Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither, Documentary Story Quilter

Images of Stolen Quilt and Media Coverage

2011-12-28T17:58:00.001-05:00

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.

2011-12-27T21:25:00.002-05:00

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

URGENT: We Need Your Help!!!!

2011-12-27T20:03:00.002-05:00

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

2011-12-08T20:13:00.001-05:00

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

2011-09-11T18:51:00.000-04:00

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

Response to 9/11
(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

2011-08-17T22:05:00.000-04:00

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!

2011-08-13T11:30:00.001-04:00

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!

2011-08-05T20:24:00.001-04:00

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

2011-08-03T11:42:00.001-04:00

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...

2011-08-01T22:04:00.001-04:00

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!

2011-07-27T22:31:00.001-04:00

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!

2011-07-07T21:35:00.001-04:00

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

2011-04-18T17:06:00.000-04:00

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

2011-04-11T13:13:00.012-04:00

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...

2011-04-04T22:31:00.001-04:00

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

2011-03-24T01:20:00.015-04:00

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

2011-03-07T23:37:00.003-05:00

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

2011-02-28T18:46:00.002-05:00

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

2011-02-20T19:00:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-02-13T14:48:00.000-05:00

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.

From the Archives...

2011-01-05T19:23:00.001-05:00

I was going through my computer today looking for a couple photos for a magazine article when I stumbled across several videos shot while Journey to the White House was on display at the museum. I thought I would share one of the videos below which was filmed about 30 minutes before we deinstalled the quilt at the Banneker-Douglass Museum. In the video, Dr. Gaither talks about the process and inspiration behind the quilt. Hopefully we will be able to shoot similar videos of many of her other quilts in the coming months.

The film itself isn't the highest quality, but the content is great and Dr. Gaither's passion and care for this quilt is very evident. I hope you enjoy the clip. It is a long one - slightly more than 14 minutes. It is completely unedited which you will see as soon as you hit play. The voices you hear behind the camera are those of Sara Allred and myself prompting Dr. Gaither where to start (we had started filming a few minutes before but had to stop for some loud background noise). I will see what other videos I can uncover and post them here.

In the interest of full disclosure, the timing of this posting occurring the same day as the swearing in of the latest U.S. Congress is purely coincidental. It is not meant to be political in any way, shape, or form.

Family Time

2010-12-24T15:06:00.000-05:00

Happy holiday season everyone!

In light of the holiday, I thought I would use Dr. Gaither's family quilt and her quilting workshops as inspiration for this posting. The holidays are always a time for family and friends to gather together. If your gatherings are anything like mine, they always involve story telling and reminiscing. People always sitting around the breakfast or lunch or dinner table or any other area of the house telling stories and sharing memories about years past, people absent, or, in my case, telling embarrassing stories about people present and watching them squirm.

With all of this story telling going on, why not try to document these stories. Have someone write them down, pull out a video camera and record them, or better yet, tell them visually through a quilt square. When Dr. Gaither leads her quilt workshops, she always starts off by asking participants a few key questions to get them started. She asks them to think about a person, place, or event that is special to them. She then asks them to pick one of the items on the list to focus on for their square. Then, she asks them to think about what details stand out. In the case of a person, what do you remember about them? Did they have a favorite color? Something they always said? What did they like to do? She then asks them to think about their relationship with that person, place, or event. Why is it special to them? Why did they select it? After brainstorming through all of it, she then asks people to look through the various materials around them and select things that will help them tell the story they have told on the paper in front of them.

Need a little help seeing how this actually pans out? Let's take Dr. Gaither's My Memory Is Only As Good As Yours project where she is asking friends, family, and acquaintances to create circles talking about their relationship to her. A few weeks ago, I started working with Dr. Gaither's 6 year old niece Rockelle on her circle. I used Dr. Gaither's questions and started talking with Rockelle about her great aunt. I asked her what her she liked to do with her Aunt Joan. I then asked her what words she would use to describe her Aunt Joan. We talked about how Dr. Gaither teaches her big words like perspicacious and microscopic.

After our talk, we went into Dr. Gaither's supplies and selected bright shiny gold fabric that reflects Dr. Gaither's bright personality. Rockelle selected beads and shells that reminded her of the beach, one of Dr. Gaither's favorite places to go. She then created a party scene using the shells and brightly colored rope to illustrate how much she loves going to parties with her aunt. We used letter beads to include the words that Rockelle used to describe her great aunt. We also included a few of the big words she has learned in pink and blue letter beads - the two colors Rockelle identified as hers and Dr. Gaither's favorite colors. To finish the circle off we included two photos of them, one of them quilting and laughing while working on the Watermen's quilt and another of them dancing together at the My American Series opening reception. Quite a lot of information coming from such a few questions and all very meaningful to the people involved.

