Updates and News

Good afternoon everyone!

It is a brisk wintery day here, but the sun is shining and the newest threat of snow says we shouldn't see the white stuff until Monday. I wanted to share a few news items and remind everyone about upcoming events.

Dr. Gaither was scheduled to give a talk this coming Sunday (14 February) at the Annapolis Barnes and Noble at 2 p.m., however due to the large amounts of snow everywhere and difficulty traveling around the area, the talk has been postponed. I will share information on a new date and time once it is determined. Her family story quilt will hopefully be on display at the store at some point in the next week. Until then, several gicle prints of her work are in the front window as part of an African American display.

As the Community Threads exhibition comes to an end in Hartford, CT, Dr. Gaither will be traveling up to Hartford to bring the quilts back as well as to give an artist talk at the end of the exhibition. A public artist talk is tentatively scheduled for the evening of Tuesday, 23 February. Final details are being sorted out now and will be posted here soon.

Come and join Dr. Gaither for a morning of artmaking at the LaMond-Riggs Public Library in Washington, DC for a quilting workshop. This workshop is brought to you by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture with co-sponsors Banneker-Douglass Museum and the DC Public Library. The program will be held on Saturday, 27 February 2010 from 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. The program is free of charge and registration is not required. Event specifics can be found in the upcoming events calendar to the right of this post.

The Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore will display J2WH beginning 3 March 2010 through 6 June 2010. An artist talk will be scheduled during the exhibition with the inclusion of at least one more quilt in the My American Series in April for the National Art Education Association Conference occurring in Baltimore.

Finally, I am pleased to announce that the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt will be coming back to Maryland and going on display at the Banneker-Douglass Museum on 20 March 2010. As part of the museum's celebration of Maryland Day 2010 hosted by the Four Rivers Heritage Area, the museum will offer a film and panel discussion on the black watermen with the quilt hung in the museum's lobby. The quilt will only be on display during this event, so make sure you come by and check it out.

Those are the updates as I have them. More details and updates soon!

My American Series - Trails Tracks Tarmac (aka The Community Quilt)

Trails Tracks Tarmac (TTT) is the second quilt in the My American Series. Formally titled Trails Tracks Tarmac: Lives of African Americans in the History and Culture of Northern Anne Arundel County Maryland from 1850 to the Present, this quilt is actually part of two series. The second series is a group of over 25 small (3 square feet) quilts inspired by TTT. These smaller quilts came about during the creation of TTT. I am getting ahead of myself. As the song says, let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.

TTT is the culmination of several individual's desires to document African American history of Northern Anne Arundel County. For those who are not from Maryland, this area comprises the distance between Baltimore and Annapolis. Begun as a wish by Ms. Irene Hebron, a historian at Dr. Gaither's church, a group of individuals including Dr. Gaither and Ted and Betty Mack began the process of researching and documenting history at their church. The effort quickly grew to include other churches in the area, picking up more and more interested individuals and groups as they went. The group eventually consolidated into a 501(c)3 organization called Northern Arundel Cultural Preservation Society, Inc. (NACPS).

As the group worked, they built up a treasure trove of information, oral history interviews, and objects. Dr. Gaither incorporated the research into an idea for a quilt - TTT which is also known as the Community Quilt. I have referenced this quilt and shown several images from it in past postings. Dr. Gaither asked the community to come together and provide her with people, places, and events to add to the quilt. This was the beginning to what would become her signature community quilting process. As people came to her with information, several people stepped forward wanting to get involved and be a part of the quilting process. What resulted was a massive group of quilters who would get together to help work on TTT.

During the quilting process, Dr. Gaither came to a point where she had more content than she could possibly fit onto the quilt. As a solution to this dilemma, she invited the quilters to design and create their own quilts using this content. The result was a series of 25 smaller quilts in varying designs and styles on topics including small enclave communities, sports heroes and teams, schools, family trees, and many others.

Along the way, NACPS began working with staff members of the Banneker-Douglass Museum and eventually put together an exhibition of all the research and objects they had collected. The exhibition also included the TTT quilt and the 25 smaller quilts. The resulting exhibition took over every temporary exhibition space at the museum and was a smashing success. The exhibition ran at BDM from November 2006 through January 2008 before moving on to travel throughout the state of Maryland. The exhibit is now on display at the Bates Legacy Center in Annapolis.

Now for a little description of the quilt itself. TTT is unlike most of the quilts in the My American Series in that it is a crazy quilt. A crazy quilt is one that does not follow a prescribed structure/design. The quilt centers around the placement of three major railroads which run through the county - Baltimore & Ohio (now the Chessie System), Baltimore & Annapolis Electric, and the Baltimore & Potomac (now Amtrak). Throughout this space are several churches and early African American elementary schools. Also included is Bates High School, the only high school for African Americans in Anne Arundel County from 1933-1966. The quilt takes its name from these two components as well as from BWI airport which is located in the heart of this area. The crossroads, or trails, place family enclaves within the county, connecting historical figures and families within current residents. Tracks is for the railroads and tarmac for the tarmac at the airport.

