Images of Stolen Quilt and Media Coverage

Photo by Genevieve M. Kaplan, 2011

Photo by Genevieve M. Kaplan, 2011

Here are images of each side of the stolen quilt. If anyone has any information on the theft, please contact the police at 1.866.7.LOCKUP.

Media Coverage/Details: 

Baltimore Sun:

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-12-27/news/bs-md-co-quilt-burglary-20111227_1_banneker-museum-quilt-benjamin-banneker-historical-park

Catonsville Patch:
http://catonsville.patch.com/articles/have-you-seen-this-quilt

ABC Channel 2
http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/crime_checker/baltimore_county_crime/police-search-for-quilt-thief

News footage on the quilt theft with images of the quilt.

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2011/12/27/african-american-artifact-stolen-from-museum/

URGENT: We Need Your Help!!!!

Good evening everyone,

I wish I could be writing this post under better circumstances, but I am writing to ask for your help. Last week, one of Dr. Gaither's quilts was stolen while on exhibition at Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum. The quilt was stolen early in the morning on Tuesday, 19 December 2011.

The quilt is entitled Maryland: What a Strange Civilization It Is and has been exhibited as part of Dr. Gaither's social justice series as well as in the At Freedom's Door: Challenging Slavery in Maryland exhibition held in 2007 at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum and the Maryland Historical Society. I am including the police description of the quilt as posted by WBAL in Baltimore.

I will post images of the quilt within the next few days. If anyone has any information, please contact the police immediately. Please share this information with anyone you believe may be able to help!

Thank you!

Genevieve

BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. -- A 63-inch tall historical quilt is missing from a museum in Baltimore County, and police are searching for a culprit.

Investigators said a glass pane to the rear door of the museum was broken and that several items were damaged in the recent incident, but the quilt was the only thing stolen.

The quilt is 43 inches by 63 inches. It’s bordered with gold-colored feathers and an image of an American eagle on one side, and the phrase “Maryland the free state” and legal writings on the other side.

Authorities haven’t said how much the quilt is worth.

Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 1-866-7-LOCKUP.

Read more: http://www.wbaltv.com/news/30083013/detail.html#ixzz1hmor9g9u

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/30083013/detail.html

Health and Safety

Hi everyone,

Sorry for practicing our great disappearing act on you! We didn't mean to become magicians this year, but we have been getting pretty good at it. As the title of this posting alludes, there is a good reason -- health and safety. This applies to both Dr. Gaither and several of the quilts, specifically the Trails Tracks Tarmac community-created quilts.

One of the questions that comes up when Dr. Gaither presents at workshops, lectures, and conferences is "how long does it take you to make a quilt?" This question implies that it takes her a long time to fabricate a quilt. In fact, the actual physical creation of a quilt is often times the fastest part of the quilting process. The National Black Theatre Festival quilt was 2 years in the making, with the actual fabrication part only taking a year with her working off and on. When you take out all of the breaks, the fabrication probably took closer took 5 months. Keep in mind the quilt is about 9 feet wide and 11 feet long. I have seen her pull a quilt together from start to finish in less than a month.

All of the "speed quilting" does come with a price. Angry muscles and tendons, carpal tunnel, and general aches and pains start to take over after stitching for several hours at a time for many days (weeks) at a time. The solution? Physical therapy, weight lifting, stretching, icing the muscles, wearing braces on the arm and wrist, and good old ibuprofen. When all else fails, lockdown. When this solution is required, Dr. Gaither is forced to stop quilting entirely as well as avoid work on the computer. Lockdown is Dr. Gaither's least favorite solution, but it is also the most effective. Not working on the computer is the only part of lockdown that Dr. Gaither enjoys given her technophobia. Stopping her from quilting is another matter.

During lockdown, Dr. Gaither's community rallies around her not to help her quilt, but to "keep her in check" as she often says. There are a few people (myself included) who really stay on her about resting and call her out whenever she even hints at doing something she shouldn't. Dr. Gaither was put on lockdown in the early fall by her physical therapist and was just allowed to start quilting a few weeks ago. Now that she has been allowed to quilt again, she has completed one quilt (started prior to lockdown) and another is speeding towards the finish line.

As for what put her on lockdown this time, it was the health and safety of the 25 community quilts from the Trails Tracks Tarmac exhibition. The TTT community quilts were created in 2006 and have been on constant display for over five years now. The continuous display as well as lengthy display in direct, unfiltered sunlight at one of their exhibition sites has caused very serious damage to the quilts. People have frequently asked how long her quilts last and these quilts have accidentally become test cases for how much the fabric sheets can handle. The quilts are displaying varying levels of fading and discoloration ranging from barely noticeable fading to images almost completely disappearing.

To remedy the situation, emergency action was taken in July and August beginning with the complete de-installation of the entire exhibition. The quilts were examined by Dr. Gaither and the respective quilters and then cleaned via vacuuming techniques and the like. Next, the quilters and Dr. Gaither went through their files to see if they could reproduce the images on some of the quilts. In some instances they could, but in others it was not possible. At times when they could not reproduce the images, Dr. Gaither would use her drawing skills and draw back in the details of the photos and try to bring the colors back to life. It was through this process of extreme detail work and spending hours at a time bent over quilts that sent her muscles out on strike, subsequently putting her on lockdown for nearly three months.

Several of the TTT community quilts have gone back on display at the Bates Legacy Center, but only temporarily. They will be coming off exhibition to rest and get out of direct light next year. Two of the quilts have been so badly damaged by the sun that they will not be going back out on display at all. The damage to these quilts is not uniform with all of Dr. Gaither's works. Most of her quilts are in extraordinary condition, requiring little to no touch-up work. The situation with the TTT quilts has allowed Dr. Gaither and her quilters to examine what fabric types hold up best, which printer inks last and which fade, and the effects of long term display on different colors. Every cloud has a silver lining, right?

