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