The Trent House, in collaboration with the Trenton Puerto Rican Community & Friends organization and others, is organizing a month-long program of free demonstrations, workshops, presentations, and an exhibition on the theme of “Fabric, Stories, & Memory.”
Events throughout the month of March celebrate the long history of the city, state, and nation embracing, preserving, and building on the material culture of the many groups who have enriched the country. Visitors can view the exhibition in the historic house of garments and other textiles from Latino, Liberian, and Ukrainian cultures as well as contemporary fabric art from Sunday, March 8, through Saturday, March 28.
Fabric artists offer hands-on workshops using fabric to create personal memory books or a collective artwork. A technique for creating two- and three-dimensional pieces from wool will be demonstrated and three illustrated talks describing traditional and modern ways fabric is used to tell and remember stories will be given.
The “Fabric, Stories, & Memory” schedule of events includes:
Sunday, March 1, 2 p.m.: Talk: “The Stories Fabrics Tell: An Illustrated History” with Leslie Bramlett, a storyteller, historic re-enactor, and seamstress.
Bramlett’s talk provides an illustrated historical overview of fabric as a cultural artifact, evoking both personal and collective memories, and will recount fascinating stories behind fabric designs from the past.
Saturday, March 7, 3 p.m.: “Fabric, Stories, & Memory” exhibition opening reception. The exhibit can also be viewed during museum hours Wednesdays through Sundays, 1 to 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 8, 1 p.m.: “Needle Felting: Demonstrating the Technique” with Jen Lichtmann, a Cream Ridge-based artist whose needle felted art is part of the exhibition.
Saturday, March 14, 2 to 4 p.m.: “Bilingual Workshop: Creating a Collective Storytelling Textile” with Gabrielle Vazquez. The New Yorker of Puerto Rican and Dominican heritage is an artist whose work focuses on indigenous politics, methods of identity reclamation, language, and colonial structures across the Americas. Her “Little Details of Boriken,” referencing the indigenous name for the island of Puerto Rico, is part of the main exhibition. Registration is required.
Saturday, March 21, 2 p.m.: “Bilingual Zoom Talk: Diasporican Queens: A Community Celebration of Fabric Artistry” with Gabrielle Vasquez.
Sunday, March 22, 2 to 4 p.m.: “Workshop: Making a Take-Home Memory Book” with Beverly Keese-Kelley. The Trenton native is a multimedia artist whose work includes fabric and paper collages, free hand silhouettes, digitally altered photography, and hand-made Figurines. Families are welcome; registration is required.
Saturday, March 28, 2026, 2 p.m.: “Telling Our Families’ Stories — Heirloom Quilts,” a talk with members of Princeton Sankofa Stitchers. The group “celebrates the legacy of African American quilting by sharing experiences, educating others through demonstrations and workshops, and transforming traditional quilting ideas by incorporating ethnic patterns and fabrics,” per their website, www.princetonsankofastitchers.org.
More information on the “Fabric, Stories, & Memory” program is available on the Trent House website at www.williamtrenthouse.org/upcoming.html.