I hope everyone has a great holiday season. I will try to post here again before the New Year. With Dr. Gaither just coming off restriction and doing so much quilting, I don't dare ask her to post. That hasn't stopped me from bugging her about it though. I am thinking a video interview about her work may be in her near future. Hmmm.....

Honoring a Post-September 11 World

In honor of the 10th Anniversary of September 11, I am posting a video of Dr. Gaither discussing two quilts she created in the months after the attacks. These quilts are part of Dr. Gaither's social justice series and share her views on the changes she saw in the world immediately after September 11 and those that endure today. Below are close up images of each of the quilts.

Selective Perceptions/Reality
(c) Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither



Selective Perceptions/Reality
Detail Image
(c) Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither




Selective Perceptions/Reality
Detail Image
(c) Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither




Selective Perceptions/Reality
Detail Image
(c) Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither

Response to 9/11
(c) Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither

 

Response to 9/11
Detail Image
(c) Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither





Response to 9/11
Detail Image
(c) Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither




Response to 9/11
Detail Image
(c) Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither



National Black Theatre Festival Opening Reception Photos

Hi everyone!

Here are several photos taken of Dr. Gaither at the opening reception for the National Black Theatre Festival. The quilt turned into the step and repeat at the event. If you don't know what a "step and repeat" is, that is the background celebrities stand in front of at special events to get their photos taken. I wasn't in Winston-Salem for this event, so I will ask Dr. Gaither to help with the commentary on these photos in the next few days.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday!

Hi everyone!

I am posting a message without Dr. Gaither's knowledge in order to reveal that today is the birthday of everyone's favorite documentary story quilter. Please drop her a line if you can. I know it would mean a lot to her.

Also, pictures and stories from the National Black Theatre Festival to come this weekend. Stay tuned!

Now on Facebook!

You can now follow Dr. Gaither on Facebook! After months of trying to get her to agree to setting up a fan page, she is finally joining the world of facebook. If you would like to follow her, click on the button on the right hand side or look her up under Joan M. E. Gaither. Hope to see you there. Please spread the word!

National Black Theatre Festival Quilt in the News-UPDATED

The Winston-Salem Journal interviewed Dr. Gaither on the National Black Theatre Festival Quilt. Click the link below for the article and a brief video.

http://www2.journalnow.com/entertainment/2011/aug/04/wsmain01-festival-history-stitched-into-quilt-ar-1267517/

At the Heart of It All...

Marvtastic Memories
National Black Theatre Festival Quilt
(c) Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither, 2011

The past few days have been a whirlwind of phone calls between Dr. Gaither and myself on the reaction to the National Black Theatre Festival quilt. The festival is in full swing starting with a large kick off party last night. The packed house featured the quilt as a backdrop for many photos and it is quite the talk of the festival which has everyone involved in the project smiling with pride in the quilt, their work, and in Dr. Gaither. I was out with a group this afternoon when Dr. Gaither called me with an update and several people gathered within earshot to hear her as she shared stories on speakerphone. Her infectious energy raced through the phone and everyone's hearts started beating a little faster with shared excitement and happiness for her.

In the last posting, I deciphered the borders. For this posting, I will decipher the interior (or heart) of the artwork. Starting at the top left corner of the quilt next to the 3-D figure you will see several small pictures of people's faces. These photos are of each of the celebrities who have performed at the festival since it began in 1989. There are at least 200 faces on the quilt. It took months to add these faces to the quilt. Dr. Gaither used images from the festival's program and drew into them to make the pictures more detailed and vibrant. Each picture was then attached on three sides, stuffed with batting, sewn on the bottom edge, and then framed with gold fabric paint. These pictures run in a circle around the quilt. It was quite an effort to make sure that every face was included on the quilt. To keep everything straight, Dr. Gaither had an excel spreadsheet which I would go through repeatedly checking to make sure everyone was on the quilt. Sometimes people were inadvertently left off the quilt and making things interesting, some people where on there a few times. One person's picture was on the quilt three times with their name spelled three different ways when I caught it.

On the top you can see a large blue eagle which is over the North Carolina state flag. These symbols pay tribute to the festival's home state. Moving from these two images to the right there is a large star made from black and gold ropes and strands of silver beads. The star serves as a counter point to the large figure on the other side of the quilt in terms of having a second large-scale image on the quilt. The star contains several celebrity photos within it. There are also the names of several different events that go on as part of the festival. In the center of the star is a bow tie and the festival's logo representing some of the events held as a part of the theatre festival.

Between the 3-D figure and the star is an orange grid which is actually a map of the festival venues in Winston-Salem. In each of the corners there are colorful images of men and women representing the music and drumming that goes on during the theatre festival. Images from festivals past are also included among the celebrity photos.

Throughout the center section of the quilt are black lines which are intended to make the quilt look somewhat like a stained glass window. The inspiration behind this were the stained glass windows at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. Dr. Gaither used my book on the cathedral's windows to give her ideas on how to make this happen. The effect simultaneously helps to tie everything together and keep the content from getting too overwhelming.

So that is the overview of the National Black Theatre Festival quilt. I will post some of the in process photos in the next few days so that you can see the evolution of the quilt from basic pieces of fabric to the finished product.

Marvtastic Memories!

Ok all you Joan Gaither quilt fans, the time has finally arrived! The latest My American Series quilt is about to be revealed.

Are you ready for it? 

It is my pleasure to introduce to you the seventh quilt in Dr. Gaither's My American Series,

Marvtastic Memories!

Marvtastic Memories documents the history of the National Black Theatre Festival set to open next week in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. As with all of Dr. Gaither's quilts there is so much detail, it is going to take days to explain all of the various components. I will start by giving you a general overview today and then make frequent updates throughout the run of the festival with more information and detail.

