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.

Preparation

Friday and Saturday will mark the third and fourth public quilting sessions on the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt and we are getting ready for a very busy next few days. We have seen unprecedented interest in these quilting sessions with people calling from as far away as Rochester, New York and parts of New Jersey all asking how they can be involved. The flurry of publicity provided via the many articles on the quilt and quilting programs over the past week has certainly taken the BoC quilt team by surprise. We are thrilled with the responses and high level of interest we are receiving surrounding the watermen and the quilt.

To prepare for the quilting sessions this weekend, the team has been working late into the night with many people jumping in and helping to work on the quilt until nearly midnight most nights to make sure the quilt is ready for travel and additional images, stitches, and embellishment.  As much as I was bragging about how I was able to avoid quilting last Thursday, I did my part and worked on the quilt until well past 11 p.m. last night stitching around the three inch faces that make up a part of the fabric on the border of the quilt. I made it about halfway down one of the "short" sides of the quilt in three hours. When the quilt measures 11 ft 5 in long and 8 ft 4 in wide, there really isn't a short side.

As we have worked on the quilt we have remarked on some of the interesting numbers attached to the quilt that I can share here on the blog. Some of the figures we have come up with are how many faces are on the quilt, how many safety pins went into the making of the quilt, what is the total number of hours it took to create the quilt, how many people have worked on it. Today I thought I would start sharing some of this information by addressing the question of the ages of the oldest and youngest people working on the quilt. Age does not matter - old or young, everyone who wants to and/or comes into contact with the quilt is asked to add a few stitches. To date, the youngest quilter for the BoC quilt is 4 years old. The image here is of Dr. Gaither working with her 5 year old great-niece Rockelle, a veteran quilter who has contributed to several of Dr. Gaither's works including BoC and J2WH. As far as the oldest, well, I was always taught it isn't nice to ask someone you don't know how old they are. I don't really think people would appreciate a perfect stranger asking them to provide their age to see if they are the oldest person in the room! I know there have been at least a few people in their 80s who have contributed to the quilt in one way or another.

We want this quilt to be a community quilt in every sense of the word and that cannot happen without the contributions of many. If you are planning on coming to one of the quilting sessions and bringing images or stories to be added to the quilt, never fear there are still plenty of spaces on the quilt for your additions. Please come and join us!

Reflections on the BoC quilt from Blacks of the Chesapeake Founder Vince Leggett

For the past 25 years, I have been documenting the contributions of African Americans to the Chesapeake Bay region’s maritime and seafood industries. This labor of love has taken me everywhere from Point Lookout in southern Maryland to Havre De Grace on the upper bay and Ocean City on the Atlantic coast. I’ve visited far and wide, collecting oral histories, rescuing artifacts, archiving memorabilia, sailing on workboats, fishing with boat crews, and eating the catch of the day around an old pot belly stove, talking about hope for tomorrow.

But the most extraordinary journey I have taken was not in the bay’s waters, nor along its shorelines. It was through the air.

On Saturday, November 14, I joined quilter Dr. Joan Gaither and Genevieve Kaplan, Education and Public Programs Manager at the Banneker-Douglass Museum, for an event in which the public was invited to add to the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake documentary story quilt. The quilt is a one-of-a-kind, dynamic work of art, visually ebbing and flowing like the ever-constant tide. Every river, creek, and tributary depicted on the quilt is wending its way back home to the Atlantic Ocean, along the way touched by many hands.

At the quilting event, I spent the day watching all the activity around the quilt -- it was as busy as a watermen’s wharf. Dr. Gaither was working with teachers, students, parents, and even some tourists who stopped by the museum. She prodded everyone who took a sideways glimpse at the quilt to have a go at it.

