Sunday, March 02, 2008

Dr. Joan Gaither, quilter and lecturer


Wish I had know earlier about this lecture! Dr. Joan Gaither, a Sistah quilter and Chairperson of Undergraduate Art Education at the Maryland Institute College of Art, recently spoke at the Anne Aundel Genealogical Society - her topic was "Slavery, Racism and Quilts." Of her own quilting, Dr. Gaither writes:
"As an artist, I've discovered that my voice is informed by an interest in mixed media, fibers, and photographic images that allow close scrutiny of surfaces and metaphors for personal meaning. Only as recent as 2000 did I hand stitch my first and fairly large narrative quilt, My Story: A Family Quilt. This embellished, layered, and color-coded 10'X12' text and image statement of my culture, with brilliant Maryland State Flag colors, photo transfers of family members, threads of gold, and multiple levels of attachments offered clues to the careers and identity of aging and young faces in such a way as to project power and seemed to come alive under the exhibition lights."
You can see more photos of Dr. Gaither taken by Photojournalist Andy Carruthers in 2006 by clicking here and here. Enjoy!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I was so happy to see the 1-17-09 article in "The Capital" newspaper on the front page! Her program at our February, 2008 Anne Arundel Genealogical Society (AAGS) was fantastic. I took a class of hers in March, 2008 so that I could use this wonderful quilting medium to tell my family's story.

Connie Sparrow
President - AAGS