So, where to begin? Perhaps by talking about the largest component of the quilt - the figure in black. This figure is a nearly life sized 3-D image of Larry Leon Hamlin, the founder of the National Black Theatre Festival. He founded the festival in 1989 with the vision of hosting a festival every two years, something that has happened consistently since it began. Dr. Gaither fashioned the figure of Mr. Hamlin based on photos taken from the annual programs, matching his brightly adorned clothing down to his hat and sunglasses. Sadly, he passed away shortly before the 2009 festival. Dr. Gaither placed an angel in one of his hands with the other pointing down on the orange map of the theatre festival's venues to symbolize him as the event's guardian angel. For those of you familiar with Dr. Gaither's work, you will recognize the angel as one designed by Ms. Ruth Taylor, Dr. Gaither's "Angel Lady."

Working to the right from Mr. Hamlin's hand you will see photos, oba faces (the brown faces), and black and purple boxes. Each of these sets contains the names of all of the plays and honored celebrities (in the boxes) and the festival chairs for each year. The first festival, held in 1989, was chaired by Maya Angelou followed by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. These sets continue around the top and right borders of the quilt all the way through the 2011 festival. If you look underneath these sets you will see Dr. Gaither's traditional My American Series border with a few alterations. On this quilt there is no railroad fabric, but all of the other elements (African fabric, red and blue fabric for the blood shed in the Middle Passage, the safety pins, and the rolled American flag colored fabric) are all there.

On the bottom border you will see several small red rectangles. These are actually the backs of director's chairs with the names of many of the festival plays' directors on them. Also on the bottom of the quilt you can see what look like many light brown lines. Believe it or not, those are letter beads spelling out the names of each and every production company to present a show at the festival in its 28 year history. There is a good story about those which I will share in the next couple days involving Dr. Gaither, myself, and a large problem with math. In the middle of this border is an image which represents stage curtains with the name and details of the festival spelled out in letter beads.

Moving to the left border, you will see a figure in purple just below Mr. Hamlin's foot. That is his wife, Sylvia, with the word "Marvtastic" written next to her. "Marvtastic" was a word Mr. Hamlin coined to convey his, and those of people involved with the festival's, sentiments towards this large event. As you move up Mr. Hamlin's leg, you will see white writing listing the names of the festival's sponsors throughout the year.

I will save the details about the center of the quilt for my next posting. The quilt is currently on display at the Milton Rhodes Arts Center in Winston-Salem and will remain so through 6 August 2011. If you are in Winston-Salem or nearby in the next week, please stop by to take a look. The quilt is on display in the main lobby of the Arts Center

Oops, We Did It Again!

Hello???? Anyone still out there????

I can just hear everyone saying "Where have you been? You haven't posted anything in almost three months!!!!!"

Just as Dr. Gaither was getting into the idea of posting and I had started up weekly postings, we dropped the ball and stopped. With this posting I offer a mea culpa and a few exciting explanations.

The title of this post not only refers to one of our unintentional multi-month hiatus' from posting but also to the fact that for the third time in three years, another My American Series quilt has been completed. Yes, that's right, completed. The National Black Theatre Festival quilt was finally finished last week after months of promises from Dr. Gaither that it would be completed by the end of the month. "It will be finished by the end of February....March...April...May... It has to be finished by the middle of June." And when was it finished? The first weekend in July!

For those of you who are loyal readers of this blog (thank you!), you know that I somewhat serve as Dr. Gaither's personal assistant. I take care of correspondence, posting on this website, monitoring her calendar, helping her with appearances and workshops, and many other duties. One of those duties includes keeping her on task and on schedule which is not an easy feat. Keeping her on task for this latest quilt has been quite the ordeal as she loves to work under the pressure of a deadline and there wasn't one for several months. With every My American Series quilt, there has always been a pressing time factor which has lead to round the clock quilting sessions as well as several public appearances by the quilt as it makes the rounds with community quilting sessions. This quilt was not like that. Begun more than a year ago, this quilt was way ahead of schedule, not needing to be in Winston-Salem, NC until late July/early August.  Because of this, Dr. Gaither seemingly had plenty of time to complete the quilt, despite my insistence that it had to be finished absolutely no later than Memorial Day in order to give the theatre festival representatives time to create the posters, cards, and other items that will be on offer with this quilt.. Plus I need time to be able to create a diagram to allow people to find themselves and their organizations on the quilt. It was finally completed last week because she received the date the quilt was going to travel to Winston-Salem, putting her in a time crunch-induced panic (finally).

The National Black Theatre Festival quilt will make its debut at the festival in three weeks and will be on display for the entire run of the week long festival. Once it has made its debut at the festival, I will be able to post full pictures for everyone to see. Only a few more weeks. Sadly, I will not be able to be there to see the debut of the quilt, but I have put Dr. Gaither on notice that she is to designate one of her friends to be her "official" photographer and get photos for the blog. If I am really daring, perhaps I will venture into the realm of teaching her how to put photos on her computer and upload them to the blog. She keeps swearing her computer is about to blow up on her, so it might not happen. Then again, it could just be her way of getting out of blogging.

So that is Dr. Gaither's excuse for not blogging. It is a partial excuse on my part as well since I have spent many a day and night helping to work on the quilt. I slowed down my involvement on that somewhat after Dr. Gaither threatened to "get me" multiple times after I went through her multiple lists of people, places, and organizations that needed to be added to the quilt and found several omissions. Lets just say for one of the lists, the number was in the triple digits! I will fill you in on that once I can post pictures.

As for the rest of my excuses (and a little self promotion) I have been taking up the community involvement aspect of Dr. Gaither's work and applying it to my own. I just completed the second phase of a great project called Music to Our Ears: The Sounds of the African American Experience at Carr's and Sparrow's Beaches. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Carr's and Sparrow's Beaches, they were two segregation-era hot spots located just outside of Annapolis where African Americans spent their summers relaxing by the water and taking in the biggest musical acts of the day such as James Brown, Aretha Franklin, the Drifters, the Supremes, and many more. These two family-run beaches brought in audiences from all over the East Coast including audiences of 40,000 people for the James Brown concerts. Not bad considering the current population of Annapolis is around 35,000 people. Can you imagine doubling the size of the city for a day?

