The Museum at Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College will open a new exhibit, Beauty and Necessity: Rio Grande Textiles from the Durango Collection® on Thursday, April 10th from 5:00-7:00 pm. The exhibit will be on view through December 17, 2014. A public reception will begin at 5:00 pm in the Museum, on the campus of Fort Lewis College. Textile expert and Toadlena Trading Post owner, Mark Winter, will be the keynote speaker at 6:00 pm that evening, with a talk on Rio Grande blankets. Textiles and other crafts produced by settlers in colonial New Mexico had their origins in Spain, but quickly developed into unique local styles influenced by new needs, available materials, and exposure to the traditions of local Native communities. This blending of materials, techniques, and styles in textile production in Spanish households created a unique new industry known today as the “Rio Grande” textile tradition. For the early Spanish settlers, prized possessions were the legacy items brought, handed down, or imported from Mexico or Spain. However, as communities became established, their descendants began to create and appreciate their own regional forms of expression, creating items of beauty as well as of necessity. This exhibit is a continuation of programming surrounding the 50th Anniversary year for the Center of Southwest Studies, celebrating half a century of scholarship, service and preservation of the greater Southwest.. This event is free and open to the public. Please call 970-247-7456 or visit http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu for more information.