Throughout the day, more than 150 students from the Wiley H. Bates Middle School’s Visual and Performing Arts Magnet Program assisted Dr. Gaither by adding stitches to the quilt. Young people were adding their names or the names of their favorite fish (“rockfish”), and some stitched in their cherished waterways (“I love the Severn River”). The students were also enjoying themselves at the “Waterman For a Day” hands-on exhibit. Boys and girls tried on watermen’s bright yellow rain slickers, white boots, and black gloves and authentic hats -- Nor’easters, ball caps, Greek fishing caps, and captain hats. They tried their hand at tying nautical knots, tossing nets over their heads, pulling lines, and pretending they were hauling in their bountiful catch of the day: fish, crabs, clams, and oysters. They were laughing and having a ball as they posed for photographs.

Other young people were attracted to a wide-screen TV showing the documentary “Black Captains of the Chesapeake.” The film features Black watermen primarily from the Kent Narrows area of the Eastern Shore who were once proud oystermen of the bay, but due to the declining resources, their advancing age, and over-regulation of fisheries, they were forced to stop harvesting. Today, they are captains of their own boats and carry out fishing parties from April to November every year. The film begins in Jamestown, Va., in 1619, when the first Africans came to the shores of the Chesapeake as indentured servants, and ends with a statement by me emphasizing the importance of enlisting all stakeholders in efforts to preserve the bay and its rich history.

The Black watermen’s quilt is another way to try to carry on this message and reach into the hearts of all who see it. Seeing the young people so engaged in the day’s activities was an encouragement. They are the future champions of conservation and restoration of the bay.

After working with the first wave of 30 students, I took a break and went upstairs to the second floor balcony, overlooking the sanctuary of the former Mt. Moriah A.M.E. Church. Even though the space has been retrofitted for use as a museum gallery, its tall, beautiful stained glass windows remain. They were a reminder that I was in a sacred space, and that brought me to a quiet place within.

In that moment, I drifted away from the scene below. I imagined myself soaring high like a seagull, looking down on the remarkable quilt. I began to slow my wing beats, circling downward, trying to catch a closer glimpse of everything that was going on below. The rich colors of red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, and violet were complementing a field of royal blue running through the center of the quilt. When I flew a little closer to the quilt, I discovered that the sparkling blue hue was the Chesapeake Bay. I could smell the salt air and hear the calling of other gulls, and it made me feel at home. I tucked in my wings and dove directly into that blue center and found such peace and tranquility.

The more I peered down at the quilt, the more I imagined myself riding on a large magic carpet. I was floating in the Gulf Stream and slowly gliding over the many towns and villages that I have come to know in my years of research along the bay. The sounds of chatter and laughter filling the sanctuary reminded me of the men and women workers of the Chesapeake. I thought of the thousands of African American women that have worked in the seafood processing plants all along the reaches of the bay, picking crabs, shucking oysters and clams, and cleaning fish. Seated at long stainless steel tables, the women would look something like communion stewards at an old Methodist church on first Sunday, but they were separating lump meat from back fin and placing claw meat in different piles. These women, dressed in white hats and aprons, would sing praise songs and gospels to break the monotony and help keep time and rhythm, because in this trade they were not paid by the hour, but by how much they produced. It’s not glamorous work, but it’s honorable, and has long been a way of life for people all over the bay -- Kent Narrows, St. Michaels, Cambridge, Salisbury, Crisfield, Solomon’s Island, and Broomes Island.

The carpet ride was so peaceful that I started to doze off into a deep sleep. But I was stirred awake by a loud noise: a flock of Canada geese overhead, flying south for the winter. The majestic birds were traveling in a V-formation. I was reminded of a lesson they learned thousands of years ago: one individual cannot go nearly as far as a group working together. And with that, I returned to the scene below, where student by student, the Chesapeake Bay’s group of defenders was growing.

The first two sessions

Thursday and Saturday's quilting sessions brought over 175 people out to work on the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt. It was an amazing experience which, as expected, ran well over our allotted times. Both quilting sessions were supposed to end at 1:00p.m., however we were still working at 2:30 p.m. both days. People from all over Maryland and beyond came out to stitch and see the quilt with many out of town folks asking how the quilt and Dr. Gaither's other works could come to them. It was such a gratifying experience.