Very little research has been done on these sites and the people who attended, worked, and performed there are aging quickly. The Coordinator of Social Studies for Anne Arundel County and I put our heads together and came up with the Music to Our Ears project where high school students learn about the beaches as well as how to do oral history interviews. Then the students go out into the community and conduct oral history interviews as well as gather photographs and other memorabilia from their friends, family, and other community members. All of this is then compiled into a public presentation of some sort. Last year the students created a mini-documentary and this year they did an exhibition that opened at the Banneker-Douglass Museum just after Memorial Day and will be up through Labor Day. The project has been embraced by the community and has kept me running and off the blog for the last several months. Now that the project is on break for the summer, I am able to return to my blogging and other activities.

So there you have it. Our mea culpa and reasons for our absence. I promise a plethora of posts to come in the next few weeks and lots of pictures to make up for our absence. Thanks for hanging in there with us!

Black and White

Dr. Gaither's exhibition at the Maryland State Arts Council has been extended through May. This three-part piece is one of the components of the installation. Hear how Dr. Gaither conceptualized the work and what messages she asks people to think about when looking at it.

QUILT PROJECTS IN THE WORKS

The 100^th Posting caused me to pause and think more about the extent of the original TTT (Trails Tracks Tarmac) Exhibition and the increasing emergence of new communities, art makers, and museum goers. Of course, the challenge set forth by Banneker-Douglass Museum’s Education and Public Program techno guru Genevieve Kaplan fuels my attempts to post more often.

I thought with this posting I would share a bit more about the current long-term projects that might invite your participation. The Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay Quilt, on exhibit at Maryland State Arts Council in downtown Baltimore extended until May 30^th 2011, serves as a table of contents for the BWCB Extension Project. It is my hope that each of the 200+ names of people, places, and events identified on the quilt soon will be adopted to have the larger story documented in quilt format. In a manner similar to TTT (on exhibit at Bates Legacy Center in Annapolis) in which railroad track pattern fabric appears in each smaller quilt to unite the individual community stories, a Chesapeake blue fabric water pattern is available for use to bring the individual watermen and women experiences together in the even larger American story.

I’m excited that teachers working with their students have begun collaborative conversations and other individuals have agreed to quilt a story of a family member or historic aspects of specific watermen communities. I’m also optimistic that, like TTT, artifacts will be uncovered as quilters explore the images and history of the area that would inform a future exhibition. With the ease of new technology, video interviews of seniors that recount memories of their parents and grand parents could lead to uncovering untold parts of lost histories, while at the same time preserve their images and voices.

The second project is My Memory Is Only As Good As Yours Decades Series Quilts. Initially, I asked the question, “What signifying words should I use to reference my identity beyond the color of my skin?” and “How do these words tell my story relative to history and my communities?” I’m inviting family, friends, colleagues, old and new acquaintances to create a circular quilt in contrast to my forty rectangular and square quilts that document personal experiences within the context of identity, relationships, American and/or world history, and an important personal memory sealed by the passage of time.

Embroidery hoops come in multiple sizes and could be used as templates; or as my cousin Robsyl says, “ a hula-hoop gives you more room to tell the story” needing to be told. Be sure to choose a circular sized hoop large enough to quilt one or both sides to tell a portion of our shared history. Thank you to quilters that have already completed and submitted their story quilt circles. Do you think 1000 quilt circles is a large enough number for the decades’ memory series? In 2003, I received 150 quilt squares for the Friendship Project in a matter of a few weeks used in the creation of twelve 45”x 45” quilts which have provided scholarships opportunities for inner city children to have access to MICA’s Young People’s Studio artistic experiences.

In closing, a series of documented story quilt projects related to uniting communities are partially started with selected fabrics gathered and layered with plans further being developed in the sketchbook. More information will follow in future postings relative to a group of quilts that document experiences of 1) African American Women Social Groups, 2) the Life and Legacy of Harriet Tubman, and 3) Maryland African American Legal Legends to the history and culture of Maryland and to the larger American story.

I’d like to think that our world is much more humane than the media would have us to believe and more of us are connected through our shared history and experiences. Please use the gmail address for this site if you, your family, or group want more information, are interested in participating in any or all of the above projects, or would like to begin related projects in your communities.

On the Road...

I hope everyone enjoyed Dr. Gaither's posting last week. She is a self-professed techno-phobe, so the fact I was actually able to get her to post still surprises me. Hopefully she will be encouraged to be a regular poster.... I am somewhat at loose ends on what to post about this week, so I thought I would share a few photos to highlight some of the activity surrounding the National Black Theater Festival quilt going on right now.

Dr. Gaither travelled to Atlanta last month to give a long time consultant to the organizers of the National Black Theater Festival a chance to see what Dr. Gaither has been working on. They had heard Dr. Gaither describe the quilt and had seen a few photos, but this was their first opportunity to see the artwork in person. Transporting the quilt to and from Atlanta was an interesting task, not unlike any of the other transportation adventures the quilts have taken Dr. Gaither and crew on. When the My American Series traveled to Hartford, CT last year, each of the six quilt were packed into large plastic containers, placed in the back of a mini-van, and driven up the East Coast by Dr. Gaither and one of her students, Sara. When Dr. Gaither was on sabbatical in Massachusetts, she had all 40 of her decades quilts, the Theater Festival quilt, and four other quilts with her. When I traveled up to visit her and helped her drive back to Maryland, there were quilts bursting out of every possible part of her car. Thank goodness I learned how to roll a sleeping bag when I was in Girl Scouts, because that skill came in very handy. In order to help the quilts "breathe" during their time tightly rolled up, Dr. Gaither held a private showing of several of the decades quilts in Hartford, CT on our way back to Maryland. After traveling to Hartford, the quilt then went to Los Angeles and Las Vegas via train and car before flying back to Maryland.

