Lace museum opens in Raleigh: Salisbury resident donates items for exhibit
Published 12:05 am Saturday, August 3, 2024
Rose LaCasse holds a piece of lace she has which is a piece to be worn on the front of a dress. The small pieces, at left, are collar pieces. Lace doesn’t just have to be for clothes she said as she also has a table skirt with lace edging. — Karen Kistler
The various equipment used to make lace including bobbins with weights, a pattern, and pins, all placed on a lace pillow. — Karen Kistler
This lappet, or headdress, donated by Rose LaCasse, was machine-made and came from England. Submitted by Helena LaCasse
Rose LaCasse donated this edge piece of lace from Belgium. — Submitted by Helena LaCasse
This 1800s lace pillow was a handmade straw-filled pillow donated by Rose LaCasse. Submitted by Helena LaCasse
This book, donated by Rose LaCasse, is one from 1869, sharing the history of lace by Fanny Bury Palliser. — Submitted by Helena LaCasse
SALISBURY — Lacemaking is an artform that has been around for a long time, but there are not many museums in the United States that can boast being called a lace museum and exhibiting this delicate artwork.
However, a new museum has opened, The Raleigh Lace Museum and Kristin S. Lace Center at 133 Fayetteville St., Raleigh, that has a local flavor to it as it houses multiple donations by Salisbury resident, Rose LaCasse.
The museum, which celebrated its grand opening July 14, is dedicated to not only displaying pieces of lace and other items associated with it, but also, as shared on its website, will be offering lectures by lacemakers and curators, lacemaker gatherings by the local Sir Walter Lacers Guild and regional lacemakers’ meetings.
The museum is located in the lace center, which was named after the late Kristin Conrad, an avid lacemaker who learned the craft in The Netherlands in the early 1980s, said Dr. Hugo J.J. Uyttenhove, director, and Conrad’s husband.
He said that when the couple returned to the United States, they settled in Raleigh where she helped to co-found a lace guild entitled the Sir Walter Lacers Guild. She was a very active member of the organization for more than 30 years and made “incredibly intricate and delicate pieces of lace at the master level,” he said.
Uyttenhove said that when his wife learned “she would not be able to have time in life for more creations, she requested I’d show the community what she and others, through collections, had made.”
Therefore, when she died, he said that he created a foundation with a board of specialists which had a mission to create a space to exhibit and which is now a museum in downtown Raleigh.
LaCasse shared that she knew Conrad, having met her when she herself returned to North Carolina years ago. LaCasse said she and her late husband had lived in Belgium and England for a while, both big lacemaking countries, and in 1993 returned and retired on a farm in western Rowan County. She currently lives in Salisbury
It was when she came back to the U.S. that she attended some lace weekends that Conrad hosted, and “we had kinda gotten to be friends. We knew each other. We would show each other what we were doing and that sort of thing,” said LaCasse.
Due to the fact that she could not continue doing such fine work as lacemaking required and that her husband was sick, LaCasse said she decided that she wanted to find a home for the lace pieces she had collected during her time out of the country. Learning that a foundation was being established, she contacted Uyttenhove about the items she had and the desire to donate them.
He came to look at the items and took some at that time and then returned later to gather additional items she had to donate. These included, in addition to the lace, equipment used in lacemaking such as 100 bobbins, which are wooden, penciled-shaped items that are moved to make the lace and have beads which serve as weights to keep the thread taunt.
Other items include an old lace pillow, where the pattern is placed and which is used to stabilize everything as you make the lace, along with some books that she noted were no longer in print.
While LaCasse learned to make lace years ago while out of the country, she said it was not items to sell, but it was a hobby and made them “because I thought it was fun to do and you came out with these little tiny, beautiful things.”
Learning to make lace from other women who were, as she said, “very accomplished, but were happy to take on a foreigner, that’s what I was,” she said with a chuckle, “I was foreign to them and they were very kind.”
These ladies helped supply her with the equipment she needed, and eventually she found some neighborhood lace groups and then Lace Days where larger groups gathered with teachers showing how to do certain things, and slowly but surely she learned more and progressed.
LaCasse said that the pieces she donated to the new Raleigh museum were lace items she collected while visiting stores while out of the country that were similar to Goodwill or antique or craft shops in England. Therefore, they were older and finer, and while they were not expensive pieces, she said, “some of them really were beautiful pieces of lace and were rare.”
Sometimes in her search for lace pieces, LaCasse said there would be nothing at the local shops and other times she found an old blouse that had lace around the collar or down the front or perhaps an old veil that had been worn to be married in or for some sort of ceremony.
In time, she learned to distinguish between items that were handmade and machine made and was able to “recognize some of the patterns and know how the piece was made even though I couldn’t make it,” she said.
The Raleigh Lace Museum and Kristin S. Lace Center celebrated two special events upon opening. One included a ceremony with guest speakers and officials from lace societies in the state, LaCasse said, and another where people who had contributed items or had a special interest were given the opportunity to visit and see the exhibits.
LaCasse said that she and her daughter, Helena LaCasse, attended on this day, and said her daughter was excited to see her mom’s name on the placards noting the donations.
When asked what it meant to have these pieces on display, Rose LaCasse said, the items that are on display are things she treasures, and “it was just nice knowing that they can contribute in some small way to a lace museum, which is not a common thing for states to have a lace museum. I think it’s a nice project and it’s nice to be able to contribute something to it. So I’m just pleased to be able to donate to it.”
She did note that she kept a couple pieces including a lappet or headpiece and two small collar pieces that she anticipates framing.
Uyttenhove said that the mission of The Kristin S. Conrad Lace Center “included an educational part because the art of bobbin lace making can be told in over 400 years of craftsmanship and entice others to admire and perhaps start taking lessons and joining a guild.”
It is anticipated that lace groups will start as LaCasse said “they want to get together some groups and teach young people the basics of it,” and therefore, Uyttenhove is gathering names and eventually will get those groups going.
As she was learning how to make lace, LaCasse said her daughter did make one piece when she was young that was exhibited in England, but this was not her thing and didn’t continue with it.
As for Rose, she said the part she enjoys about making lace is that it’s like a complicated puzzle, and it’s never the same.
“Lace making isn’t just one step that you repeat over and over. Every time you try to make something lace, you learn something because each one is a little bit different, and so I really enjoyed just trying to discover how to do things and to slowly increase my skills.”
Entry fees for the museum are $5 for adults; $15 for family; weekly $12; membership adult yearly $50; and membership family yearly $85.
The museum, as noted on its website, is open to the public on selected days. They are closed on Sunday and Monday; however for the remaining days, attendees are encouraged to call 919-594-1861 after 10 a.m. to assure it is open as they currently rely on volunteers. A voicemail, the site pointed out, means the museum is closed that day.