TTT is the first quilt to appear with the signature My American Series quilt border. The quilt also share the other common feature of the series pieces - enormous size. TTT is 110 inches long and 98 inches wide. Translated into feet, that is 10 feet 2 inches by 12 feet 2 inches. Massive! Fortunately there were several hands to help put it together. This quilt also includes the railroad fabric which has become a signature component of the My American Series. This fabric was also included on each of the small quilts. Every one of the small quilts had to have the railroad fabric appear somewhere, although the amount and placement was left up to the quilt makers. This quilt's design process is the stuff of legends among those who have worked with Dr. Gaither and has been the topic of my posting series Table Linens Beware. TTT was conceptualized and sketched on a napkin at Dr. Gaither's favorite restaurant. That napkin has been preserved and an image of it is on display with TTT.

Well, this is a very long posting. I will end here and do a follow up posting in a few days. I would like to thank Dr. Gaither for her assistance with providing me images. As the blizzard rages outside, preventing me from getting to my library of images on my computer at the museum, we have been able to jointly put this posting together with the help of Skype and email. Talk about community teamwork!

Starting the My American Series in Dr. Gaither's Words...Sort Of

Good evening from completely snowed in Maryland! The blizzard appears to be over with the snow having stopped a few hours ago. The great dig out has been in progress for a few hours and will continue into tomorrow. Everyone here is fine and in good spirits, if not a little touched by cabin fever. Anyway, on to the real post.

Late last year during one of the marathon stitching sessions to complete the Black Watermen quilt, I sat down with Dr. Gaither to talk about the My American Series quilts to build up information for a potential exhibit script. During the conversation, I attempted to type as she spoke which is an almost impossible task. While I am a fairly quick typist, my keyboarding skills were no match for the rate at which she talks when she is speaking about something she is passionate about. What follows is an excerpt from that conversation, although not word for word as I had to do some pretty serious paraphrasing and shorthand to keep up. I thought it would be a nice addition to the weekly series to get her take on each of the quilts in the series. Enjoy!

Talking about the Brown's Quilt as the opening or the first in what was to become a series [is difficult] because I didn't know at the time [it would become a series]. My process involves sharing the familiar experiences, sharing stories, and the moving out from that to incorporate others. Identity, choices we make, and then how these are layered. The format, the structure, felt like a perfect fit that it becomes more than that. Quilts protect us, keep us warm, are easily accessible. People have some knowledge of at least comfort quilts. Quilts are holders, holding the human stories, not just comfort quilts.

What has driven the series is the notion of an American Series. What struck in the Brown's quilt that needed telling was the news commentary that people were surprised not by the amount of money donated but that it was an African American couple who had done that. It made me stop and think.

While I was working on [the Brown's Quilt] I was working on series for my sabbatical show on who am I and I was struck by the number of people making up my biological family, spiritual family, and friends/community family. Each could be a story. The key for me is finding that story that needs telling that only that sort of one person can tell. With the Brown's quilt, it was significant that they had wealth and chose to give it for the preservation of the culture of the African American story in Baltimore; looking and recognizing the history and contributions as part of a collective American culture, not a separate culture.

I just stepped out into the community, telling the Brown's story, my own family story, my church story. It seemed like the next logical piece would be [to go into] the neighborhood and that was Trails, Tracks, Tarmac (the Community Quilt). In order to get that completed it required going out and working with the comminuty to identify people, places, and events that shaped Anne Arundel County. From that, the conversations multiplied. Somewhere in the mix, it became a 501(c)3 organization. That was like a huge pivitol moment that happened around art making and bringing people together for art, history, fellowship, museum collaboration. It just built on itself and just exploded.

More on the My American Series from myself and from this "interview" to come as the weekly series continues.

My American Series - The Brown's Quilt

At long last, I am keeping my promise and beginning the weekly series talking about each of the quilts in the My American Series. This series will feature each of the six quilts in the series in the order in which they were created. The first in the series is Homage to Ed and Sylvia Brown: Baltimore Album Quilt.

Dr. Gaither created the Brown's quilt in 2004 while on sabbatical from MICA. Yes, I said 2004. Amazing to believe that there have been 6 quilts in this series created in just 5 years with two of them completed last year. The Brown's quilt celebrates Baltimore philanthropists Ed and Sylvia Brown who made several generous contributions to cultural institutions throughout the city of Baltimore to preserve African American history and culture. One of those institutions was MICA, the school where Dr. Gaither teaches.

This piece incorporates squares Dr. Gaither created during a Baltimore Album quilt making class she took in Annapolis, MD led by Judy Shapiro. The squares created during this class eventually made their way on the quilt in the first square and the 19th square.