I encourage you to think about how you can incorporate this into your holiday gatherings. Many people have talked about how they plan to make it an activity for each family member to tell their own story and create a family quilt. It is just the type of project that people stand back from not wanting to get involved at first and then suddenly they are offering suggestions and wanting to get involved. Try it and see how you get on. Make sure to report back to us and let us know how you do.

Have a great holiday!

Exhibition Reception at the Maryland State Arts Council

2010-11-29T15:59:00.001-05:00

Please come and join us for a reception in honor of Dr. Gaither's latest exhibition, Respecting Humanity: Quilts for Social Justice. Dr. Gaither will be speaking at the event and there will be several quilts on display including a few that have never been seen in Maryland or on the East Coast!

Respecting Humanity: Quilts for Social Justice Reception

Friday, 3 December 2010

5:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.

Maryland State Arts Council James Backas Gallery

175 West Ostend St.

Baltimore, MD

Working hard!

2010-11-21T21:25:00.000-05:00

Just a little teaser photo. We are hard at work on some of Dr. Gaither's new projects which includes some multi-tasking. This photo is proof of it. Dr. Gaither is sewing beads on the National Black Theatre Festival quilt while we are having a business meeting via Skype.

More information on the latest projects with more posts on her works coming soon, I promise. Have a great week!

Looking Beneath the Surface

2010-11-14T18:01:00.001-05:00

Distractions and Diversions

Joan M. E. Gaither, 2010

What do you see when you look at this quilt?

The hand? The caution tape? The orange bars? The American flag border?

Did you see that there are images underneath the hand, caution tape, and bars? Did you bother to really look at them or was your attention distracted?

Distractions and Diversions is Dr. Gaither's latest quilt and part of her current exhibition, Respecting Humanity, at the Maryland State Arts Council. The quilt revolves around the idea that today's society is too distracted by what is immediately in front of them and that people do not look beneath the surface at larger and more important issues. The giant hand dominating the quilt serves as a visual distraction from everything beneath it. The symbol of the hand can be interpreted as a way of saying "stop," cautioning people against taking an in depth look at the entire image. They only focus on the hand because it is the biggest and brightest image on the quilt. The hand, created with yellow ribbon and fabric, has words referencing superficial issues embroidered into it with matching yellow thread. Words and phrases such as "prisons for profit," "violence as entertainment," "celebrity antics," and "habituation" are stitched into the hand representing the many distractions and issues that take our attention from real issues and problems. When you look underneath the hand of distractions, you begin to see many other images representing issues of importance that are crying out for immediate attention but not getting as much as they should. Images representing topics such as education, the economy, the environment, politics, and health care are on the quilt, ever present but not immediately seen.

Think about the last time you watched the news. How many stories were about real issues and how many were "puff pieces?" What do you look at most often when you are on the Internet? When I looked at a recent Sunday edition of the Washington Post, I went through and counted how many sections of the paper could be classified as "distraction-based." Of the 10 sections, half of them were devoted to diversion topics including sports, comics, arts and leisure, and shopping (classifieds) to name a few. I must admit that when I pick up the newspaper these are the sections I always look at first, promising myself I will go back to the other sections later but either I never do or I don't spend nearly as much time looking at them.

Consider how much time you spend trying to find distractions from everyday life and serious issues. In today's society it isn't very hard. We are constantly bombarded with information from all angles and it is very easy to look away from what is unpleasant and find something that will interest us. As society becomes more and more consumed with instant gratification, the message of this artwork will grow in importance. Consider the recent cases of information hitting the Internet and going viral with everyone accepting the first thing they hear as fact with actual research and fact checking/contextualizing only occurring much later and after people had already formed opinions. How many times have you believed the first thing you heard about a topic without questioning it? How easy was it for your opinion to be swayed from that first impression?

We must look beyond what is right in front of our faces and delve deeper. We must not get caught up in superficial topics. Forcing ourselves to go beyond what is immediately available and questioning what is in front of us and why it is placed there will be more and more critical in the coming days, months, and years. Distractions and Diversions is truly an artwork of, by, and for the 21st century.

Distractions and Diversions is now on display at the Maryland State Arts Council in Dr. Gaither's latest exhibition Respecting Humanity: Quilts for Social Justice. This exhibition contains 13 artworks concerning several social justice topics. This exhibition will be on display until 11 February 2011. An exhibition reception and artist talk will be held at the Maryland State Arts Council on Friday, 3 December 2011 from 5:00-8:00 p.m. with Dr. Gaither speaking about the exhibition at 6:00 p.m.