To get the National Black Theater Festival quilt to Atlanta, we had to pack the quilt up and wrestle it into a suitcase. Trust me when I say it is not easy to fit an eleven foot quilt into a box suitcase. The quilt then traveled with Dr. Gaither via train from Washington, DC to Atlanta. When Dr. Gaither arrived in Atlanta, she immediately went to meet with a long time consultant to the festival and showed them the quilt. The reaction was one of sheer amazement and awe. It looks like there will be quite a bit of activity surrounding the quilt at the festival, so stay tuned. After its showing in Atlanta, Dr. Gaither and the quilt parted ways so that Dr. Gaither could get some rest. She travelled to Florida and the quilt was packed back in its suitcase, put in two boxes, and FedEx'ed to me. Yes, FedEx'ed. It remained in its packaging until Dr. Gaither returned at which point I quickly drove the quilt back to her where it has stayed ever since.

So there is the saga of the traveling quilt. The quilt hasn't seen too much action in the past few weeks, although I hear there will be a flurry of activity in the next couple weeks with the community quilters being called back into action. A completion deadline has been set for the end of the month. I will keep you posted on the progress, although I can't show too many pictures. I can't give away the quilt before it is officially unveiled in August.

100th POSTING: QUILTING FROM THE SOUL

From the beginning of the first posting, December 17, 2008, Quilting the Journey to the White House launched this site giving voice to members of several different communities with so much to say, see and to take in. Knowing my lack of technical web abilities and a much stronger desire to quilt, it’s been awhile since I have “officially” posted. Extended gratitude goes to the devoted regular postings by Genevieve Kaplan of Banneker-Douglass Museum who has kept this site viable. Within the museum educator Genevieve is a trapped statistician that is forever cognizant of patterns that “deserve recognition and celebration.” According to her, the 100^th posting had to be done by me. “But you’re doing such a tremendous job! And, can’t I just quilt and talk to you?” I so enjoy reading about our conversations that share with others the stories about the quilts, the workshops, the quilting from the soul process, and the multiple stories that bring laughter, tears, and spiritual energy as we document lives and legacies in fabric.

I also need to say a special “Thank You” to my ever-increasing inter-generational supportive communities and “quilting from the soul” followers and quilters. Not to be forgotten is 3 year-old great niece London who stuffed the Oba face patterns with batting while I worked on the National Black Theatre Festival Quilt (NBTF) during the Las Vegas portion of my sabbatical leave.

In Genevieve’s most recent posting, she shared the good times had by many of the original TTT (Trails Tracks Tarmac) quilters as they added stitches to NBTF: Peggie Bessicks, Yvonne Gaither Henry, Yolande Dickerson, Margaret Eldridge, Estella Caldwell, Betty Mack, Genevieve Kaplan, my sister Kathy Ballard, and 6 year-old great niece Rockelle MoragneEl. I thank you for always being there with needles in hand and the laughter you bring to the quilt gatherings. We quilted into the night on the 7^th My American Series quilt, NBTF quilt to be presented in Winston Salem, NC during August 2011 (http://www.nbtf.org/). By the way, TTT can still be seen at Bates Legacy Center in Annapolis with avid support of Northern Arundel Cultural Preservation Society (NACPS).

Needless to say, the growth of the multiple projects within the communities and our collective passion for documenting the disappearing stories as loved ones leave this earthly life, we are missing Anita Turner and Yolande’s mom quilting in heaven. We also miss my mom quilting in Newport News with my youngest sister Carolyn Wright, now her caretaker. The large documentary story quilt projects with supporting smaller contextual quilts accrue invaluable importance in preserving contributions of Americans. Look for more information about my 40 quilt decades series, momentarily entitled My Memory is Only As Good As Yours, in which I invite all to participate by creating a circular quilt panel about who you are, how we know one another, and an important memory about a person, place, or event. This time has been humbling and, yet, empowering.

Since the first posting, the fifth quilt in My American Series, Journey to the White House was exhibited January 2009 and the sixth quilt, Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay Quilt was launched in December 2009 during the dedication program at the Maritime Museum in Eastport Annapolis before the series was scheduled for the Hartford CT city wide quilt exhibition Community Threads. The monumental size BWCB quilt serves as the table of contents as schools, families, and church groups now adopt and begin quilting the larger stories about one of the 200+ watermen and their communities identified on the larger BWCB quilt. Please leave a comment on the site if you are interested in participating in the BWCB Extension Project. BWCB is currently on exhibit until May 30, 2011 at the Maryland States Arts Council www.msac.org/gallery in Baltimore as a part of Respecting Humanity: Quilting for Social Justice exhibition.

Numerous workshops in the community, particularly Pathway to Awareness: Quilting for Social Justice Exhibition at Maryland Institute College of Art last spring has been given extended visibility in Stitches in Time/Threads of Change Exhibition at Benjamin Banneker Historical Park & Museum in Baltimore. In addition to I Am: My Family History Quilt (2000), the impetus for documenting personal history in large format fiber and mixed media, Stitches showcases selected quilts from Pathways. My joy is seeing other quilters, seasoned and novice, pose existential questions to self and others about identity, connections to the greater American story, social (in) justice concerns, and making the world a more humane place by using quilt making materials and techniques. http://charmcitycurrent.com/bolger/category/benjamin-banneker-historical-park-museum/

Numerous other projects continue to emerge and the original TTT quilters lead quilting sessions of their own that document family ties to American history. For instance, Peggie Bessicks along with Betty Brooks will present the Harriet Tubman quilt completed by Glen Burnie Maryland John Wesley United Methodist Church members at the Montgomery County Black Memorabilia Show April 16^th and 17^th, 2011. Peggie and Betty facilitated the making of the Tubman quilt as each quilter selected a state in the union identified with the Underground Railroad and Tubman’s life. http://www.mcagfair.com/calendar/event_details.asp?ID=964&ch=4&y=2011. My plan for a queen-sized bed Tubman documentary story quilt is still part in the sketchbook and partially sketched in fabric pieces on my worktable. Additionally, Peggie also collaborates with Geraldine Lippman, President of Morris-Cedar Hill Improvement Association community in documenting their community’s lives and contributions to the history and culture of Anne Arundel County.