The quilt is the least like the other My American Series quilts aesthetically, however you can see the beginning of several features that would eventually become trademarks in several other quilts in the series. The quilt is a Baltimore Album style quilt just like the Poulson Slaver quilt, Airport quilt, and J2WH. There are 25 squares on the quilt, each highlighting an different aspect of the Browns' gifts, philosophy, or heritage. There are not nearly as many photo transfer images on the quilt and no multi-layered border, however many key elements are there including the use of hearts in the corners to anchor the quilt, the fleur de lis, and contemporary fabric. The quilt also fits into the series given its size (94 inches long and 100 inches wide).

A traditional Baltimore Abum quilt will feature the primary subject of the quilt in the center square, however the Brown's did not want the quilt to be about them primarily but the beliefs and values that shaped who they are. As a result, Dr. Gaither used an image of a Bible as the center square to illustrate the source of the couple's dedication to helping others.

This quilt is the beginning of a developing series not only in what Dr. Gaither quilts and they appear, but also in how she creates the quilts and incorporates the community. This first quilt was created as a solo project without assistance featuring members of her community. The next quilt in the series, the Community Quilt, begins as a solo project about her community with content assistance which then turns into a community wide project with several quilts created by community members inspired by hers. More about that quilt next week.

A full image of the Brown's quilt may be found in the posting directly below this one. I can't post a full close up image of the quilt, however I am including the center column with the Bible image and two rows showing different institutions included for you to get the "feel" for the quilt.

Quilting for Social Justice workshop at MICA!

Hi everyone! This is Sara - one of Dr. Gaither's graduate art education students at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). I am excited to share with you some images from a quilting workshop that Dr. Gaither facilitated two weeks ago to a group of Graduate Art Education and Community Arts student at MICA.

The title of the workshop was "Quilting for Social Justice", and was an opportunity for us to see examples of Dr. Gaither's work, hear about her thought process (as well as artistic quilting process), and experiment with quilting materials. Ultimately, all of the participants left with ideas that we plan to implement in our classrooms and community centers this coming semester as we complete our student teaching and community-based internships. The resulting student work will be part of a display at MICA in April to coincide with the National Art Education Association's (NAEA) 2010 National Conference, titled "Art Education and Social Justice".

To begin, we brainstormed the meaning of the words "Social Justice" and then created a list of topics that all fit under that theme and could be used in a quilt project.Here's a close up of some of the ideas and thoughts that we came up with:
We then each chose a topic to focus on - some of the topics were: family roles, identity, idiosyncrasies, health care reform, women's rights, literacy, teenage culture and more. We discussed our ideas with our fellow workshop participants, sketched out a few ideas on paper, and then were "let loose" to dig through bins of colorful material and embellishments to design our our quilt squares.Here are some photos of some of the participants working on their quilt squares:



At the end of the two day workshop, we shared our in-progress quilt squares, and had a discussion on how to implement a "Quilting for Social Justice" themed art unit in our own classrooms and community centers. It was great to see all of the different issues people chose to address and the different quilt-making techniques each person used. Dr. Gaither has inspired us to bring this kind of art-making experience to our students - I can't wait to see what they come up with!


Keep an eye out for a post with more information on the gallery show - the NAEA National Conference will be in Baltimore in mid-April, and the show will be up at MICA during the week of the conference. We hope to see you there!

New Workshop and Exhibit!

I am pleased to announce details for a new Quilting from the Soul workshop as well as a new exhibition of Dr. Gaither's work. Information is below.

The My American Series blog posting series will start this weekend. I send my apologies for being a week late but technology issues (read dying computer) prevented my posting. Speaking of posting, I would like to point out the last two posts were in fact Dr. Gaither posting and not me posting on her behalf. Look for more posts from the artist herself in the coming months!

Picturing the Promise - Making Photo and Memory Quilts
Saturday, 27 February 2010
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Lamond-Riggs Public Library
5401 South Dakota Ave., NE
Washington, DC
Free. Registration not required.
For more information, call 202.633.0070 or 202.541.6255.
This program is hosted by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Participants learn to take the first step in assembling story-telling quilts by creating their own quilt squares using personal images and text. The workshop is led by documentary quilt maker Joan M. E. Gaither of the Maryland Institute College of Art. Prior quilting experience is not required. Participants are invited to bring personal photos to scan onto their quilt squares.


Exhibition of Dr. Gaither's Family Quilt, I Am
February 1, 2010-February 28, 2010
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
2516 Solomon's Island Rd.
Annapolis, MD 21401

Dr. Gaither will give a lecture at the bookstore on her style of quilting on 14 February 2010. I will post the time as soon as I have it.