Respecting Humanity: Quilts for Social Justice Exhibition
4 October 2010 - 11 February 2011

Backas Gallery, Maryland State Arts Concil
Gallery Hours: Monday through Friday, 10 AM to 4 PM
Closed State Holidays

Maryland State Arts Council
175 West Ostend Street
Baltimore, Maryland
410-767-6555
TTY 1-800-735-2258 or 711

On Sabbatical

2010-10-18T21:59:00.002-04:00

At this very moment, Dr. Gaither is working in a house carpeted with quilts -- literally. She is currently on sabbatical working on her 50 current quilt projects. To organize them all, she has taken over every possible space in the house to lay them out along with her supplies. Not only is the house carpeted with quilts, but the counter spaces, tables, beds, and any other flat surface of any decent size is covered as well. The mantles on the fireplaces as well as some of the smaller coffee tables are covered with supplies. I commented on this to her, thinking about how the clutter would drive me crazy and slow me down but for her it is inspiring. She told me that she operates in a way that when she is feeling blocked or frustrated she goes to the fabrics and supplies for inspiration. She kept repeating the phrase "go to the materials," which couldn't stop me from thinking about the phrase "go to the mattresses" from The Godfather. You're blocked and want to fight it? Go to the mattresses/materials. Who knew I would ever write about the movie The Godfather? I don't think anyone is more surprised than I am about the reference, especially since I have never seen the movie. I will leave it to you to figure out in what movie I saw the reference in.

The effort certainly isn't without its rewards as I have been receiving nightly reports on her progress which includes the creation and development of two quilts that were only figments of her imagination in the days leading up to her trip. The two quilts focus on completely different topics and are part of series either already in development or that she is starting. The first quilt is one on Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath five years later. The quilt has taken shape in the past 2 weeks like no quilt I have seen her work on to date. In my daily status updates I would hear about new elements added, new uses for materials but the photos I received today are the first full look I have had of the quilt. The second completely new quilt is one on Dr. Faye Allen, the first female African American doctor in Anne Arundel County. This quilt will have images of the African American women doctors who have come after her. The quilt is part of a new series she is developing on groundbreaking women. The list of women she will focus on is growing every day. She already has the initial design for Harriet Tubman ready to go.

While on her sabbatical trip, Dr. Gaither had initially told me she was going to focus on the National Black Theatre Festival quilt and her My Memory is Only as Good as Yours series. The My Memory series is definitely shaping up with these quilts making up most of the quilt carpet in the house. Each decade features larger and more colorful quilts than the last with an additional quilt being added for every decade she has lived in. Currently the 1960s quilts are in good shape and the 1990s are coming into full view.

The National Black Theatre Festival quilt (the latest in the My American Series) is coming along and Dr. Gaither expects the majority of the design work to be completed by mid-November. This quilt will serve as the Thanksgiving-Christmas project/rush job of 2010. I say rush job because this will be the 3rd year in a row that Dr. Gaither and her quilting crew will be working overtime to finish one of the My American Series quilts. Last year was the Black Watermen and the year before was Journey to the White House. There is a definite trend emerging here with the My American Series quilts and their deadlines, but those in the quilting crew wouldn't have it any other way. The crew is anxiously waiting to get to work and have been heard saying they are worried she won't have left them any work to do. If you are in the quilting crew, never fear, there is plenty of quilting to do. If you are interested in joining the quilting crew, please let us know. Extra hands are always a great asset for these oversized monsters and this one is definitely that. After promising not to make another quilt as large as the Watermen's quilt, she has already forgotten her promise and the newest addition may end up being the largest yet.

So those are the sabbatical projects and their updates. For one more update, there is a new exhibition, Respecting Humanity, on view at the Maryland State Arts Council in Baltimore. That exhibition is on view now until 11 February. The exhibition features 13 quilts dealing with social justice issues including several that have never been exhibited publicly before or at least not in a very long time. The Black Watermen quilt is also included in this exhibition. Details on each of the pieces included in this exhibition to appear on here over the next several weeks. A reception and artist talk will be held the first Friday in December. Stay tuned for exact details on this exhibition.

A Special Award

2010-09-26T17:20:00.002-04:00

This coming Sunday, 3 October 2010, Dr. Gaither will be honored as one of the recipients of the Fannie Lou Hamer Award. The award honors the contributions of women in the Annapolis community for their dedication and efforts in working with the community. The awards were named after civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer who worked tirelessly for the civil rights and voting rights during the 1960s including helping the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and working to desgregate the Mississippi Democratic Party. During the awards ceremony, Dr. Gaither along with five other award recipients will be commended for their commitment to their communities and their work to improve the lives of those around them.

