1.9 million African American Quilters

According to the Quilting in American study, there are 27.7 million quilters in the United States. The quilters spent more than $3.3 BILLION on quilting expenditures. The industry survey has been taken once every three years since 1994. The 2006 survey, according to one of the researchers I corresponded with, indicated that 7.1% of Quilting Households are African American. I've been tracking these figures since 1997. In the US today, that translates into an estimated 1.9 million Black Quilters. Wow!

2008 US Presidential Quilts or Fabric Postcards?

....................................................................................................This is an exciting upcoming US Presidential Election period! I've been on top candidates websites to see if anyone has talked about federal funding for the arts or their position on investing in American crafts. None of the three top Democratic candidates are talking about arts funding... or quilting...yet. Have a look:

Barack Obama
Hillary Clinton
John Edwards

There is a history of quilts to indicate one's political position on the issues of the day as well as on support for campaigns (Click here to see a Democratic Donkey quilt, 1936, in support of FDR at the National Archives.) I hope during this election period, quilters again record their feelings about the candidates and this historical election where both a woman and a black man can become President of the United States. If you have a quilt or fabric postcard about the election, I'd love to hear about it! Vote!

Anita J. Harden Graces Quilt Mag Cover!

Sistah quilter and president of Community Hospital East, a 250-bed acute care facility with 2,800 employees in Indianapolis, is profiled in the Projects 2007 issue of American Quilter: Techniques, Ideas, Lifestyles. The three-page article also includes photographs of Harden's quilts. Anita Harden is the past president (2001) of the Quilters' Guild of Indianapolis. Next time you're in the bookstore, be sure to pick up this issue to learn more about Harden. Congratulations Anita!

National Museum of African American History and Culture

There should be a new museum on the Mall in Washington, DC by 2015 - it's the National Museum of African American History and Culture. You don't have to wait to visit the museum, check out its website at: http://www.nmaahc.si.edu/!

Gee's Bend Quilter Annie Mae Young - PreTrial Date Set

You may recall Gee's Bend Quilter Annie Mae Young filed suit against William Arnett, Paul Arnett, Matt Arnett, Tinwood Ventures of Atlanta, Kathy Ireland Worldwide, Shaw Living, and Visa claiming she was "cheated financially by her promoters and corporate clients."

The Pre-Trial Conference is set for August 11, 2008 in Mobile, AL and all parties are to be ready for jury selection and trial. Should there be a trial, it is anticipated to last 5 - 7 days. Prior to the Pre-Trial Conference, there's a few other events anticipated to take place. One is discovery. Discovery is ordered to be completed by a date in late-March 2008, which is the time period that the status of Settlement talks must be filed with the Court's Clerk.

I've posted in this blog before how you can read the public documents for Annie Mae Young v. Tinwood Ventures et al Civil Action No. 07-317. PACER - "Public Access to Court Electronic Records ... an electronic public access service allows users to obtain case and docket information from Federal Appellate, District and Bankruptcy courts, and the U.S. Party/Case Index via the Internet." There's a fee of about 8 cents per page to access the records.

Black Creativity 2007 - Enter Today!

There's a call for entries in the 2008 Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibit in Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry. Textiles are one of the categories. $3,000 first prize award. Entries are due by November 5, 2007. The judges include: Jonathan Green, Faheem Majeed, Charles E. Bethea, Patric McCoy, Jumaane N'Namdi, and Kymberly N. Pinder, Ph.d. Last year more than 300 applied to this show. Here's a link to the 2006 show. Enjoy!

On the Reading Table - UGLY by Constance Briscoe

.........................................................................On a recent trip to Sydney, Australia I could not find ONE FABRIC SHOP - and in the few free weekend hours, I did try! I did, of course, locate a bookstore - actually two different ones, but that's another story.

Are you familiar with Constance Briscoe? According to her website, she "was called to the bar in 1983 and practices as a barrister. In 1996 Constance became a part time judge - one of the first black women to sit as a judge in the UK." In the book section of the department store David Jones, I saw "UGLY" an autobiography by Judge Briscoe. Here's what I read on the back cover:

"I handed my school photograph to my mother. She stared from the photograph to me. 'Lord, sweet Lord how come she so ugly. Ugly. Ugly' These cruel words are just the beginning. Constance's mother systematically abused her daughter, both physically and emotionally, throughout her childhood. Regularly beaten and starved, the child was so desperate she took herself off to Social Services and tried to get taken into care. When Constance was thirteen, her mother simply moved out, leaving her daughter to fend for herself: there was no gas, no electricity and no food....."

I bought the book. Have a look on Amazon UK - there's over 80 comments about it! And, a sequel coming out next year. This book is near the top of my reading stack. Have you heard of UGLY?

Nelson Mandela Paints

A few weeks ago I was in Sydney, Australia where I stumbled upon Touch Galleries on Hickson Road (alas - the street wasn't name for one of MY relatives!), just blocks from the Sydney Opera House and Bridge. A huge two-story cloth-like banner waved gentle in front of the brick building announcing an exhibit of artwork by Nelson Mandela. I never realized Mr. Mandela could paint!