J2WH and Homage to Ed & Sylvia Brown Quilts at Hartford City Hall

The Hartford Connecticut City Hall makes a majestic setting for two of the quilts in My American Quilts Series and five more quilts included in the Community Threads quilt project. Homage to Ed & Sylvia Brown celebrates the $15 million philanthropic gift from the African American couple to numerous cultural institutions of Baltimore Maryland. This had all the makings of a story that I felt needed to be shared. In addition to the $6 million gift to Maryland Institute College of Art, the couple gave $1 million to the local art museums, symphony, public library, and organizations that offer positive opportunities for at-risk children.

A few architectural columns away is Journey to the White House quilt. While I was touring the Community Threads multiple venues, at City Hall I was reminded by several employees and three visitors at the time that J2WH inspired them and gave them hope. In the photo on the left, Carolyn Thomas, Greater Hartford Chapter of Links, Inc., is seen pointing to the section on the J2WH quilt that acknowledges Barack Obama accepting the nomination on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech.

Thank You to My Ever-Growing Community

Let me first say thank you to my ever-growing communities of supporters and participants in our shared stories stitched and attached to the quilts in My American Series. I have always been mindful that the work one does in the community becomes a model for others to follow. In the metropolitan Baltimore/Annapolis area, whatever success I've achieved working with quilts in the community ties to a strong collaboration and partnership with the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, Maryland, Northern Arundel Cultural Preservation Society, Inc., and now the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge and thank BDM's own technical/computer/PR guru Genevieve Kaplan, who has created and maintained the on-going posts of the quilts' journey and who has scheduled, promoted, and helped me to facilitate quilt workshops at the museum and throughout the region.

Before My American Series began its national tour in Hartford, Connecticut, the sixth quilt in the series, the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay was launched during an exceptionally well-planned and highly attended dedication reception. The emotionally charged day remains memorable as I reflect upon the strength and power of shared knowing and celebration of the black watermen's rich contributions to the history and culture of the American story of entrepreneurship, work, life, and leisure on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.

I also extend a heartfelt thank you to the Greater Hartford Chapter of Links for featuring a special exhibition of my quilts with particular focus on Gordon, a healing quilt for a Hartford, Connecticut native son, celebrating a life too soon gone. I'm honored to have had the opportunity to see the Hartford Stage production of Gee's Bend Quilts, have my quilts be extended for the run of the show, and to be one of the many quilters taking part in Community Threads quilt project throughout the city of Hartford. This is a grass roots quilting project that seeks to honor the stories and handiworks of diverse quilters that help us to see how we are linked past to present and inextricably linked within our ongoing history, our smaller communities in particular, and to the larger community in general.

Look for a future posting of the six documentary story quilts in My American Series and my travels to eighteen of the twenty-three venues that showcase 100+ quilts in the Community Threads exhibition. Homage to Ed & Sylvia Brown, the first in the series, acknowledges and celebrates the $15 million gift to the cultural institutions in Baltimore. The Brown Quilt and Journey to the White House have been installed at Hartford's City Hall. The Conrad Mallett Gallery exhibits three Maryland story quilts: Trails Tracks Tarmac, Friendship-BWI-Thurgood Marshall Airport, and the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay. At Freedom's Door: Challenging Slavery in Maryland will go on exhibition at the Hartford Public Library during Black History Month. If you find yourself in the Hartford area, pick up a brochure that is located in the exhibition spaces or check out the project blog at http://www.community-threads.com/.

Happy Anniversary J2WH!

Believe it or not, today is the one year anniversary of the completion of the Journey to the White House quilt. It doesn't seem possible that it has already been a year. What seems even more impossible to me is all the extraordinary events that have occurred in the year since. A few days ago Dr. Gaither and I were talking while she was in Connecticut for the opening of the Gee's Bend play and debut of her works in Hartford mulling over this very thought.

One year ago today at this very moment (2:04 p.m.), J2WH was being finished, the last beads being sewn on, pieces being secured, and final stitches put in place. We were preparing for a 6 week exhibition of the work and sharing the details of the public quilting sessions on this blog. The final number of people who worked on the quilt whether it was at the public quilting sessions, private sessions at Dr. Gaither's home and work space, and a few other locations and events came in somewhere between 650 and 700. The quilt was featured in several local media outlets and picked up and carried in newspapers throughout the country. Everyone was extremely proud, and rightfully so, of the work that went into J2WH. As I mentioned in earlier posts, there are memories I have of the quilting events that will never leave my mind. Beyond memories, are the emotions that went through the rooms of the quilting sessions. Watching the sheer number of people who came (in droves) to participate, to watch, to listen, and to learn was beyond our wildest expectations. This is something I am learning to expect when it comes to working with Dr. Gaither. Expect the unexpected and don't ever assume anything.

