to detail […]

After reviewing best practices for textile support systems, we chose the Velcro support system for its ease of installation, for its even distribution of weight across the width of the textile, and for its strength and ability to support heavy textiles. We purchased spools of Velcro (which comes in two parts: loops and hooks) and […]

The main project of my internship was to curate, plan, and develop an exhibit of Rio Grande textiles from the Luther Bean Museum (LBM) collection. I had learned much from my own research, the Mark Winter NMAM 2018 conference lectures, and especially my visits to the Millicent Rogers Museum. My concept for the exhibit was […]

The first Navajo textile we viewed during Mark and Linda Winter’s consultant visit to the Luther Bean Museum (LBM) was a late phase Chief blanket in very good condition. Mark folded the blanket to show how the pattern would appear when worn. I found it amazing that these patterns were designed in the mind of […]

As part of Mark and Linda Winter’s consultant visit, we viewed the Luther Bean Museum’s (LBM) collection of Rio Grande textiles. I was particularly interested in the approximate periods, the type of wool used, and the nature of the dyes. Most of the textiles appear to be from the period of about 1870 to 1890. […]

After meeting Mark and Linda Winter while attending Mark’s lectures “Taos Trade through Textiles” as part of the 2018 NMAM Conference, I hoped to have them consult on the Luther Bean Museum’s collection of Rio Grande and Navajo textiles. I emailed Mark and Linda and they responded that they would be happy to come view […]

Lecture by Mark Winter and Chris Ferguson on Pueblo and Navajo Textiles, at the 2018 NMAM Conference, Taos, NM Immediately following their lecture on Saltillo and Rio Grande blankets, Mark Winter and Chris Ferguson did a second lecture on Pueblo and Navajo textiles. The Luther Bean Museum is home to six Navajo textiles so I […]

I attended the Object Conservation and Handling Workshop at the Millicent Rogers Museum (MRM) in Taos, New Mexico. The workshop was led by Dr. Caroline Jean Fernald, Executive Director of the museum and Carmela Quinto, Curator of Collections. Rather than sit in a conference room, we moved through the different galleries, as they were relevant […]