If you are interested in attending, tickets are still available. Please see the event information below. Congratulations Dr. Gaither on your well deserved award!

Celebrating Women of Excellence in the Community

15th Annual Fannie Lou Hamer Award Reception

3 October 2010

4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Francis Scott Key Auditorium

St. John's College

Annapolis, MD

Tickets are $35.00 and may be purchased by contacting Christine Davenport at csdavenport3@yahoo.com or 410.761.5763.

The Fannie Lou Hamer Awards are presented by the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee, St. John's College, and the Office of the Maryland Attorney General.

Help Tell a Maryland Story!

2010-09-21T18:16:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, Dr. Gaither presented a new project to tell the story of the watermen of the Chesapeake Bay at the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture public meeting. This new project will be a large-scale effort to tell the stories of the men and women living and working throughout the Chesapeake Bay using objects, story quilts, photographs, oral histories, and much more. Dr. Gaither is inviting the public to participate by "adopting" a community, person, or event on the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake (BoC) quilt and create a quilt about it. It is hoped people, communities, and organizations from all areas of the state will get involved in this project to tell the story of this vibrant yet undocumented community.

This project stems from the amazing response to the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt project last year. People from all over the bay turned out to share their stories and pay tribute to the men and women who have been such a vital part of Maryland's history. Initial planning meetings for the project are in the works and we are looking for people who would be interested in getting involved whether through quilting, providing information, serving as coordinators for quilting and content gathering in areas of the state, grant writers, funders, and much more. If you are interested in participating in anyway please let us know. Individuals and groups are welcome of all ages, sizes, backgrounds, and quilting experience levels. This is the perfect project for school classes to take on as a way to learn about their own history while helping to preserve it for the future.

This project is a bold initiative, but one that we know is greatly needed and will be an awesome experience for anyone involved. Bold initiatives are nothing new to Dr. Gaither or those of us who work with her on a regular basis. This project will be modeled on the Trails Tracks Tarmac exhibition which started in very much the same way -- one large quilt that tells the story of a single community that inspired so many people to tell their own stories that there wasn't enough room on the large quilt and several small quilts came into being to share those other stories. That exhibit could be considered the "practice run" for this one given the scope and number of people we want to get involved.

Have I piqued your interested? Want to get involved? Email us at jgaitherstoryquilter@gmail.com and we will be more than happy to tell you more!

I should say as a word of caution for anyone wanting to get involved, Dr. Gaither has not stopped "appropriating" objects for the quilts so if you meet with her in person to talk about the project be careful what you wear. The "appropriations" were at an all time high while she worked on the BoC quilt and I know she won't stop with the new project.

My American Series Exhibit Last Day!!!

2010-08-14T09:25:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to remind everyone, if you haven't seen the My American Series exhibition at School 33 Art Center that today, Saturday, 14 August is your last chance!

New Quilt, New Video

2010-08-14T09:21:00.000-04:00

As a special treat, I am sharing a video shot about a month ago of Dr. Gaither working on the latest My American Series quilt, the National Black Theater Festival. This clip show problem solving at its finest. In the initial stages of creating these monster-sized quilts, she works on them at her house and moves them up to the loft work space after they have been pieced together. Throughout the piecing together process, she will lay the quilts out on her driveway to see how the quilt looks overall.

On this particular day, she laid the quilt out in sections so that I could get some in-process photos to document the creation of this quilt. When the quilt was fully laid out, Dr. Gaither realized there was a 12 inch space at the top of the quilt from where she had shortened the central panel, but had fogotten to shorten the border pieces. The solution came down to two choices - shorten the border pieces or add in an extra panel. Given that this quilt is part of the oversized My American Series, I am sure you can guess what the answer to that connundrum was! Check out the resulting quandry over what fabric to use.

A note on the audio quality:

As we were outside standing next to a very busy road, my camera appears to have been "compensating" for the extra noise and makes it sound like there is a chorus of cicadas surrounding us in various parts of the clip.

An Invitation

2010-08-12T23:25:00.000-04:00

Haven't had much time to blog this week, but didn't want to go two weeks without a posting.

If you would like to get in on the ground floor of some of Dr. Gaither's upcoming projects, please join us and several other quilters/historians/artists for a planning meeting to discuss quilts on Carr's and Sparrow's Beaches as well as plans to expand the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt to become a multi-part series documenting the history of African American maritime culture throughout the state of Maryland. The meeting will be held at the Bates Legacy Center, 1101 Smithville St., Annapolis, MD at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, 18 August 2010. This planning session is open to the public. We would like to have as many people participate as possible to make this a true community effort.

