Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Chinese Patchwork: Ancient Traditions and Current Expressions
Event
Thu., Oct. 22, 2026, 2:30–3:30 p.m.
Free with reservation
Rothenberg Hall and Livestream
Nancy Berliner, curator emerita of Chinese art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, explores the living tradition of Chinese patchwork. Followed by a conversation with Huntington curator Lauren Cross.
In many rural Chinese villages, women piece together fabric scraps into striking compositions to create door and window curtains, bed covers, cushions, and other needed textiles for their homes. Nancy Berliner has spent decades traveling to remote villages and knocking on doors to learn about the tradition and to find women who bring the practice to new heights of visual creativity. Recently she curated the exhibition "One Hundred Stitches, One Hundred Villages" (December 6, 2025–May 3, 2026) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; her accompanying book received the Gold Prize for art books from the 2025 Foreword Indie Book Awards.
After the lecture, Lauren Cross, the Gail-Oxford Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts at The Huntington, will engage Berliner in discussion about traditions of patchworking across cultures.
Copies of Nancy Berliner’s book, Chinese Patchwork: Ancient Origins, New Expressions will be available for sale and signing after the discussion.
Top image: Photo by Nancy Berliner.
