Frauds, Fakes, and the Real Deal in Early American Samplers

virtual program presented by Michele Pagán

Michele Pagán presents an introduction to Bennington Museum’s sampler collection from a conservator’s point of view. This overview of all the samplers in the collection will explore the methods and materials involved in creating these pieces of art and will make a chronology from the earliest examples – schoolgirl art – up to the present. Michele will raise questions about some of the samplers in the collection – are they really what we think they are? – and provide pointers about how to look for frauds and fakes in your own collection.

About the Presenter:

Michele Pagán is a recently-returned native Vermonter, who spent her childhood in Bennington. Bennington Museum was her first exposure to the work of museums. Today she is a textile conservator in private practice, “Saving history one piece of fabric at a time.” A practicing conservator since 1984, her previous clients and employers include the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, The Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History, the U.S. Department of State, Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, the State of Vermont, and the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, HI, among others. She holds a certificate in Museum Education from Tufts University, and she just completed the Smithsonian Institution’s online certificate for the C3 Framework for Teaching Social Studies. She presently works out of her studio in East Dorset.

$12 for Bennington Museum Members
$15 for Not-Yet-Members