In the year since J2WH debuted:

• The J2WH exhibition at the Banneker-Douglass Museum was extended from 6 weeks to 9 months
• There is a national tour of Dr. Gaither's work in progress
• The quilt picked up a "friend" while at the museum in the form of a student generated portrait of President Obama
• This blog has been read by over 2,800 people from 20+ countries around the world with nearly 50% of the visitation in the United States coming from people outside of Maryland
• The press coverage of Dr. Gaither and her work has increased exponentially
• Interest in bringing her work to venues throughout the US and a few countries in other parts of the globe is coming in fast and furious
• The number of workshops and requests for Dr. Gaither to teach others how to do the type of quilting she does are pouring in with each request getting more involved and encompassing greater numbers of people
• The number of people who have seen J2WH numbers around 10,000
• J2WH is no longer the newest quilt in the My American Series

Quite a list of changes and those are just the few I have in the forefront of my mind. I am sure if I spent some greater time thinking about the quilt, I could come up with several others. I have proposed doing a "One Year Later" retrospective with Dr. Gaither on camera to add to the blog. I have some footage of Dr. Gaither I shot over the past year with J2WH that I have not shared here which I will add, including reading comments left in the quilt journal and reactions to the public outpouring of support and interest in this quilt. Hopefully we will be able to take some time in the coming weeks and create the retrospective which will be posted here.

Please share with us your memories of J2WH whether it be of your time working on the quilt, the first time you saw it, your favorite part of the quilt, etc. Documenting and sharing stories is what these quilts are all about and we want to continue that tradition here. Leave us a comment on this posting or send us an email at ObamaCommunityQuilt@gmail.com.

In the time it has taken me to type this post, the 1 year anniversary of J2WH being hung for exhibition on the walls of the Banneker-Douglass Museum has occurred.

Happy Anniversary J2WH, Dr. Gaither, and the whole J2WH community!

Last minute quilting...again

Just when I thought there would be some down time and Dr. Gaither would be able to work on her quilts at a more reasonable pace, I was proven wrong. The final component of the Gee's Bend quilts is being worked on as I type. This quilt is full of storytelling and family as all of her quilts are, this time focusing on Dr. Gaither's mother and siblings. The quilt incorporates images of her family, stories of each of her many siblings interacting with their mother, and imagery that symbolizes each one of her siblings. It very much reflects the type of teaching methods she uses to inspire people when getting started on their quilt squares during her workshops. It has been interesting watching the quilt come together over the past few weeks and listening to the stories told the work moves forward.

The quilt will be finished tomorrow as Dr. Gaither travels to Hartford. If you are catching the train from Baltimore to Hartford, CT tomorrow, be on the lookout for someone working on a quilt. IF you are in the Hartford area, please go and check out the quilts.

Hartford, CT Exhibition of Dr. Gaither's Work

Happy New Year! I hope everyone out there is enjoying a good start to the new year and keeping busy. I can certainly say we are busy on this end. Today will be a quick posting, but I promise to write a lengthier post series starting next week on Dr. Gaither's My American Series (MAS). With all of the talk about the series, I thought it would be nice to give each of the quilts their due and explore each one of them.

In the mean time, the Community Threads exhibition in Hartford, CT, which includes Dr. Gaither's My American Series and several other of her works, opened last week with great success. The exhibition has formed it's own blog in the past week. You can visit it at http://www.community-threads.com/. Her works are in three locations around Hartford. The Brown's Quilt (the first in the series) and J2WH are on display in Hartford's City Hall. The other quilts in the MAS are on display at the Capital Community College. The Gee's Bend inspired quilts along with a few others will be on display that Hartford Stage during the run of the production of Gee's Bend. Dr. Gaither herself will be on hand for the opening of the show later this week. Be sure to say hello if you see her.

I am including a link from the Hartford Courant here that shows the installation of the Brown's Quilt and J2WH at the City Hall building. Note the quilt on the floor in the lower right-hand corner on the first picture. The first time I looked at the photo, I knew there was something familiar about it, but it took me a few minutes to figure out what that was. Suddenly I recognized the fabric colors and realized I knew that quilt. It is interesting how viewing things in a new context or environment can change your perspective. Can you figure out which one it is?

Enjoy! The My American Series (MAS) weekly series will start next week.

Hartford Courant images:
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-community-threads-quilt-exhibition-pictures,0,2355069.photogallery

Now What?

The Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt is finished. The My American Series of quilts is in Connecticut for the first stop of the tour. Does that mean Dr. Gaither has slowed down or is without a project? Of course not! If nothing else, she is even busier than ever.

She is currently working on 50 quilts. Yes, 50. There is a 36-quilt project documenting her life story by decade. This project incorporates two large scale quilts (not quite as large as the BoC quilt) and several smaller quilts which increase in size, number, and color as the decade depicted comes closer to the present. This project will also incorporate outside additions from Dr. Gaither's friends, family, and acquaintences through different sized circles depicting their relationship with her.