Intentional and Unintentional Events

2010-08-01T22:02:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone! I hope you are enjoying the summer and staying cool. It has been a hot and humid summer here in Maryland, but we are still working away.

While the blog has been on a unintentional summer holiday, there has been quite a bit of activity occurring including the opening of the My American Series quilt exhibition, the opening of a quilt exhibition at Banneker Museum in Oella, MD (not to be confused with the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, MD) which includes the work of Dr. Gaither and several of her students, as well as the beginning of the latest addition to the My American Series!

The My American Series quilt show opening at School 33 in Baltimore was a smashing success with 200 people turning out for the first night. The quilts look absolutely magnificent together, as though they were made for that space. Each of the exhibited quilts has a label talking about its creation as well as a grid explaining the different parts of the quilt. The grids are invaluable tools as they help to explain some of the stories you might not notice without them. I know there were several squares on the quilts I had never genuinely looked at until proofing the final text for the grids - especially on the Airport quilt and the Brown's quilt.

With the School 33 show, I was very interested to see how the layout of the show would work. The exhibition space consists of two large rooms which could accommodate any mix of the quilts, however not all six could fit in one room. The big question was, which quilts will be matched up in each room? Will they be placed in age order, size order, numbers pulled out of a hat? As it turns out, the quilts were placed in a unconscious grouping that Dr. Gaither didn't even realize until I pointed it out. The quilts were paired in numerical order with the odd numbered quilts in one room and the even in another. This resulted in the Brown's, Poulson Slaver, and J2WH quilts in the first room and the TTT, Airport, and Watermen quilts in the second. The pairings worked out well, ironically with the largest three quilts in the smallest room.

The smaller room held the even numbered quilts which are also the most colorful. The result was a very warm feeling when you walked into the room. Quilts are intended to wrap yourself up in them and feel surrounded by warmth and walking into that room you do just that. The vibrancy of each of the quilts' colors creates an invitation to come closer and discover the stories in each. All three of these quilts are executed in very different ways. If you imagine walking into the room with one quilt hanging on each wall, the Airport quilt hangs on the wall to your left, the Watermen quilt is on the wall facing you, and TTT is on the wall to your right. The Airport quilt is a standard Baltimore Album-style quilt with different squares each telling a story. TTT is a crazy quilt with seemingly no rhyme or reason to its design, simply that it is a map of northern Anne Arundel County with images and text. In the middle is the Watermen quilt, a mixture of both styles fusing together two different ways to tell stories through quilts with squares surrounding the large open center with a map of the Chesapeake Bay. The placement of these three quilts together allows viewers to take in very separate stories while easing you into different styles of quilting through their colors, warmth, and vibrancy.

The larger room (which is the entrance to the exhibit) hosts the three quilts with the most well known stories - Baltimore philanthropists Ed and Sylvia Brown, Maryland's history of slavery, and President Obama. With three big stories, you need lots of room to take them in. Each of these quilts is done in the Baltimore Album style demanding the visitor to come up close to examine each of the squares to learn the full story they are sharing. In wanting people to view the quilt closely, you need extra room to make sure several people can view them at the same time. During the opening reception, I saw many people leaning into these three quilts to examine them at length before standing back to look at the whole quilt which is the exact opposite of what happened in the other room.

In each of the rooms, viewers were given different ways of looking at art without even realizing it. They were subconsciously asked to view artworks as a whole and to deconstruct them. They were asked to look at how small details in one section influence the overall appearance and meaning of an artwork. This begs the question, what would happen to the visitor's experience and impression of the quilts if they had been paired differently? What if they were ordered numerically with the Brown's, TTT, and Poulson Slaver quilt in one room and the Airport, Obama, and Watermen in another? It is worth considering how that would change the feeling of each room as well as how it would alter how you would consider each artwork.

Not sure what I am getting at? Let me explain through a story from my past life as a contractor at the National Portrait Gallery. In 2006, NPG reopened to the public after a multi-year building renovation and reinstallation of its entire collection. One of the exhibition series the museum introduced was entitled Portraiture Now which highlights the work of current portrait artists. The first installment of this exhibition included the work of two photographers, two painters, and one sculptor. The sculptor, Nina Levy, creates portraits by making sculptures of her subject's heads which are then exhibited by hanging them at their actual height. For this exhibition, the museum asked Ms. Levy to create the heads of each of the other artists in the exhibition. These four heads were then hung on one side of the room in a group while a full body sculpture of Ms. Levy was placed in the opposite corner facing the four heads. When you walked into the room, it appeared that the sculpture of Ms. Levy was contemplating the four heads on the other side of the room. What does this say? Was the placement of these artworks meant to suggest such a thing? What did it imply that the four heads were men and the full body sculpture was a woman? What about the fact that she is the only 3-D artist while the others all deal with one dimensional objects? What does it add to or take away from the exhibit installation that the full body sculpture was not created for this exhibition unlike the other four pieces and had in fact been created completely separately from this whole process? What would you think if the full body sculpture was in the middle of the room and the four heads in the corners of the room? What if the heads were not displayed in a group? What if...? Are you beginning to see what I mean?

