Description:
Linen table runner woven in a slightly open weave with bleached warp and weft yarns, and an abstracted scene of an apple tree in a landscape at either (short) end and two polychrome dragon fly designs woven in the body. The runner has bands of blue/grey material 2 1/2" wide laid in with one green apple tree with pink apples, blue sky, and a pink (two shades) and green dragonfly. The other end has a blue/grey tree with a green trunk and apples, pink and blue sky, and a pink, grey, and yellow dragonfly. Some or all of the supplemental patterning wefts are multi-ply. All the linen is spun in a Z twist. The piece is selvage width, and there is a 1/2" hem on each end. This piece was made by Luanna Franklin Thorn (1874-1965) of Deerfield, the wife of Dr. Edwin C. Thorn (1874-1920). Born in Guilford Vermont, Luanna Franklin was educated at North Adams (Massachusetts) Training School for Nurses and moved to Deerfield in 1899 when she married Edwin Thorn. By 1903, she was weaving textiles as a participant in the town’s Arts and Crafts movement, using a four harness loom to weave all kinds of textiles for home and apparel and yarns she dyed herself. Both Edwin and Luanna Thorn were very involved with the Deerfield Arts and Crafts Revival movement, which was first formalized as the 'Deerfield Society of Arts and Crafts' in 1899 and then changed to 'Deerfield Industries' in 1907. Luanna Thorn had her "Deerfield Handicrafts Shop" in the rear of the house (see sign, HD 85.029). While dragonfly motifs are common in the work of Luanna Thorn, other Deerfield-area women also included them in their designs, like Mrs. Edward Hawks (who lived in the Sheldon House and Marian Childs whose drawstring bag in the collection of Memorial Hall Museum contains dragonfly motifs.
Label Text:
Table Runners Luanna Thorn (1875-1965) Deerfield, Massachusetts, 1900-1950 Unbleached plain weave linen weft, cotton or linen warp, and polychrome wool, acrylic, or rayon supplementary wefts Gift of Florence Thorn, 1985.082 and 1993.850
Born in Guilford Vermont, Luanna Franklin was educated at North Adams (Massachusetts) Training School for Nurses. She moved to Deerfield in 1899 when she married Dr. Edwin Thorn. By 1903, she was weaving textiles as a participant in the town’s Arts and Crafts movement. On a four harness loom, she wove all kinds of textiles for home and apparel, using yarns she dyed herself.
These table runners contain several hallmarks of Thorn’s work, including a loose ground weave, bold and abstracted use of color, as well as the familiar motifs of a fruit tree and dragonflies. While the piece was still on the loom, Thorn used a needle to incorporate the supplementary weft threads forming these motifs. The fruit on the trees is hand knotted.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+93.850 |
