Upcoming Quilt Studies Courses

Courses & Workshops

Upcoming Courses and Workshops
Registration Information

The International Quilt Study Center & Museum offers a range of classes to both graduate students and other interested individuals. Ongoing lectures, workshops, and symposia present unique opportunities for learning to those interested in building knowledge about quilts and their history.

Please read the course and workshop descriptions carefully to learn about credit availability, pricing and registration deadlines. We are not permitted to offer non-credit enrollment in courses offered for academic credit.

Upcoming Courses & Workshops

  • “Bedding Down in Style: Quilts, Bedcovers, and Bedhangings in the American Interior, 1620-1900.” TXCD 978

    Instructor: Deborah Kraak
    June 25 - 29, 2012
    1 credit hour

    This course will study the design and fabrics of American quilts and other bedcovers from 1620 to 1900 in the context of period styles in the decorative arts and interiors.

    • Did wholecloth worsted wool quilts follow the color preferences laid out in Thomas Chippendale’s The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker’s Director?

    • What would be the correct lining fabric for Indian chintz bedhangings according to Ackermann’s Repository of Arts (1809)?

    • Which textile manufacturers today produce the best reproductions of 18th-century copperplate print, woodblock, and 19-century rollerplate printed textiles for quilts and bedhangings in period room settings?

    Explore these and similar questions via a study of quilts, bedcovers, and bedhangings in PowerPoint talks, assigned readings, and by studying quilts in the collection of the International Quilt Study Center. The students will select one quilt from the collection to analyze as an object in period interior or a period room setting for a 5 page paper with additional pages of illustrations and swatches or a PowerPoint (to be submitted one to three weeks after the course ends). Students are encouraged to work in groups.

      Deborah Kraak is an independent museum professional based in Wilmington, Delaware. From 1992-1997 she was Associate Curator of Textiles at Winterthur Museum and an adjunct instructor teaching a textile connoisseurship block in the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, a Masters degree program awarded by the University of Delaware. She was responsible for overseeing the textile furnishings and rotations for the 175 period rooms and spaces at Winterthur. At the Maryland Institute/College of Art, she taught a course in the Continuing Studies Department about decorative arts and the interior, 17th-18th centuries. She has curated quilt exhibitions at the American Textile History Museum, the Chester County Historical Society, the Vermont Quilt Festival, and the Brandywine River Museum. The former assistant curator of Textiles and Costume of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Ms. Kraak received her Master’s Degree in the History of Art from The Institute of Fine Arts, and her B.A. from Michigan State University. She taught for many years in the Cooper-Hewitt Masters Program in the Decorative Arts, developing various courses and seminars including Textiles in the American Period Interior, Quilts and Coverlets, and Textiles in America. For several years she has taught a costume history course at the University of Delaware.

Registration Information

First, you must apply for admission to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Forms for graduate admission are available from the Graduate Studies Office, or by calling (402) 472-2878 or (800) 742-8800 ext. 2878.

Once you have been admitted, you will be given instructions on the University of Nebraska on-line registration system so you may register for a workshop or course.

Degree-Seeking Students
are encouraged to apply for admission by January 15 to ensure a smooth transition. You may apply for admission after that date, but you may not be admitted in time to register for classes on the first day of registration in early March. UNL offers several ways to work toward a M.A. degree with a Quilt Studies emphasis. More information on those programs.

Non-Degree Seeking Students
who wish to audit the course, may apply for admission via the expedited application procedure. You must hold a bachelor's degree in order to apply for admission. A transcript from your undergraduate institution will be required. For more information, visit the Graduate Studies Office web site.