Now that I have sufficiently filled your brain with food for thought, I am going to leave you to contemplate. More blog postings to come and in a much more frequent manner. After all, I have pictures of the National Black Theater Festival quilt in construction to share. For a teaser, let me share this - after finishing the Watermen quilt, Dr. Gaither stated she wouldn't make another quilt that large. Let's just say the name Pinocchio came to mind when thinking about that statement as I looked at this latest installment of the My American Series!

By the way, only 2 more weeks to see the My American Series at School 33 Art Center! The exhibition closes 14 August 2010!

Busy Weekend

2010-06-17T20:10:00.001-04:00

Looking for the chance to see some of Dr. Gaither's work and possibly the artist herself this weekend? You will have two opportunities to do just that!

Tomorrow, Friday, June 18 marks the opening of the My American Series (MAS) exhibition at School 33 Art Center. The opening reception will be held from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. at School 33. The reception is open to the public, so come one, come all! This will be the first time all six of the MAS quilts will be on display in the same place. I have had the opportunity to see the exhibition twice already and I can assure you it is amazing. You don't really realize just how large the quilts actually are until you are standing right next to one of them. When you are standing in the middle of three of them it is really impressive. Some of highlights of this exhibition (besides the quilts) include the sketches and plans for each of the quilts. The precious TTT sketch on a napkin (see posting Table Linens Beware!) is there, framed coffee spots and all. Grids explaining the layout and symbolism behind each of the quilts will be on hand to provide details and reveal some of the "secrets" of the quilts for first time and seasoned viewers alike. There is also a beautiful booklet with an essay by Dr. Leslie King-Hammond and images of the construction of each of the quilts. My favorite photo is of the J2WH border laying on Dr. Gaither's driveway showing how it came together. Signed giclee prints of Dr. Gaither's work will be available for sale at the event tomorrow night as well as cards and Trails Tracks Tarmac quilt books. If you are in the market to purchase one of the My American Series quilts, you can do that as well! For those unable to attend tomorrow night's celebration, the My American Series exhibition will be on view at School 33 until Saturday, 14 August, 2010.

Dr. Gaither will be a part of the African American Heritage Festival in downtown Baltimore beginning tomorrow and running through Sunday. Her work will be a part of a special display highlighting African American artists. At the time of this posting, I am not sure which works will be included in the exhibition. I know she was finishing one of her social justice pieces this week which I know was being considered for inclusion and I have heard her mention several other options, all coming from her social justice quilts. Many of the quilts on the list have not been seen here in Maryland before.

If you get a chance to visit one of these two events, please drop us a line and let us know what you thought of the events. If you are unable to attend, I will post images and stories from the weekend on the blog next week.

School 33 Opening Reception Reminder

2010-06-08T20:25:00.001-04:00

Dr. Gaither has requested I re-post information about the opening of the My American Series quilt exhibition at School 33 Art Center in Baltimore which will take place a week from this Friday - 18 June 2010. The opening reception will take place at School 33 Art Center from 6:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. It promises to be quite an evening. Please come and join in the celebration.

Exhibition Details
18 June 2010 - 14 August 2010
School 33 Art Center Gallery One
1427 Light Street
Baltimore, MD 21230
http://www.school33.org/
Gallery Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 12:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.

Opening Reception
Friday, 18 June 2010
School 33 Art Center
6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
Click here for more information.

My Memory Such As It Is -- AKA The Next BIG Project

2010-06-08T19:17:00.001-04:00

Over the next year (and probably a bit longer) Dr. Gaither will be working on a project involving every community she has been associated with in her lifetime. The project is a multi-quilt project which will incorporate quilts by Dr. Gaither and quilted circles from people she who have had some sort of connection to her during her lifetime.

The project begins with two white quilts representing the decade she was born in. Out of courtesy to her, I won't state what decade that is although she has fessed up to that in the past. The quilts are square in shape and have images and memories of her life in each decade. As she works through the decades, the quilts increase in number, size, and vibrancy of color. This follows the line of thinking that as you get closer to the present, your memory is more vivid. The greater number of quilts allows for more room to show different aspects of her life as well as the growing number of communities. The final project will include 37 quilts with the largest quilt starting to approach J2WH size (8 ft by 8 ft)!