The next American Series quilt idea is being "stalked." Dr. Gaither has been commissioned to create a quilt to document the history of the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, NC. This quilt will make its debut at the festival in August 2011. She is currently doing what she calls "stalking the idea" which means she is coming up with the overall design of the quilt, finding the fabrics, and researching the content for the quilt.

She is working on several other individual quilts and stalking a few other ideas including two quilts which pay tribute to two Maryland doctors who made great contributions to their field, a social justice piece, and a quilt about her mother created in the Gee's Bend style. Additionally she is working with several individuals and organizations to create quilts to document their history.

If you would like to learn more about her style of quilting and take a class with her, you will have the chance this February. Dr. Gaither will present a workshop for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture in late February. The workshop will be held in northeast Washington DC in an area frequently photographed by the Skurlock Studio. The museum currently has an exhibition on the Skurlock Studio entitled The Skurlock Studio and Black Washington: Picturing the Promise on display in their "preview gallery" at the National Museum of American History. The workshop will tie into the exhibition through the use of photographs to document history whether through the photographs themselves or using images to create a quilt. I will post more details on the workshop including how to register soon.

If this wasn't enough, Dr. Gaither will be heading back to Connecticut next month for the opening of the exhibit at the Hartford Stage as well as continuing to set up future tour dates. As always, if you would like to bring any of her quilts to your area, please get in contact with us. Send us an email at ObamaCommunityQuilt@gmail.com and we will get in touch with you.

The quilts have landed in Connecticut!

Hello everyone! This Sara Allred, one of Dr. Gaither's students at MICA. I had the pleasure of accompanying Dr. Gaither and several of her quilts to Hartford, Connecticut this past Tuesday and Wednesday. Dr. Gaither will have quilts in two exhibitions in Hartford - the six "My American Series" quilts (including the Journey to the White House and the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilts) will be in one exhibition spread throughout the city, and four additional quilts will be at an exhibition at the Hartford Stage. We had a great trip and met so many people who were so excited to have the quilts start their national tour in Hartford! I have so many photos to share from our trip, so here goes:

Here is the van - packed to the brim and ready to go!

Dr. Gaither had her coffee and was ready to start the journey at 5:45 am!

I had my coffee too! We were ready to hit the road...we had a great drive, and arrived in Hartford just after noon to drop the "My American Series" quilts off at the Hartford Community Health Services building.


Here is Dr. Gaither delivering the quilts to Dr. Rick Rawlins and Andrea Montgomery of the Community Health Services of Hartford.


Dr. Gaither couldn't help but roll out a few of the quilts to show them off (as a special sneak preview!) - here is the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt - as you can see, it almost filled the office space (and attracted quite a crowd!)...

Here are Dr. Gaither and Michael Sherman (CEO of Community Health Services) holding up the Journey to the White House quilt for all to see.

Before we left, Dr. Gaither took a moment to hug her quilts good-bye as they begin the first leg of their national tour. This is the first time they will be exhibited all together (and will all be out of Dr. Gaither's possession).

Congratulations to Dr. Gaither and the many people who have supported her and assisted in the making of these quilts! Stay tuned for more specific information about dates and locations that the quilts will be shown in Hartford (and beyond!)...

Quilt Dedication Ceremony: Another Perspective

Aleithea Williams from the Four Rivers Heritage Area posted an entry on their blog about the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt dedication ceremony along with photos. Her pictures are far better than mine, so I thought I would add the link to her post to let everyone see them and get her take on the day's event.

http://fourriversha.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/a-story-quilt-and-a-spirited-ceremony/

What Does a Traveling Exhibition Look Like?

The My American Series quilts, along with two quilts designed in the fashion of the Gee's Bend quilts, and a quilt on a local Hartford, CT man, left this morning to travel to Connecticut for the first leg of their tour. The quilts are being escorted by Dr. Gaither and one of her students, Sara Allred. They left in the early hours of the morning and are currently making their approach into Hartford as I type. I have been receiving driving updates since about 5:45 this morning somewhat making this a "community" transportation effort.

One question I always receive after workshops and sometimes during tours is "How are the quilts transported?" The image here can give you a clue. For this exhibition, the quilts are individually packed into large plastic containers and stacked in a manner that will provide the flattest surface possible. When feasible, the quilts are then chauffeured by vehicle to ensure their safe arrival at their final destination rather than shipping them. When the quilts weigh anywhere between 35-55 pounds and are at a minimum 8 feet long and/or wide, you don't really want to be sending them by post where they are priced by weight. Even the Postal Service's newly advertised package shipping policy of "if it fits, it ships" in one of their pre-priced boxes will fall short of providing an adequate shipping box for these artworks. This process is a change from the in-area quilt transportation which, up until this point, has been packing the quilts into large rolling suitcases or in a large bag as was evidenced by a photo I posted in September when J2WH left - something that would strike fear in any museum conservator's heart.

