That Black Girl Art Quilts

The 11th Annual "Storytellers in Cloth" retreat is set for this week - November 2 - 5 in Southbury, CT. I've been to one of the retreats before - warm fellowship, lots of creative energy, around 100 quilting sistahs! Kudos to Michelle Lewis and Gloria Douglas for their loving organization of the retreat each year! This year there's three days of workshops, including African masks in cloths by Sandy Bright, Flowers in the Round by Juanita Yeager, How to make designer mudcloth journal by Lisa Shepard Stewart, Continuous Cut Binding by Barbara Brown, and Photo Memory Quilt making by Lauren Austin. Lauren, who has quilted for 30 years, has the website, That Black Girl Art. Her quilts, like the "Stormy Weather" quilt here, are stunning!

Happy Halloween! Pumpkin Cheesecake

Doesn't this Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake pie look delicious? Check out this recipe from Stephanie Phillips. Happy Halloween!

Michelle Curney Willis

Michelle Curney Willis, of Stone Mountain, GA, has been stitching for a dozen years. Michelle is from a family of quilters... both her grandmothers quilted... her mom is now a quilter... and even her sons quilt! You can tell she loves the creative process. One of her creation is this quilt celebrating Spelman College. See more of Michelle's quilts at www.CurneyCrafts.com

Walter Mosely - Quilt Connection

Are you a Walter Mosely fan? I enjoy his Easy Rawlins mystery series – and hope Denzel Washington will reprise the role in a future feature movie. Well, Pat Turner, recently shared with me that Mosely’s “The Man in My Basement,” which takes place in Sag Harbor/Bridgehampton area, includes the character Narciss Gully, an African American antique dealer, who is a Ph.d and quilt scholar writing a book on black quilters. In the book, Charles Blakey is offered $50,000 to allow Anniston Bennet, a rich white man, to “rent” Blakey’s basement. The money will go a long way to helping Blakey keep his family’s home. Turner does recommend the book with some reservations; the female characters seem to follow superficial stereotypes. Fairly explicit sex scenes.

Bisa Butler - Quilts in Galleries

Bisa Butler, sistah quilter in New Jersey, has her quilts in two galleries: The Hearne Fine Arts Gallery in Little Rock, Arkansas and the E & S Gallery in Louisville, KY.

"My work has always had that kind of hybrid quality because I was a painting major at Howard. I started adding fabric to my paintings because Romare Bearden did that in some of his collages. Little by little the fabric took over the canvas," Bisa shared with me recently.

"My first gallery show was at the Essex County College gallery where my father works. The opening night was so much fun, and I got such positive reinforcement and love from people who just stopped through that I realized all the years I had been hiding my work away I was really missing out on something," Bisa said.

"At that time I really didn't realize that quilters were stigmatized somehow or categorized as crafters and not as artists. I think that is prejudiced and silly. I think that the Gee's Bend show opened up the eyes of many gallery owners about the art of quilts, and of course Faith Ringgold's work. I did have one really embarrassing meeting at a gallery where the owner told me he didn't think there was a place for my type of quilt. He accepted that the qualities of the Gees Bend quilts were the African American quilt aesthetic and that my pieces were not apart of that. I also remember him saying that all sorts of people are now calling themselves "Fiber Artists" and he wasn't sure if they were really artists at all. I felt like my face was about to fall off at that point. I wanted to cry but I just accepted the criticism and was able to walk out of there with some dignity left. I knew deep down that he was wrong."

Bisa continued, "After that I went to the October Gallery in Philadelphia. They do a First Fridays event where the artists pay for wall space. If I remember it was $100 for a 10 x 10 wall space and the work can hang for the whole month until the next Friday. That event is really fantastic for new artists because all of the galleries are open and free to the public. Black, White, young, and old all come out to browse, shop, listen to music, and enjoy the snacks. Some people criticize commercial galleries like the October Gallery but they really helped me to gain my confidence to approach other galleries."

Bisa - thanks for sharing your story! To Black Threads readers - feel free to leave your comments about Bisa, and the challenges and celebrations you have in getting your quilts shown in galleries.