One of the groups coming to join us during the quilting session on Saturday was the student body of the Bates Middle School Performing and Visual Arts School. The students were introduced to the quilt and the process of quilting by Dr. Gaither and then allowed to work on the quilt itself. The students helped add structural stitches along the border area to help secure the quilt backing as well as accent the designs in the quilt. They were also able to add messages to the quilt including the names of some of the fish in the Chesapeake Bay, words associated with water, and different types of shells and beads. Visitors were also offered the opportunity to dress up like a waterman thanks to props provided by Vince Leggett. One group staged an entire scene using the props they were provided. Other students created artwork out of paper, glue, and markers inspired by the quilt that will be scanned into the computer and added to the quilt.

Many family members of watermen came to the event to see the quilt and get a sense of the type of materials and stories we are looking for in anticipation of next weekend's events. The quilting session on Friday in Grasonville, MD is shaping up to be quite a celebration. In addition to the quilting session, there will be live music provided by a sit in jazz and blues jam session as well as plenty of great food. We are anticipating several watermen and their families at the sessions in Grasonville and Shady Side and hope to record some great oral histories.

I am very excited to see what the next week brings. I hope you can join us for a memorable experience.

Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Quilt in the News...Again!

Yesterday, the Baltimore Sun ran an article on Dr. Gaither's work with a special emphasis on the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt. This article, featured on the front page of the Anne Arundel County section, provides some history on Dr. Gaither and her work as well as the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt. There is a slide show with images from the Bates Legacy Center quilting session attached to the article.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/anne-arundel/bal-ar.quilt15nov15,0,1222604,full.story

Enjoy!

Sharing stories

As the quilting sessions progress on the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt, we would like to invite people to share their experiences on the Chesapeake Bay with us. What is your favorite memory about the Bay? Do you have a story of a family member, event, or place that is special to you involving life on the Bay?

We are hoping to collect memories both at the quilting sessions and here on the blog in the comments section that will travel with the quilt in a memory book when the quilt is on tour. Please add your stories below in the comments section.

If you would like to send photos or perhaps feel your story is too long for a comment on the blog, you are also welcome to email us your stories. Send your emails to GKaplan@goci.state.md.us.

One final note, if you would like to add a photo or story to the quilt, but will not be able to attend one of the quilting sessions, you can email the photo and/or story to us and we will consider it for inclusion. All images and stories need to be received by Sunday, November 22, 2009. You can send them to ObamaCommunityQuilt@gmail.com.

Watermen quilt event in the Capital

This morning the front page story of the Capital featured the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt with a great image of Mrs. Betty Mack quilting on one of the corners. I am posting the link to the article here.

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2009/11/14-14/Project-shares-history-of-black-watermen.html

Please come join us at one of the three remaining quilting sessions. The dates, times, and locations are listed to the right of this posting.

Table Linens Beware, Part II

In a posting last month, I wrote about Dr. Gaither's habit of "taking" items such as table linens and turning them into parts of her quilts whether it be during the planning process or as part of the actual quilts. The BoC quilt has several elements of "appropriated" items. The main fabric making up the Chesapeake Bay center of the quilt is a former table cloth with a tropical theme. The tropical part of the quilt was covered up by images of the Bay, lighthouses, crabs, and other items. If you come to one of the quilting sessions, check out the transformation.

During the quilting session yesterday, I was thoroughly entertained watching Dr. Gaither in action as she was able to get Vince Leggett of the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation to give up his key lanyard off his neck which was then promptly added to the quilt. The desire for the lanyard came from the fact that it was embroidered with "Blacks of the Chesapeake." She was also able to get Vince to part with a portion of his hat that represented his role as one the Maryland four "Admirals of the Chesapeake." In her defense, one of her students did try to get a good scanned image of the pin, however when that didn't work, he gave the pin up to her.

I believe that will be the end of the "appropriated objects" added to the quilt, but one never knows. I will keep you posted if I see any other objects appear on the quilt that once belonged to someone else.

First Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Quilting Session

Yesterday marked the first public quilting session for the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt and what an event it was. People from all over Maryland came out to the Wiley H. Bates Legacy Center in Annapolis to add their stitches to the quilt, share their family stories, bring photos to be added to the quilt, provide oral history interviews, and simply have a good time.

The quilting session also saw several members of the media including representatives from the Capital in Annapolis, The Baltimore Sun, and the Capital News Service from the University of Maryland. Be sure to check your newspapers over the next few days for articles on the quilt and the quilting sessions. True to form, Dr. Gaither made everyone in attendance (well, except for me, although I am still not quite sure how I managed not to) add at least a few stitches to the quilt, members of the media included. The image to the left shows the photographer from the Sun learning how to stitch from Dr. Gaither. I can certainly say from personal experience that being asked to sew on an artwork such as the BoC quilt is a bit unnerving when you really haven't sewn before. Fortunately for those such as myself, there wasn't any shortage of good teachers at the quilting session to help make the learning curve a little less steep.

During the quilting sessions, we ran a film created by Vince Leggett detailing the history and contributions of the watermen to Maryland's history. This film provided a glimpse into an aspect of Maryland's history that I was unaware of and helped to educate me on life around the Chesapeake Bay. Coming from Central Illinois where I was surrounded by corn and soybean fields rather than waterways, life on and around the water is a completely new concept for me. It is amazing to listen to the stories on how the industry operates and the many facets of life on the Chesapeake Bay. As the quilting sessions progress, I am excited to learn more stories about the people living and working on the Chesapeake Bay.

At the session, we had one gentleman come to participate who, upon seeing the film, realized he used to fish with one of the watermen featured in the film. Uncovering connections between different people seems to be a hallmark of the public quilting sessions whether it be for the BoC quilt, J2WH, or the Community Quilt which is part of the Trails, Tracks, Tarmac exhibit. Whenever people come together to work on these quilts they seem to discover connections and relationships with other people they never realized. It is one of my favorite parts of the community quilting process. You never know what you will discover about yourself and the people around you.

We will post some of the stories to the blog as we get them and share oral history video if we can. Photos of the sessions will go online as the quilting sessions progress both within the posts and in a slide show on the right hand side of the blog.

First Quilting Session is Tomorrow!

The first quilting session for the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt is tomorrow and we are getting very excited. There has been quite a bit of feedback rolling in around the sessions and we are expecting good sized crowds. If you are planning to come to one of the sessions, please know you will not be alone. We will have many activities going on during the sessions in addition to quilting. Vince Leggett, founder of the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation, will be screening a documentary on the lives of the watermen, we will have oral history stations, storytelling sheets for people to share their experiences on the Chesapeake, a hands-on activity for children to design a quilt square using paper, and there is always the opportunity to view the exhibits on display at the Bates Legacy Center and the Banneker-Douglass Musuem.

The sessions should prove to be very lively and "not to be missed." Come out and join us over the next two weekends for one or more session.

Blog Changes

If you are a regular follower of this blog, you will notice changes beginning today to the look of the blog. We started the blog in December 2008 to follow the Journey to the White House quilt from community quilting sessions through exhibition. The growing popularity of the blog and Dr. Gaither's ever increasing number of projects have brought us to the point where we feel the original blog is a bit too restrictive. As the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt is moving along and the national tour of Dr. Gaither's artwork is quickly approaching we wanted to add that content to the blog, but under the original blog format it didn't flow as well as we wanted. We want to add content to this site that will incorporate all of the community quilting projects as well as some of Dr. Gaither's other works. The changes we are making will not alter the content, in fact it will increase what we include.

The biggest change you will see is to the web address of the blog. The new web address is http://www.joangaither.com/. If you type in the old address (http://obamacommunityquilt.blogspot.com/) you will still reach the blog. By changing the address it will be easier to find the blog for people looking for Dr. Gaither's works. In the next few days we will add images of some more of Dr. Gaither's works including the latest addition to the American Series, Black Watermen of the Chesapeake.