The square quilts will chart people, places, and events that were important in her lifetime as well as different personal events. The whole project was inspired by a visit to a restaurant with a large gift shop attached which sells cards/books giving the price of milk, bread, gas, cars, houses, etc. during a particular year and/or decade. She is taking the idea and putting a personal spin on it, placing these events within the context of a personal story. It is basically her memoirs in visual form. She always tells me that she doesn't like the computer so perhaps this is her way of "writing" her life story to share with others without having to sit in front of a computer screen.

This project wouldn't be a Dr. Gaither project without the involvement of the community and this project won't disappoint. The community involvement this time doesn't take place on her quilts but rather she is asking people to create their own quilted works to be included. Dr. Gaither is literally asking anyone and everyone she has ever come into contact with during her life to contribute. Participants are being asked to create circular pieces that can fit into embroidery hoops for a size between 6 and 24 inches. The design of the circles is being left up to the designer with the idea that the design should represent their relationship to Dr. Gaither and how they know each other.

Dr. Gaither is looking for a huge number of circles. The number used to be 1,000 however it appears to have doubled in the past month. I am anticipating some fun storage games with this project. If you would like to participate in this project, please join in! Participation from Dr. Gaither's blog community is definitely welcome! Email us at JGaitherStoryQuilter@gmail.com and we will send you instructions for the quilt circle project.

A Very Special Reunion

2010-05-24T23:32:00.005-04:00

Next month, the My American Series will go on display together in one space for the first time - ever. School 33 Art Center in Baltimore is hosting this "reunion" which promises to be a special one in many ways. The exhibition will feature all six completed My American Series quilts from 18 June through 14 August. The exhibition will not only feature the quilts but many never-before-seen photos of the artworks in progress, planning documents including initial mock ups including the venerable Trails Tracks Tarmac quilt design on a napkin, and section by section break downs of each of the quilts.

To commemorate this momentous exhibition, a catalog of the series has been developed with images of the works and text written by Dr. Leslie King-Hammond, Graduate Dean Emeritus from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and Founding Director of MICA's Center for Race and Culture. (Dr. King-Hammond is also part of the duo behind many of Dr. Gaither's signature pieces of jewelry.)

While helping with the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt (BOC), I had the pleasure of seeing 3-4 of the quilts together in one room as Dr. Gaither was simultaneously working on BOC and making small repairs to the other quilts in the series prior to taking them to Connecticut for the first stop on the national tour. They are truly a sight to behold. You don't realize the power of these quilts until you see them paired together. I have seen a few different arrangements and pairings of the quilts and each time I have a different sense of them collectively and individually. I should also mention that when I saw each of the quilts they were not hanging, at least not on a wall. Instead they were draped over tables and furniture which means that I did not have the full experience. This will be the first time even Dr. Gaither has seen them hung on walls together. It will be quite a sight to behold - both the quilts and seeing Dr. Gaither's face the first time she takes the whole thing in. Hopefully I will be around for that moment!

The exhibition will kick off on 18 June with an opening reception at School 33 Art Center from 6 p.m.-10:00 p.m. In the words of Dr. Gaither, "We are going to party that night." Come out and join in the fun.

Exhibition Details

18 June 2010 - 14 August 2010

School 33 Art Center Gallery One

1427 Light Street

Baltimore, MD 21230

http://www.school33.org/

Gallery Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 12:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.

Opening Reception

Friday, 18 June 2010

School 33 Art Center

6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.

Click here for more information.

Retirement!?!?

2010-05-09T22:01:00.001-04:00

This week colleagues, friends, and family will help Dr. Gaither celebrate her amazing career as an art educator before retiring to life as a full-time artist. Dr. Gaither has been teaching students in Baltimore County and Howard County in Maryland as well as at the Maryland Institute College of Art for 44 years, sharing her unique talents and energy with everyone she came into contact with. Throughout the week people will gather to pay tribute to her career and say thank you for her seemingly boundless energy and enthusiasm which envelopes everyone around her.

Her retirement is not being phrased as a retirement from teaching so much as a retirement to art-making. This is a key point that she and I have had discussions about for the past few months. One evening while discussing different approaches to learning and teaching, I made the observation that many people, especially those in the fine arts, view themselves as something within a larger context. Specifically, I noted that many people in her field either view themselves as artists who also teach or teachers who are also artists with one title always taking precedence over another. I then went on to ask where she felt she fell within that spectrum. I have long felt that she is one of the very few people who is truly both of those viewpoints simultaneously. When she is making her art, she can't help but use it to teach, whether that is through public quilting sessions inviting those who have never picked up a needle and thread to try or through the content she places on her quilts. When she is teaching, she is speaking not only as someone who has studied art and knows the research behind what she is teaching, but as someone who has walked the walk and is now talking the talk. This conversation has been revisited several times since I initially brought it up. I think Dr. Gaither is still mulling this one over, but has started to say that she agrees with my assessment that she is both.