Cyril E. Carter, Jr Quilter & Vet

The Indianapolis Star reported yesterday that Mr. Cyril E. Carter, age 59, a Marine, Vietnam veteran, and Purple Heart award recipient, passed away last week. Mr. Carter needed a low stress hobby after learning he had a heart condition. He started to quilt and specialized in baby quilts, and even entered his quilts into the State Fair. Blessings to the Carter family.

The Traveling Quilter

Have you visited the Traveling Quilter online? Since 2000, Evelyn, who is currently based in Las Vegas, travels to quilt shows and guilds to sell fabrics, books, quilt kits, patterns and hosts workshops in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. The center quilt in this photo is from a pattern, "Tavia" by Jannie Rees, you can get from the Traveling Quilter. Happy Sewing!

Robin J. Miller - Jazz History Q

Have you met Robin J. Miller? She is a NY art teacher and mixed media artist using decorative papers. She's also the author and illustrator of the 36-page "The Jazz History Quilt" book. Best wishes on the book, Robin!

Clarice Boswell - Lizzie's Story

Dr. Clarice Boswell, author of Lizzie's Story: A Slave Family's Journey to Freedom, will present "Pre-Civil War Quilts: Their Hidden Codes to the Freedom of Slaves Through the Underground Railroad" at a lecture in Codiz, Kentucky on Monday. You can click HERE to see the various quilts Dr. Boswell uses in her lectures. You can click HERE to read details about the book, Lizzie's Story.

Sarah Mary Taylor quilts

This week I received a postcard notification of the upcoming November 4 Slotin Auction in Buford, GA. Their folkart auctions usually include a selection of African American-made quilts. Sure, enough, there's more than a dozen available, including this hand-stitched Frog Quilt by the late Mississippi quilter and dollmaker Sarah Mary Taylor (est. $500 - $800). You can see more of the distinctive Taylor style at the Gordon Gallery.

Hattie Schmidt - Ray Charles quilt

This week's Wilmington Journal features an article about Hattie Williamson Schmidt of the “First Culture African American Quilting Circle” in North Carolina. Mrs. Schmidt is shown here with her story quilt of singer Ray Charles.

300 Million & Baby Quilts

Well - today the US will hit 300 million people, according to the Census Bureau!

Think of all those baby quilters! Visit BrownToes.com for infant quilts - for about $60.

Chicago Needles & Thread Guild

Chicago's Needle and Threads Quilters Guild will hosts its 2006 quilt show, "A Harvest of Quilts," on October 21 - 22 at Fernwood Park Fieldhouse. The guild is Illinois' oldest African American quilt guild. Visit the website to see quilt postcard and quilt journal photos! Adrianne Bryant-Roberts (who stitched the block here) is the current guild president.

Wednesday Night Quilting Sisters

The Wednesday Night Quilting Sisters Ministry at Detroit's Hartford Memorial Baptist Church, is hosting their 20th Anniversary Quilt Show "Then & Now" on October 21, 2006 from 9am - 5pm. Story quilts, African masks, vendors and more! The quild was founded by the late Dr. Sarah Carolyn Reese. The current quild president is Pearl Ephraim Cook.

Huntington Museum of Art

Opening today at the Huntington Museum of Art (West Virginia) is the nationally-touring exhibit, "Threads of Faith: Recent Works from the Women of Color Quilters Network," curated by Carolyn Mazloomi, showcasing 33 contemporary African-American quilts, including the Michael Cummings quilt at right. The show will be on display through December 31. Sistah quilters Theresa Polley Shellcroft and Tina Williams Brewer will share their story-quilting experiences in Masters Quilting Workshops on November 3 - 5. If you can't make it to West Virginia, try to get the out-of-print exhibit catalog, which is now selling for $295 on Amazon.com!

Mamie Davis, Quilt Lady

Mamie Lee Davis, 81, of Michigan City, Indiana passed away October 6. Mrs. Davis was a member of the Bethel AME Church, NAACP, and the Dunes County Quilters. According to Legacy.com, she was an avid quilter and “traveled and spoke frequently about the history and importance of quilting in the slave era and was known to many by chosen moniker "The Quilt Lady".

