Wedding Dresses on Display at Museum of Industry

Twenty-three beautifully crafted wedding dresses made in rural Alberta, and stories of the women who wore them, are on display at the Museum of Industry in Stellarton until Nov. 30.

Sociologist Kathryn Church researched and curated Fabrications:
Stitching Ourselves Together. The exhibit centres around a collection of wedding dresses sewn by her mother, Mrs. Lorraine Church, of Lacombe, Alta, between 1950 and 1995.

In the exhibit, Dr. Church explores the complex relationships between mother and daughter, dressmaker and wearer, women and community. The exhibit premiered at the Red Deer and District Museum in Alberta during the summer of 1998 and is now touring across the country.

Many visitors to the exhibit have been moved to write personal comments about their own wedding dresses, relationships and struggles to gain recognition and value for women's work. Museums have provided notebooks for this purpose. Museum staff and Dr. Church have been elated by how the exhibit has caught the imagination of the public and museums across the country.

The Museum of Industry is also hosting a complementary exhibit linking Pictou County and Lacombe, Alta. On loan from local families, To Have and To Hold is a collection of wedding memorabilia reflecting the vibrant culture of Pictou County. Objects such as photographs, shoes, gloves and garters are displayed as reminders of entire wedding stories. To Have and To Hold is displayed alongside Fabrications and will act as a visual bridge between the experiences of these two communities.

As part of the exhibit, two special presentations are planned. Designing Women: Technical Tales and Cultural Contradictions, with Mrs. Lorraine Church, takes place on Saturday, Oct. 28, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Mrs. Church will illustrate how she invented solutions for design challenges, such as applying 16 layers of four-inch lace onto a netted skirt. During this seminar, Dr. Kathryn Church will speak about the social and cultural aspects of these garments. Admission is a monetary donation, with proceeds going to Tearmann House.

The presentation Needles and Pins: A Mother-Daughter Journey is on Sunday, Oct. 29, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Dr. Kathryn Church and Mrs. Lorraine Church will perform a dialogue discussing the personal journeys each took as Fabrications grew from an idea into an intimate autobiography of work, women and wedding dresses in central Alberta.

After the display at the Museum of Industry in Stellarton, the exhibit will travel to Museum for Textiles in Toronto, from Jan. 20 to April 16, 2001; St. Catharines Museum in St. Catharines, Ontario, from May 5 to Aug. 6, 2001; and Thunder Bay Art Gallery in Thunder Bay, Ontario, from Sept. 1 to Nov. 1, 2001.

NOTE TO EDITORS--For background information on the exhibit, e- mail <release@gov.ns.ca.>