Description:
Handwoven linen table runner with a red iris, brown butterfly, and horizontal stripes at the short end, and an attached tag reading "Japanese Iris/ $10.00." Selvage width, hemmed at either 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.
Subjects:
Textile fabrics; Cotton; Linen; polychrome; Wool Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+88.806 |