While Glen Burnie Park Elementary School students and teachers began collaboration on the history of the people, places, and events in the GB community, Genevieve has an on-going collaboration with Banneker-Douglass Museum, Anne Arundel Public Schools social studies teachers, and Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Foundation that teach high school students interviewing strategies as they uncover history and culture in conversation with seniors from Carr’s Beach in southern Anne Arundel County. Other professional development workshops facilitated by me with Anne Arundel Public Schools art teachers, MICA and Towson pre-service art teachers, broaden the scope of research and documentation in the neighborhoods that surround our schools, families and personal lives.

In closing this 100^th posting, the wonderful journey, the community involvement and support, the meaningful projects, new quilters, increased museum visitors, and these extraordinary exhibitions have expanded beyond leaps and bounds. The community activities and documentary story quilts continue to grow out of interaction between groups of individuals who have become empowered by engaging in a creative process that allows them to make connections to the greater American story and to preserve a part of their own lives, a story that needs telling, one that only they can tell. If Greg Anderson of The American Wellness Project (1964) is correct, we will be involved for a very long time in that “Joy is found not in finishing an activity, but in doing it.” I humbly thank you for the continued focus on the journey. Let us with passionate urgency record our seniors stories while they are still able to share the roots of our lives and legacies.

Community

A few weeks ago Dr. Gaither's Trails Tracks Tarmac quilters reunited for an afternoon of quilting on the National Black Theater Festival quilt. This was the first time I had the privilege of being witness to one of these gatherings outside of a large-scale public quilting session. The last time I saw the TTT quilters come together was at the Grasonville, MD public quilting session when everyone worked on the Black Watermen quilt. For all of the quilters it was an afternoon of stitching, storytelling, and laughter. I want to dedicate this blog posting to the quilters who have worked with Dr. Gaither over the past 5 years.

Tonight I spoke with Dr. Gaither for over an hour about Trails Tracks Tarmac and how that quilt project came together. I was particularly interested in how the quilting sessions began and grew to include several quilters who continue to come and work on each of Dr. Gaither's quilts. She talked about the communal aspect of creating her works by recounting an anecdote one of the quilters told her. "Estella summed it up when her husband reminded her that she had retired from sewing and asked why she was now going to a gathering focused on sewing. She responded that it is not the same. It is very different - it’s the social aspect, the camaraderie, the spirit of the group, telling stories, and laughter."

Dr. Gaither continued by talking about the traditional communal aspect of quilting, commenting

"[Communal quilting] is in my mind - the sometimes not much thought of part of quilting. You did piecing inside in the winter and when the nicer weather arrived, women came together to share stories, news, discuss things to be done. Look at all we were able to take care during the short period of time. The quilters come with an open heart in hand to help finish the project. I was so happy to see everybody. I miss the joy and the energy and synergy that takes place when that group comes together. These are women who are so different in many ways and so similar in many ways, united through a sense of community and coming together that is an important aspect of what we do. It is for purely selfish reasons that I ask them to come back because I get such joy from the laughter as a story teller. Look at all the networking, connecting people to new ideas and projects in the community which leads to new work in the community."

In talking about the communal aspects of her work, especially the Trails Tracks Tarmac quilters, I inquired about how Dr. Gaither came to the decision to involve community quilters in her work. TTT is nicknamed "The Community Quilt" and was begun as part of a church and community history project started by Ms. Irene Hebron, the church historian at St. Mark United Methodist Church in Hanover, MD. It was the first quilt Dr. Gaither designed that incorporated quilters beyond Dr. Gaither and her immediate family. She talked about how artists use personal experiences in their work. She likened her working experience to a pebble being thrown into a pond. The artist is at the center, where the rock strikes the water. From that center, several circles break the surface of the water, each leading into the next, ebbing and flowing, affecting each other. Each of these circles represent a different community that makes a person and/or artist who they are. The circles are their family, friends, community, spiritual community, geographic community, etc.

TTT was the first quilt Dr. Gaither invited the community to work on. There were multiple reasons for this. Dr. Gaither was telling the story of African American communities in northern Anne Arundel County, Maryland as part of the documentation project undertaken by a group of community members. This project was a meeting of historians, researchers, and artists with the quilts being one of several outcomes. There were so many stories that no one person held them. It was through researching the quilt and bringing people together to document the history of the community which ultimately ended up in an exhibition that many stories and communities were uncovered and shared. Dr. Gaither needed these connections to occur in order to start to tell the story. She involved community members in the quilting process to teach them how to quilt and different techniques in order to get each of the quilters comfortable enough to go out and create several smaller quilts that tell the individual stories in detail.

When considering whether or not to involve the community members in the actual quilting process, Dr. Gaither admits that she had some concerns. She had designed the quilt and was beginning to work on this large scale quilt, but she was having issues with the large scale quilt taking its toll on her muscles. She needed help but was worried about whether or not it could still be considered her work. After talking with several colleagues, they convinced her that bringing in the community would be a great addition to her work, telling her the artisanship its not in only in the making, but in the ideas as well. Many artists bring people together. The sheer nature of quilting is not meant to be done as a solo project. She was further inspired by videos of the Gee’s Bend quilters, seeing everyone around the table. She loved the whole sense of community and how it can get people to come together and make the quilting session a whole social experience which in the process encourages others to tell their stories.

