The Down Jersey Folklife Center at Wheaton Village featured a major exhibition of fiber art representing the work of many cultures from the southern New Jersey area. Twenty-six ethnic, religious and regional communities from around the area are represented in the exhibition. "Fibre Riche" spans a time frame ranging from early 1800s to the present.

We present the fiber arts not only in their functional aspect but also as beautiful material expressions of different regional, ethnic, and religious symbols. The combination of group identity and individual creativity results in amazing artistic solutions. Educational materials are provided to help our audience better understand the specific beauty and meanings of the items on display.

The diversity of fiber traditions in the Down Jersey area is impressive. It begins with spinning, natural dyeing, weaving and knitting, the basic processes necessary to produce clothing for the people who lived here. Until the introduction of the sewing machine about 1850, everything had to be sewn by hand.

The “Fibre Riche” exhibition, however, goes beyond the basics. Fiber arts are viewed from the perspective of folklore and folklife: the body of shared ideas, perceptions, norms, values, skills, practices and behavioral models that are passed from one generation to the next as tradition.

Throughout history, the fiber arts have been valued for more than their usefulness; they have also been symbols of individual taste, skillfulness, wealth, social status and regional, ethnic and religious identity. Fiber arts were part of everyday life, but also conveyed symbolic messages of different family and community rituals. These messages were embedded in the shape, color and pattern of a culture's fabrics, and everybody who belonged to the culture could read them. People knew if this tablecloth was for Easter only or if that towel was a traditional wedding gift. They could recognize someone's religious belief or marital status, even the number of the children by a cloth's embroidery.

The design of the symbols differs from community to community, and the “Fiber Riche” exhibition gives a great variety of them. Among the exhibits are 17 costumed mannequins. There also are displays of Japanese, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian, and Polish embroidery; Greek, Guatemalan and Estonian weavings; Italian, Romanian and German lace, and traditional and contemporary South Jersey quilts, just to name some of the examples.