Crochet at the Smithsonian American Arts Museum

This summer we visited the Smithsonian American Art Museum and there were two pieces in the Folk Art exhibition that caught my eye. I love traveling and visiting new places and I really love it when I see crochet!



Indian Woman(ca. 1970) by Miles Burkholder Carpenter


Smithsonian Photo

Embroidered Garment (ca. 1949) by Alice Eugenia Ligon.

For many folk artists, life-changing events such as death, injury, or disease that affects the family may trigger a period of great creativity. According to the embroidered inscription, Ligon created this dress as a Christmas gift for her children while she was a patient at Fulton State Hospital. She was hospitalized there in 1949 and 1953 for an unspecified condition. Ligon enjoyed sewing, crocheting, and quilting, but this garment; this gown, probably her first hospital gown or uniform, shows her remarkable skill. She crocheted the hem and sleeves and used every available inch of cloth to embroider religious, patriotic, popular, and personal portraits, vignettes, and inscriptions.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006