Texas Press Association

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-Houston, Texas-Establishment of the Texas Quilt Museum was announced recently at the 35^th annual International Quilt Festival by The Quilt Institute, a nonprofit foundation under the leadership of Karey Patterson Bresenhan and Nancy O'Bryant Puentes.

The Museum will be housed in an historic 1895 building on the town square in La Grange, Texas. Purchase of the building was completed in summer 2009.  The projected opening date is 2011, to coincide with the 175^th anniversary of Texas' independence and the founding of the Republic of Texas.

"Texas is home to three major forces in quilting," said Puentes. "International Quilt Festival, the largest quilt event in America, is celebrating its 35^th anniversary in 2009 and is based in Houston. The International Quilt Market, for 30 years the world's only trade show for the quilting industry, and the International Quilt Association, a 30-year-old international nonprofit organization, are also based in Houston."

"The Texas Quilt Museum is a natural outgrowth of this activity, and it will fit well with the arts and cultural activities already underway in Fayette County," said Bresenhan. "Fayette County has a growing reputation as a nexus for arts organizations, museums, and galleries, and for cultural and arts events. The Winedale Regional Center for the Quilt, Festival Hill, and Shakespeare at Winedale are located there, as are 17 other museums and arts organizations."

Dr. Don Carleton, director of the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas, applauded the establishment of the new museum. He noted that both Bresenhan and Puentes serve on the Briscoe Center's national Advisory Council, and had made possible its acquisition of the Joyce Gross Quilt Collection and Archive. He added that discussions are underway to forge a linkage between the Briscoe Center at UT and the Museum.

"We see this as strengthening the programs of the Briscoe Center's Winedale Regional Center for the Quilt, a partner of The Alliance for American Quilts, co-founded by Bresenhan and Puentes. This offers the possibility of creative collaboration in mounting exhibitions that make the connection between quilt art and American history," Dr. Carleton said.

The Museum has been a dream of the two women for many years.  They note that Texas has a wealth of beautiful and historic quilts, dynamic quilt guilds, and quiltmakers of both traditional and avant-garde art quilts who have attained recognition nationally and internationally.

Consulting architects for the Museum are Gensler, with Barry Moore, FAIA, as the lead architect. Moore, senior associate at Gensler, is on the architecture faculty of the University of Houston and is a well-known consultant in historical restoration, renovation, and re-purposing of architecturally significant buildings in Texas and elsewhere.

La Grange was selected for the Museum because of its proximity to major Texas cities and major highways that would facilitate interstate travel to view the quilt exhibits that are planned.