Virtual Dialogue with Isabella Rosner and Melinda Watt

EVENTS > VIRTUAL PROGRAMS

Our February Virtual Dialogue features Isabella Rosner, PhD Candidate in History at King’s College London and recipient of a recent Decorative Arts Trust Research Grant. Isabella will uncover the contradictions in a variety of 17th-century Quaker needlework from public and private collections and will investigate the reasons for these contradictions. 17th-century needlework made by girls and women in the Society of Friends is heavily opulent, surprising given the Society’s investment in and promotion of plainness from its very beginning. Embroidering highly decorative objects with high-quality materials allowed Quaker girls to learn how to use the goods produced, handled, and sold by their parents, future husbands, friends, and other members of the London Quaker community, many of whom were merchants involved in the textile trade. 

After sharing her research she will be joined in conversation with Melinda Watt, Chair and Christa C. Mayer Thurman Curator of Textiles at the Art Institute of Chicago. The program will close with a live Q&A from the audience. We hope you can join us! 

The Decorative Arts Trust hosts virtual dialogues that feature scholars sharing and discussing their exciting new research with experts in the field. The hour-long Zoom program includes a lecture, scholar-to-scholar conversation, and Q&A with the program participants. 

Registration fee: Pay What You Can

Watch the program recording on YouTube. If you like this program video, subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive notifications when we post new videos. 

Read the Bulletin post about this program.