Prayer rugs exhibition
The Verbrugges have always had rugs in their home. 鈥淵ou know the 1970s vintage-type Chinese rugs,鈥 said Jim Verbrugge 鈥63. 鈥淥ver time we bought some Persian rugs, which were good floor pieces.鈥 It wasn鈥檛 until the mid-1990s that they became serious about collecting them though.
鈥淲e lost a son in 1995, and I had to find something to take an interest in,鈥 said Verbrugge. 鈥淔or some reason I drifted into rugs. I read a lot and started studying the various types and qualities.鈥
Since then, Jim and Marcia Verbrugge have gathered an extensive collection of fine rugs, some of which are on exhibit at the .
鈥淧athways to the Divine: Prayer Rugs of the Middle East鈥 features 13 rugs from the Verbrugge collection鈥攁ll prayer rugs, a special sub-group in the broad category of antique rugs.
鈥淚t鈥檚 essentially an art form,鈥 said Verbrugge. 鈥淏ut I also hope people gain an appreciation of the notion of what a prayer rug means. We鈥檙e talking about a gentle form of Islam. It鈥檚 a study of another religion in an art form.鈥
The exhibit runs Sept. 6鈥揙ct. 15, 2016.