As we work on making these changes, please let us know what you think by leaving a comment here or sending an email.

Dr. Gaither Receives Legacy Award

On Wednesday, November 4, Dr. Gaither received the Legacy Award from the Four Rivers Heritage Area during their 6th annual heritage awards ceremony.  According to the nomination requirements the Legacy Award "recognizes an individual or group who continues or preserves a traditional craft or livelihood—a craftsperson, waterman, farmer, quilter, musician, boat builder, etc."

Click here to read an article from the Capital on the Heritage Awards Ceremony and all of the award winners.

Congratulations Dr. Gaither!

Dr. Gaither on Community Quilting Projects

Last week Dr. Gaither received the Legacy Award from the Four Rivers Heritage Area based on a nomination I submitted on her work with the community with a special focus on the J2WH project. As I wrote the nomination, I went through old emails dating back to the very beginning of the J2WH project when we had only just agreed to display the quilt and host quilting sessions. As I read those emails, I came across the following passage Dr. Gaither wrote in one of the emails on why she is doing so much community quilting work. In light of the upcoming Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt public quilting sessions beginning this week, I thought I would share a part of that email.

I wanted to share the communal activity of the quilting process, as I did for the other quilts in the series, with those in my multiple communities. There is great joy, celebration, storytelling, and reflection that occurs when multiple storytellers come together in this very accessible creative process. I believe that each of us has a story that only we can tell and NEEDS telling. What greater time than the present to stop and reflect on this moment in time and record a permanent response to leave for the "generation not yet born." It is my hope that in sharing the process with my communities, this will give them cause to reflect on or to continue to reflect on their place in history, important people, places, and events that have helped to shape their lives and want to expressively respond in some creative manner. My format is documentary story quilts; others might write poetry, create a video, sculpt - wherever their reflections and artistic thoughts take them.

The Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt is truly a community effort that will incoporate many different groups through the images on the quilt, the stories collected, the people participating in the sessions, and those who simply come to see the quilt. During the J2WH community quilting sessions that took place in December 2008 and January 2009, nearly 500 people participated in the creation of that magnificent artwork. From the early feedback we are receiving, it appears the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilting sessions will be even larger.

We are very excited for the next two weeks and look forward to sharing the quilt. Please come and join us for a truly unforgettable experience.

Community Quilting

As the date of the first public quilting session for the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt moves closer (next Thursday, 11/12 at the Bates Legacy Center from 10:30am-1:00pm), I am starting to feel quite a bit of excitement about this project. The quilt is coming together beautifully with changes and new objects and images appearing every day. As with J2WH and all of Dr. Gaither's other quilts, I have already had an incident of seeing something on the quilt for the first time even though it has been there all along.

Also like J2WH, there is a frantic energy wrapped up in this piece with many different hands coming together to ready the quilt for its public outings and tour schedule. With the first exhibition opening of the tour occurring in a little over a month, Dr. Gaither is understandably busy and working at the speed of light it seems to get everything completed. I have even gotten wrapped up in this frantic work, finding myself actually quilting on Friday evening when I went to her workspace to get photos of the quilt for publicity. My camera battery decided to be uncooperative and the next thing I knew I was standing next to Dr. Gaither as she was showing me how to stitch into place some of the fabric along the border of the quilt. To understand how bizarre this experience is, I should probably mention that Dr. Gaither commented several times that she wanted a camera to document this occasion and that she couldn't believe I was actually quilting. In my defense, I did quilt on J2WH. I added stitches to the center section to help secure it during the quilting session at the Bates Legacy Center.

I hope you join us at one of the public quilting sessions in the next few weeks. We want to have as many people share their experiences of the Chesapeake Bay. You don't have to be a waterman to participate. The quilt is designed to encompass all experiences on the Chesapeake. Come share your experience with us and help create a work of art that will be shared throughout the nation for years to come.