Kansas City Quilt Show

The Johnson County Sun newspaper recently featured this photo of sisters Betty (quilter) and Susie Smith at the Inspired Threads: African American Quilts exhibit at the Johnson County Museum of History, just outside of Kansas City, KS. The Mo-Kan Heart Quilters Guild pieces are on display until December 31. You'll see a quilt for Luther Vandross by Yvette Morton (Leawood, MO); Sherry Dicus (Overland Park, KS), and much more!

Carole Lyles Shaw exhibit

In the downtown DC area? Visit Touchstone Gallery - on exhibit until November 5 is Memories and Dreams. This solo show features art quilts (including Dreams: Blue #1 in photo) and digital transfers/ acrylic painted collages and mono-prints by Carole Lyles Shaw.

Carole has encouraged art quilting for several years. She's the driving force for the online discussion group, African American Art Quilters. Check out the collaborative art quilts on the site made by nearly 20 Sistah quilters, including Teresa Vega, Sandi Howell, Dietta Carter, Angela Flowers Moore, Catherine Lamkin, Winifred Sanders, and others! Carole encourages us all!

Maya Angelou Quilts

Maya Angelou received a 2006 Quill Award last night for her poem, Amazing Peace. Being curious about quilts, I looked around cyberspace to see if there's any connections between Dr. Angelou and quilting. I LOVE the Phenomenal Woman paper doll quilt by Rebekka Seigel (2004)! Do check out Seigel's site, QuiltArtz.com. She teaches, lectures, and holds workshops. She also teaches quilting to kids and includes lesson plans on her site.

Another Phenomenal Woman quilt is by quilter Stacy West, who specializes in portrait quilts.

Then, finally, the portrait quilt titled The Quilt of Life, was a 65th birthday gift to Dr. Angelou from Oprah Winfrey... and made by Faith Ringgold (who just celebrated her 76th birthday Oct 8!)

Hustle and Flow Quilt?

Name this quilt pattern! UC Davis professor Dr. Patricia Turner recently emailed me...

"African-American quilts sometimes show up in unlikely places. In the 2005 film Hustle and Flow, a dingy worn quilt is used to buffer noise in the make-shift recording studio used to record "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp." I'm not enough of an authority on motifs to determine if the quilt is in a recognizable pattern or if it could be described as an improvisational strip quilt. Does anyone recognize the motif? Thanks, and if you know of any other references to quilts in hip-hop culture, please respond to the blog or to paturner@ucdavis.edu" Do leave a comment if you recognize the quilt pattern! Thanks!

Quilted Photography

This weekend I met Maryland quilter Mary Scales at the African American Quilters of Baltimore show. Her photographic quilt of Jesus is quite inspirational! She uses the technique learned from Tammie Bowser (in photo), author of Simply Amazing Quilted Photography. This technique involves placing tiny, postage stamp-sized squares in a grid to form an image. To learn more about Tammie's technique, visit her at MosaicQuilt.com.

Africa in Embroidery

For those who enjoy embroidery, thought these books would be of interest. Enjoy!

1. African Inspirations in Embroidery by Mary Sleigh

2. Constance Howard Book of Stitches (I love this cover!)

Pine Burr Quilt Pattern

Did you know the Official State Quilt of Alabama is the Pine Burr? The quilt involves cutting fabric squares, folding the squares into triangles, and sewing the triangles to the quilt foundation fabric. One quilt could include thousands of triangles or burrs. The result is spectacular! You can make a Pine Burr Quilt using Quilter Loretta Pettway Bennett's pattern:

- Page 1 - 6 steps
- Page 2 - how to place on foundation
- Burr template

Arkansas quilter Mary Allen Smith Williams stitched this Pine Cone Quilt (photo) ca. 1950.

Quilt Sales - Bull's Eye!

Every now and again, I wonder what African American-made quilts are up for sale. This morning, I came across Betsey Telford's Rocky Mountain Quilts website. The Maine shop sells many types of quilts: 18th, 19th, and 20th century quilts, Christmas quilts, crazy quilts, folk art quilts and more! The African American-made "Bull's Eye" quilt (c. 1917, approx. 60" x 80") at left is for sale for $5,400.