LATROBE, PA – The Foster and Muriel McCarl Coverlet Gallery at Saint Vincent College will open its exhibit, “Practically Perfect: A Comedy of Errors in Handwoven Coverlets,” with a reception from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. March 27. The reception is free and open to the public.
This exhibit lovingly celebrates the imperfections that reveal the all-too-human hand of the weaver in his or her cloth.
From mismatched seams to skipped threads to typos in the signatures, sometimes it's the errors that bring an artifact's story to life. In some cultures, weavers deliberately incorporated errors into their work for cultural or spiritual reasons. To our knowledge, American coverlet weavers of the 19th century never made mistakes on purpose, but their works inevitably include many imperfections—some subtle, others less so—by virtue of being handmade.
These imperfections never fail to delight visitors to the McCarl Gallery. They chuckle with sympathy at mismatched seams and loose threads. They light up with amusement when they notice spelling errors or backward letters in coverlet inscriptions. Everyone, it seems, can relate to a typo.
“Practically Perfect” will be on display through Sept. 10. The exhibit includes unique coverlets from the McCarl Gallery along with rarely seen items on loan from six private collections in Pennsylvania, New York and Indiana.
The McCarl Coverlet Gallery is on the ground floor of the Fred M. Rogers Center. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and by appointment. Guided tours are available. Parking is free in the Rogers Center lot.
For more information, visit www.coverletgallery.org or call 724-805-2188.
This blue and white doubleweave coverlet, which is on loan from the collection of Jeffrey Payne of Somerset, is attributed to weaver George Stich. Some of Stich’s signatures read "WOVE" and others, such as this one, read "WOOVE."