Once she made that realization, one thing led into another. She didn’t realize the sheer enormity of interest that was going to be there. She gave me a great quote that I think sums up everything the communal quilting process behind her artwork stands for. "As my grandmother said 'If you come together with good in your heart, others will join you.' This project has become that and is still growing. TTT is the jumping off point to tell the bigger story and it lets other people bring their stories to life. People believe in an idea and do what needs to be done."



Trails Tracks Tarmac Community Quilters
2006



Gordon's Quilt

Today I wanted to share a new video on Gordon's Quilt, a work dedicated to a young man who died too soon. The quilt is put together with photos, clothing, and mementos from his life as a tribute to his legacy. Gordon was the son of two of Dr. Gaither's good friends and she wanted to honor his memory for them through one of her works. Gordon's mother provided Dr. Gaither several items to be included on the quilt. In the video, Dr. Gaither talks about Gordon and how she put this quilt together.



Gordon's Quilt is on display at the Maryland State Arts Council through 18 March 2011 as part of Dr. Gaither's Respecting Humanity exhibition.

If you have trouble viewing the video, click here to view it on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjH0AiB58NA

Watermen Favorites

Black Watermen of the
Chesapeake Bay, detail
(c) Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither, 2009

Today I thought I would share some of the insider stories and favorite areas of the Black Watermen's quilt. The parts of the quilt listed below represent the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to creating one of Dr. Gaither's artworks. The inspiration for this posting comes from taking time looking at the quilt last week at the Maryland State Arts Council. It has been several months since I have seen the quilt, but when looking at it many of the memories of the marathon quilting sessions came back and I thought I would share.

1. Appropriating

The concept that Dr. Gaither is a master appropriator has been well documented here (see Tablecloths Beware! postings). Just a few days ago I had to stop her from asking a man at a local restaurant about his shirt, knowing full well where she wanted to go with her questioning. It went as far as me reminding her that the restaurant did have a no shirt no shoes no service policy. I will say, for all of her appropriating attempts, she has never actually been able to appropriate anything from me.

Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay, detail
(c) Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither, 2009

The blue heron on the lower right hand corner of the quilt is the result of one of her appropriations. When quilt completion deadlines approach, Dr. Gaither's quilting community rallies around her and gathers to help get the quilt finished. This was never more evident than in November and December 2009 as the Watermen's quilt deadline neared. Every evening at least 4 quilters came to Dr. Gaither's workspace to assist with the quilt, sometimes with the number of quilters nearing 10-12. On one particular evening, one of the quilter's family members came over to see the progress of the quilt and take part in the action. During the time they were there, Dr. Gaither happened to notice the quilter's husband was wearing a sweatshirt with a blue heron on it and the wheels started turning in her head. After a few minutes, she went over to talk with him and suddenly everyone in the room was aware of what she was up to. When Dr. Gaither finally coyly asked for the shirt, the quilter exclaimed "Joan! You are not going to take the shirt off my husband's back!" Immediately after, her husband took the sweatshirt off and handed it to her. She promptly picked up the scissors and cut the shirt up in case there was a change of heart. Now that the quilt is finished, this story is one of the Gaither legends which is told over and over again.

Black Watermen of the
Chesapeake Bay, detail
Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither, 2009

2. Life jackets
The light houses at the bottom of the quilt are some of the most vibrant pieces on the quilt and rightfully so. Just as light houses are used as beacons to help ships safely on their journey, the light houses on the quilt have life saving properties as they are made from a life jacket that was used to help the person wearing it on their journey. The light houses started off as a donated jacket from a friend of Dr. Gaither's neighbor. It isn't an unusual occurrence for people to donate all sorts of items to Dr. Gaither for her to use on her quilts. The life jacket was an intriguing donation that Dr. Gaither wanted to use, but had no idea how. The life jacket itself was too large to go on the quilt as it was and she didn't really know how to reduce it. The idea to use it as two lighthouses was inspired by images of lighthouses already on the quilt and the shape of the front portion of the jacket.

Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay, detail
Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither, 2009

Dr. Gaither cut the life jacket apart but left the straps on, using them to link the two lighthouses together. The fastener that normally goes around the wearer's waist now fastens across the waist of the angel in the middle of the quilt, seemingly securing her. This is rather appropriate since the words "Saved by Grace" are embroidered across her. Dr. Gaither created the lighthouses and placed images on and around them that help to tell the story of the quilt, both content and creation-wise. It is on one of these lighthouses that Dr. Gaither decided to have a little fun with me. As the quilt neared completion, I was working with her on site every day. One day I had company in town and brought them over to show them the quilt and Dr. Gaither met us at the door smiling like a Cheshire Cat, making me both suspicious and nervous. She talked about some of the changes and additions she made since the last time I was there and casually referenced that she had placed me on the quilt. After some looking, I finally saw it. There, on one of the light houses was a picture of her mother, sister, and myself as seen through the screen on my camera with Dr. Gaither's great niece playing photographer. The picture was taken one night while working on the quilt. Dr. Gaither finally got her "revenge" on me for taking pictures of her and putting them in a public context. I suppose I can't be too terribly upset. Do unto others....

3. Driving to distraction

Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay, detail
Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither, 2009

Throughout the quilting process, Dr. Gaither encounters certain components of her quilt that turn into brainstorming issues. Many ideas come into her head, but not all of them translate easily when moving from the mental to the physical. Other times, ideas that worked well at the beginning of the design process turn out to be less than ideal. On the Watermen's quilt, one of the biggest problems was the Bay Bridge. In real life, the Bay Bridge is a feat of engineering, a suspension bridge that spans the Eastern and Western Shores of Maryland running from Annapolis in Anne Arundel County and over to Kent Island and Queen Anne's County. The bridge on the quilt was an engineering issue all its own.

Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay, detail
Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither, 2009

When I first saw the Bay Bridge interpreted on the quilt, I didn't even realize what it was. The bridge was small and almost appeared like a white cap rather than a bridge. A few times, I found myself thinking it looked like the underside of the whale in Disney's Pinocchio when it is breaching. I don't really know why that visual came to mind, but it did. I didn't say anything as I thought Dr. Gaither was rather pleased with it but after a few weeks, I discovered she wasn't liking the bridge either. The bridge went through several sizes and designs as Dr. Gaither tried to resolve the problem. Every time, the bridge looked out of proportion, blended in, or stood out too much. The Bay Bridge issue was finally resolved while Dr. Gaither and I traveled to the Grasonville, MD public quilting session, almost at the expense of my car. To travel to Grasonville, Dr. Gaither and I had to drive over the Bay Bridge. As I drove up to the bridge's toll booth, Dr Gaither got quiet. When we started driving across, she started yelling, "I've got it! Slow down, slow down!" Slowing down on the Bay Bridge is never an option given the amount of traffic and need to keep moving to avoid accidents. She pulled out her camera and started photographing the bridge as we drove over. Lo and behold, she did indeed finally resolve the issue with the final version of the Bay Bridge going on the quilt (on top of one of the previous attempts) a few days later. To this day, any time I go over a bridge with her or cross the Bay Bridge I can't help but exclaim "slow down, slow down!"

There you have a few of the favorite and frequently recounted stories behind the Black Watermen quilt I hope you enjoyed the anecdotes. I know I got a smile from the memories.

Pin Out!

Pin out!

This phrase was called out quite often last night as I sat working with Dr. Gaither and a few of her family members on the latest addition to the My American Series. Currently Dr. Gaither is working on the National Black Theater Festival quilt which is set to debut at the festival in Winston Salem, NC this August. The quilt follows in the same over sized tradition of the others in the series -- huge! To illustrate, when we finished sewing last night, Dr. Gaither measured the quilt which came out to be 11 feet long and over 9 feet wide. That is without the final border. Once that is in place, the quilt will measure out to be around 12 ft x 10 feet. That is two of me standing one on top of the other to make up the height. We have great pictures of the quilt laying out on a king size bed draping onto the floor and making the king bed look like a double if not a twin. I can't post any of those pictures yet as they reveal the overall design of the quilt which I am keeping a secret for now. There are some new components/techniques on the quilt which are very interesting and I don't want to give away the surprise. Lets just say the phrase 3-D comes into play....

The quilt is currently held together with many safety pins. As people are working on the quilt, they focus on a specific area and work it through. As they go, they are able to take the safety pins out, signifying that the part they are working on is getting closer to completion. Needless to say, Dr. Gaither was yelling "pin out" almost every 2 minutes as she worked along the border of the quilt adding on content boxes similar to the information boxes placed on the railroad fabric in the border of many of the other quilts. As for my quilting, I wasn't yelling "pin out." My contribution to the project last night was going through strings of letter beads she had loosely sewn to the quilt and securing them on. No pins involved, although I did somehow manage to end up being the technical advisor and assistant to her young niece Rockelle, helping her to problem solve. How the least sewing-experienced person in the room ended up with that role, I will never know.

The National Black Theater Festival quilt is really starting to shape up with many of the design elements in place. Right now we are working to get many of the design pieces sewn down before putting the backing fabric on. The reason for holding off on putting backing fabric on until the design elements are on is to minimize the number of stitches on the back of the quilt. This will make for a more sylistic design and uniformity of stitching on the back. Right now the quilt consists of the top layers of fabric which have all the fancy pieces of fabric and the design on them. Underneath that is batting, a cottony fill in sheet form that makes the quilt puffy and soft. Finally there are strips of fabric, mainly old (and thoroughly cleaned) bed linens on the bottom to create a smooth surface to sew through on the back.

When the backing fabric is added, it will be one type of fabric which will create a clean back. Adding the backing fabric is no small feat. It isn't as simple as pinning it to the back and running the edges through the sewing machine. When this fabric is added, it will actually take multiple people sewing, lifting, and stretching the fabric to make sure it completely fits the quilt and that there aren't any gaps or problems with anything being attached crooked. It is probably the most demanding part of putting one of Dr. Gaither's quilts together.

Once the backing is attached, Dr. Gaither and her quilters will work to secure the backing to the entire quilt by working in horizontal and vertical rows stitching lines across the quilt. They will also go in among the fabric and decorations of the quilt stitching around the edges of the designs. This will allow for some of the individual components of the quilt fabric to really stand out as well as better secure the fabrics. When working on the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt, I was given the task of sewing around the gold faces on the blue border fabric. Just to give you an idea of how tough that was, each of those face was only about 1.5 inches wide and were lined up one right next to the other. Each face had to be secured with tiny stitches around the edges making for several long working days.

Needless to say, there is much work to be done and little time to get it finished. Dr. Gaither has set a completion date of early to mid-March with the bulk of the work being completed by the end of February. There won't be any formal public quilting sessions for this quilt given the amount of work that needs to be done, but if you are interested in participating and helping to get this quilt completed, send us an email at jgaitherstoryquilter@gmail.com. We will be working furiously over the next few weeks and will be looking for quite a bit of assistance.

Pin out!


Oh, a few publicity and advertising notes:

1.  Dr. Gaither and the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt were featured with several photographs and an article spanning five pages in the February edition of What's Up Annapolis magazine. I haven't been able to locate the article online, but if anyone else does, please send me the link.
2. Dr. Gaither's Respecting Humanity exhibition at the Maryland State Arts Council has been extended to March 18, 2011. If you haven't had a chance to see the show, I encourage you to go. Dr. Gaither and I went to the Arts Council on Friday and shot some great footage of her talking about each of the quilts and their meanings. The videos will start appearing on here very soon.
3. Dr. Gaither is nominated for the Baker Artist Awards here in Baltimore. You can check out her nomination on their website by clicking here. The nomination includes all of the My American Series as well as her Family Quilt, and Distractions and Diversions.