The stark, colored images include scenes from Robben Island, its Tower, the Courtyard, Tennis Court and hospital Ward. The original limited edition lithographs sold in the four and five digit range - more expensive than a really fancy sewing machine! There were no postcards or any affordable items to bring home, save this free gallery brochure. I wonder if Mr. Mandela quilts, too?

Buttons, Buttons - Black Girl Buttons

Buttons and more buttons! A few years ago on a visit to NY City, I visited a button shop .... and saw these lovely ones - a design featuring a black woman, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. Sorry - I can't find the receipt to share which shop! Most quilters I know also collect other sewing things - how about you? Do you have an odd box of buttons? Enjoy!

New Book! The Quilt by Elise Schebler Roberts

Yesterday I received in the mail the newest quilt history book, The Quilt: A History and Celebration of an American Art Form by Elise Schebler Roberts. This hardcopy book measures 12" x 11" and includes 348 pages and oodles of full-color photographs. It's very comprehensive as the listing below shows. Elise asked me to contribute an essay to the book, which I did. It's titled, Black Women Have Always Quilted. The book is a MUST-HAVE for your quilt library.

Part 1: A History and Celebration

1. Old World and Eastern Traditions in quilting prior to 1750


2. Quilting in a New World


3. Commemorative Quilting.... sub-headings include Civil War, the US Sanitary Commission, Alabama Gun Boat Quilts, The Reconciliation Quilt (which includes black figures), Centennial Quilts, Spirit of '76, Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, Celebrating 300 years of Oklahoma History, Remembering Twentieth Century Wars


4. Quilting for Social Change ... sub-headings include Abolition/Antislavery, Temperance, Woman Suffrage adn the Feminist Movement, Civil Rights, Seeking Peace in Our Time (e.g., Boise Peace Quilt Project), Hurrican Katrina Quilts


5. Quilting for Identity ... sub-headings include African American Quilts, the Underground Railroad Quilt Controversy, Amish, American Indian, Immigrants from Southeast Asia (e.g., Hmong), Spiritual Seekers, and Gender


6. Quilting in Communities .. sub-headings include Quilting Circles and Parties (there's a lovely painting by Mary Lyde Hicks Williams, The Quilting Party, which features three older nineteenth century black women quilting at a frame) ..Quilt Guilds, National Groups (e.g., AQS, NQA), The Art Quilting Community, Online Communities (e.g., QHL, QuiltArt).


7. Quilting for Life and Death... sub-heading include Quilting Grief, Passage Quilts, and Quilting to Comfort or Find Cures (AIDS and cancer quilt projects)


8. Quilts as Gifts ... sub-heads include Wedding and Anniversary quilts, Children's quilts.


9. Quilts on Display... sub-headings include World's Fairs (e.g., Columbian Exposition, Century of Progress Fair), The Quilt Show, and the Rise of the Art Quilt (e.g., Whitney Museum, Quilt National)


10. Quilting as Business.. sub-headings include Pioneers in the Business of Quilting (e.g., Marie Webster, former slave Elizabeth Keckley), Quilting Cooperatives, Machine Quilting, Quilt Shops, and Quilt Shows.


11. Sharing the Knowledge .... Quilting Patterns in Newspapers and Magazines, Television Quilting, Quilters on Retreat (e.g., The Quilter's Workshop, FabriCamp ... alas there's no mentioned of the African American annual quilting retreat - Storytellers in Cloth Retreats hosted by Gloria Douglas and Michelle Lewis since about 1995), Back to School Classes for Quilters, and Raising the Next Generation of Quilters.

Part 2: An Encyclopedia of Classic Quilt Styles. The styles featured: applique, art quilts, crazy quilts, embroidered quilts, kit quilts, friendship and memory quilts, patchwork quilts, scrap quilts, whole cloth and trapunto quilts.

Part 3: Saving and Studying Our Quilts. The sections here are: Collecting quilts (e.g., private collectors, corporate collections, online collections), Taking care of quilts, studying quilts, and preserving and exhibiting quilts (e.g., descriptions of current quilt museums).

Throughout are essays from various quilters and quilt historians:

1. Quilts of the Pioneers by Sandra Dallas
2. The 1970s Redefined Quiltmaking as We Knew It by Jean Ray Laury
3. Black Women Have Always Quilted by Kyra Hicks (yes, that's me!)
4. History of Hawaiian Quilting by Cissy Serrao
5. Bird's-Eye View: A Look at the Founding of the Minnesota Quilt Guild
6. Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative by Ami Simms
7. Art Quilts in Perspective by Hilary Morrow Fletcher
8. Sharing Quilting via Television by Alex Anderson
9. Traditions and Superstitions in Hawaiian Quilting by Cissy Serrao
10. Collecting Depression - Era Scrap Quilts by Patricia Cox

I look forward to reading this book in depth this weekend! Enjoy!