In addition to the quilts, the hanging rods had to go and those were entertainment to fit in the car. After J2WH left the Banneker-Douglass Museum, the hanging rod stayed in my office for at least a month because there simply wasn't enough room in Dr. Gaither's car to take it, the quilt, and another person without causing damage to something or someone. When I finally took it to her in my car I nearly put a hole in the ceiling of my office and the front door of the museum. Naturally clumsy people such as myself really should not be entrusted with carrying, moving, or generally handling long wooden poles without supervision and assistance. Last night we had to fit 7 hanging rods into the van which literally ran the length of the vehicle going under the seats from the back of the van all the way under the front passenger seat. For the longest pole, it was touch and go for a minute as to whether or not it would fit.

As the exhibition will be hung in multiple venues, Dr. Gaither is providing large giclee (pronounced gee-clay) prints, aka really good scanned images printed out, of all of the My American Series quilts to be set up with the Gee's Bend-inspired quilts at the Hartford Stage. These images will help show Dr. Gaither's other works on display in Hartford as part of the Threads in the Community exhibition going on from December through February. To transport the framed canvases, we had to pack the car in such a manner that they would have a large space to lie flat. We then placed cardboard between them to protect the images and wrapped them with a large piece of fabric to help hold them in place during the drive so they wouldn't go flying and strike anyone in the head in the event of a fast stop. There was also a very large framed print of the Poulson Slaver quilt, the 3rd in the My American Series. This print was so large it could only fit in the van by sliding it through the open rear gate of the van and even then it just barely fit laying flat between the back of the rear seat and the quilt box pushed up against the back of the front seats. Minor miracle there.

After everything was packed in, there was actually room in the van to see out the back believe it or not. Without even considering it, we just so happened to leave room for two overnight bags plus their owners. When you look at the photo of the packed van you can see Dr. Gaither just peeking out over the precious cargo on the left hand side. Not a bad night's packing if I do say so myself.

More stories will come in the next few days on the progress of the traveling exhibition from Sara Allred along with more photos. Stay tuned to learn more about the exhibition as it travels as well as some of the other quilts included.

And They're Off...

The My American Series quilts hit the road first thing tomorrow morning for Hartford, CT. During the roadtrip watch this space for postings from Sara Allred, one of Dr. Gaither's students at MICA who is going along for the ride. She will be writing in about their journey and the beginning of the national tour.

We will post pictures and information about the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt dedication in the next few days. Needless to say it was a smashing success with around 200 people in attendance from all areas of the state. A great time was had by all and the quilt was dedicated in grand style. Dr. Gaither was also bestowed with the title of Ambassador of Maryland and Ambassador of the Chesapeake by Governor Martin O'Malley and Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates Michael Busch. She will be embarking on her first "official duties" tomorrow with the delivery of the quilts in Hartford.

Stay tuned for more information on the exhibition dates and locations for Hartford and beyond.

The Quilting Sessions Get Musical

During the third quilting session held at Meredith's Seafood and Carry Out in Grasonville, MD on the Eastern Shore, several watermen and their families turned out to add photos and stitches to the quilt. As an added treat for the session a few people provided musical accompaniment to the evening's work. Posted here is Vince Leggett of the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation introducing a performance of Amazing Grace. Enjoy!

Quilt Dedication Ceremony and a new tour date

Please join us next Wednesday, December 9, 2009, for the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt dedication ceremony. The event will be held at the Annapolis Maritime Museum located at 723 Second St., Annapolis, MD, 21403 at 10 a.m. This will be the first time the finished quilt will be on public display.

The event will be inspiring and entertaining, but I can't say too much more about it as we are trying to keep as much of it a surprise for Dr. Gaither as possible. This isn't the easiest feat in the world as she seems to be very good at getting information. Fortunately, those in the know aren't talking despite her best attempts.

The event is free of charge and open to the public. If you would like more information, contact either Vince Leggett of the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation at 410.570.1187 or vleggett@blackschesapeake.org or myself at 410.216.6186 or GKaplan@goci.state.md.us.

The dedication ceremony has been timed to coincide with the beginning of the first leg of her national tour. All six of the My American Series quilts will be leaving a few days later for the first ever exhibition of the entire series. The first stop is in Hartford, CT and will take place in two locations. The My American Series quilts will be on display at the Capital Community College beginning the end of December through mid-February as part of a community-wide quilting exhibition initiative. Several of Dr. Gaither's other works including four quilts inspired by the Gee's Bend quilts will be on display at the Hartford Stage to correspond with the run of a new play on Gee's Bend from January 14-February 11, 2010.

After they return from Connecticut, three of the My American Series quilts will go on display at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore from March 3-June 6, 2010. The full series will be "reunited" in Baltimore for a one month exhibition from June 18-July 14, 2010 at the School 33 Arts Center. Additional dates and locations will be announced here shortly.

