The International Quilt Study Center and Museum is adding nearly 100 high resolution art works to the Google Art Project allowing virtual visitors to explore its quilt collection online.

In the center’s first wave of uploaded content, it will share a selection that represents contemporary and traditional quilts made since the 18th century around the world. Notable pieces include Lucinda Ward Honstain’s “Reconciliation Quilt,” Michael James’ “Aurora” and the recently acquired “Long Po Yi” or “Dragon Wife’s Robe” from China. The resolution of these images, combined with a custom built zoom viewer, allows art-lovers to discover minute aspects of paintings they may never have seen up close before.

“Google Art Project will enable us to promote our mission of inspiring an understanding of the cultural and artistic significance of quilts,” said Carolyn Ducey, curator of collections. “The platform’s interactivity will give us a chance to present quilts in a new and exciting way. We are honored to participate in the project.”

Visitors to the Google Art Project can browse works by the artist’s name, the artwork, the type of art, the museum, the country, collections and the time period. Google+ and video hangouts are integrated on the site, allowing viewers to invite their friends to view and discuss their favorite works in a video chat or follow a guided tour from an expert to gain an appreciation of a particular topic or art collection.

The ‘My Gallery’ feature allows users to save specific views of any of artworks and build their own personalized gallery. Comments can be added to each painting and the whole gallery can then be shared with friends and family. It’s an ideal tool for students or groups to work on collaborative projects or collections. In addition, a feature called ‘Compare’ allows you to examine two pieces of artwork side-by-side to look at how an artist’s style evolved over time, connect trends across cultures or delve deeply into two parts of the same work.

To date, more than 57,000 high resolution artworks are available in the project. The project has nearly 400 partners in 50 countries, with more being added all the time.

The Art Project is part of the Google Cultural Institute which is dedicated to creating technology that helps the cultural community to bring their art, archives, heritage sites and other material online. The aim is to increase the range and volume of material from the cultural world that is available for people to explore online and in doing so, democratize access to it and preserve it for future generations.

View the International Quilt Study Center and Museum’s collection here.