Bernice Ellis Lunder; The Comics Quilt; probably Omaha, Nebraska; 1935; cotton; appliquéd, embroidered, and quilted; Lent by the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, Grand Island.
Detail of Comic Quilt: Clarabella
A few weeks ago BoingBoing featured an appliquéd cover to the comics section of the latest Nickelodeon Magazine. This reminded me of a quilt I had just seen at our Going West! Quilts and Community exhibition presently up at our Renwick Gallery. The quilt is made up of a series appliquéd comics from the 1930s.
Bernice Ellis Lunder entered the Comics Quilt, featuring forty-nine characters from the funny papers, in a quilt context. According to Omaha's Evening World Herald (August 29, 1935), Mrs. Lunder "drew all the characters free hand and then appliquéd them. Each comic folk is true to character."
Going West! Quilts and Community is on display at the Renwick through January 21, 2008.