I hope you can join us for the dedication next week and make this event a truly special one.

The Other Chesapeake

Vince Leggett, founder of the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation, submitted this posting recently on the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake and the important role it play in documenting the people and places along the Chesapeake Bay.

Dr. Joan M.E. Gaither hopes the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt will "help people learn about the rich and storied history of black men working the water, fighting winds and tides and other obstacles to pluck precious fish, oysters, clams and crabs from the bay. The quilt looks like a 3-D map of the Chesapeake Bay and is multilayered and bright. An outer strip of African mud cloth gives way to a blue one symbolizing the Atlantic Ocean crossed by slaves during the Middle Passage. Hundreds of large safety pins, some left open, represent the pain of separation from Africa, link to the next few layers; a red one for blood and death, a star spangled one for the United States of America they live in, and zippered fabric from a yacht’s canopy-which makes the quilt contemporary-all of which lead inward toward the story of black life on the bay.”

The Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation have been documenting the roles that black watermen played in the shaping of our nation through exhibits, books and teacher’s guides and documentary films for the past 25 years. The Black Watermen of the Chesapeake documentary story quilt takes this saga to new heights. Black watermen make their living harvesting the bay’s finfish, shellfish, eels, and crabs. In the past African Americans on the Chesapeake Bay have been marginalized-pushed off into the corners of history or buried in unmark graves on the oceans floor. Independent and self-employed, black watermen own their boats and choose their catch. It’s a tough, physically demanding way of life, and it’s been going on for hundreds of years.

The documentary quilt project places African Americans front, center and in living color. Black watermen “Saved by Grace” is a theme which intersects the latitudes and longitudes on the quilt. That amazing grace is represented through several beautifully hand-crafted angels celestially adorned in spiritual and nautical artifacts strategically placed on the quilt as the guardians of the black watermen. The quilt contains memorial tributes to black watermen who have lost their lives on the bay, such as Captain Thompson Wallace, of Deal Island, who went down with his son and four other men in Tangiers Sound. Captain Wallace was one of 23 children to watermen Robert James and Roseanna Wallace. In 1977, his skipjack the Claude Somers was struck by a squall near Hooper Straight Light, leaving six drowned including her owner-operator Captain Thompson Wallace. The Claude Somers has been redeemed and now is used for educational and heritage tourism purposes by the Watermen Museum in Reedsville, VA.

The quilt is an elegant tapestry of black life on the bay. It is filled with stories, images and key dates such as 1619 when the first Africans came to the bay in Jamestown, Virginia as indentured servants. Chesapeake blacks have made steady progress for the past 350 years migrating to Nova Scotia following the 1776 War of Independence and the War of 1812. The black watermen of the Chesapeake have seen the tides of life rise and fall like the sails of a sail boat for nearly four centuries. However, black watermen have faced discrimination on the water and their stories recant how unsavory white oyster captains have shanghaied their fore parents and refused to pay for their services on oyster boats. Instead they were knocked off of the boat by the swinging boom. They lamented about how their ancestors were “paid off by the boom.” Still others spoke about standing at the back of the line waiting to sell their catch at the end of the day and how the prices steadily dropped as the ice melted on the docks. Many a watermen have cautioned against just talking about the beautiful sunrises and sunsets on the bay, but the bay has also been a watery grave for black watermen. These men and women whispered about the “other Chesapeake.” The one not mentioned in the history and texts books—the black side of the bay.

The Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Quilt:

• Details the lives of the many African American men and women involved in the history and culture of the Chesapeake Bay
• Highlights the men and women who dedicated themselves to the bay through their work, communities, or their love and concern for the waters of the Chesapeake
• Tells the stories of the unique Maryland communities through images, text, and artifacts
• Includes images and references to Maryland’s maritime history
• Represents an unsung part of Maryland’s past
• Joins together hands and spirits to tell untold stories
• Shows men hand-tonging for oysters through the frozen ice, shucking oysters, cooking oysters, and eating the bi-values on the half-shell. The cleaned empty shells have been decorated and placed through out the quilt as a reminder of this legacy
• Shares the history of the bay’s black watermen’s dreams, disappointments and hopes
• Incorporates many different groups working together all along the reaches of the bay, cataloging their stories, images and fond memories by paying tribute to their loved one
• Encompasses a wide variety of the occupations held by Blacks in the maritime and seafood industries such as Lighthouse Keepers, Ferry Boat Captains, Bridge Tenders, Bay Pilots, Sail makers, Boat Builders, Seafood Process Plant owners, etc
• Features the people, places and communities associated with Maryland African American watermen.

Oyster Shucking Live!

One of the interesting things about holding a quilting session at a restaurant is that I was on hand when a fresh bushel of oysters was brought in and was able to see them prepared to order live. Check out the video below of oyster shucking in action by Captain Meredith, owner of Meredith's Seafood and Carry Out.