On Thursday, January 20th, bead and mixed media artist Nancy Eha will be at the artist reception for Contemporary Art Quilts. The curator will speak at 6:30 p.m., followed by a question and answer period with the artists. The exhibit is at the James J. Hill house (magnificent house of the railroad baron), and includes free house tours.

Nancy had closeups of her beaded quilt here; I love the state symbols — wow on the morel mushroom and the walleye! The Minnesota Historical Society, which owns the Hill house, has a video of the quilts here. Nancy’s quilt is at 1:13. The room you see in the beginning, where the quilts are displayed, is the art room. Hill had a room displaying art, with the art displayed floor to ceiling, frame next to frame.

I’ve toured this Gilded Age mansion, which sits at the crest of a hill (MHS page here, which links to some Flickr images), and it’s quite an awesome house. Back to the art room (which also has a pipe organ): the tour guide told us that the value of the art on display was more than the value of the house. This is a 36,000 square foot house with all the most modern conveniences, with 42 rooms, 13 bathrooms, 22 fireplaces — and had more value in the art than the house. Can you imagine?

The quilts are on display until March 1st.