As I am writing this post, the thought has occurred to me that perhaps this dual role has played a greater role in why she has chosen quilting as her primary medium. The quilts allow her to actively indulge both sides of this equation. She is able to teach others how to quilt, educate them on topics they may have never learned about, tell stories and invite people to learn more and share their knowledge with others through her quilts and the workshops and events she leads. She is able to engage in artmaking by creating her quilts and encouraging others to study her work and the work of other fiber artists as well as artists whose work reminds them of hers. Quilting allows for a communal experience where people of all experience levels are able to come together and work on one piece while teaching each other through their efforts and backgrounds whether the teaching is about the artwork itself, the stories behind the artwork, or something completely different that generates storytelling and teaching opportunities.

While Dr. Gaither is retiring from teaching at MICA full time, this is most definitely not the end of her teaching. She already has several workshops and speaking engagements in the works, articles to write, and has even started alluding to using her "emeritus" status at MICA in the very near future. She will also have plenty of opportunities for teaching through active artmaking with her upcoming projects. Dr. Gaither is the textbook definition of a multi-tasker with at least 50 quilts in progress. She is currently working on a fantastic project tentatively entitled My Memory is Only as Good as Yours. For this project she will be asking members of her multiple communities to contribute quilted artworks depicting their relationship to her that will hang alongside her quilts. I will post more information about this project and how people can get involved in the coming weeks. An invitation to participate is currently being developed and will be shared soon.

Congratulations Dr. Gaither on your retirement. Actually, given what I have just written about the word "retirement" sounds entirely out of place. Let me try again.

Congratulations Dr. Gaither on your transition. May you enjoy this new phase in your career. We can't wait to see what happens next!

My American Series - The Friendship/BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport Quilt

2010-04-29T18:42:00.003-04:00

OK, I am finally getting back to the My American Series postings. After being chided by Dr. Gaither at her NAEA workshop about my having taken several "breaks," I am back to write up the last quilt that hasn't either received one of the in depth MAS postings or been the subject of several postings.

The Friendship/Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport Quilt is a somewhat tricky quilt to write about. This quilt took Dr. Gaither's concept of community involvement from community provided stories and images to a new level with community members assigned different squares on the quilt to take home and sew. Dr. Gaither conceptualized the quilt and pieced it together, but the actual sewing of this quilt was done by many hands with the final product pulled together by Dr. Gaither, Yvonne Henry, Peggie Bessicks, and Dr. Gaither's sister and mother.

The Airport Quilt came about as an extension of Trails, Tracks, Tarmac. While TTT was on display at the Banneker-Douglass Museum, NACPS started working on several satellite exhibitions including a few small displays of objects and small quilts for display at the BWI Airport. BWI currently sits on land once occupied by African American communities, including several featured in TTT. (Note: the final "T" in TTT stands for Tarmac - as in airport tarmac.) During the run of TTT, the Northern Arundel Cultural Preservation Society began working with airport officials to curate an art exhibition featuring works by several local artists. Dr. Gaither served as the curator for this exhibition and contributed a few pieces to the show. She decided to create a quilt especially for this exhibition that features the people and places associated with the history of BWI and the land it sits on.

The airport site is significant in Northern Anne Arundel County, Maryland history. Formerly an area of farming, tobacco and cereal crops, it has been a place where African Americans have lived, farmed and owned businesses and land. Many family names, including Blackwell, Brooks, Domney, Edwards, Gaither, Green, Hines, Jakson, Marshall, Meacham, Murry, Oden, and Woods, are a part of this site’s history. This quilt illustrates the community’s connection to the land and the airport.

As I mentioned before, this quilt was sewn together by several community members and then pieced together by Dr. Gaither and a few friends and family members at the very end. This method of quilting has created an interesting dynamic between Dr. Gaither and this quilt which did not become apparent until quite recently. As I have worked on pulling together information on her work for various projects, I have discovered an extreme lack of information on this particular quilt in comparison to all of the other My American Series quilts. It is also the quilt that Dr. Gaither spends the least amount of time discussing when she talks about this series. I would be interested to see how much information and documentation I could uncover on this quilt if I could bring all of the quilters together.

While this is a community-sewn quilt, it is not necessarily a communal quilt as the community worked individually rather than all together to put this quilt together. When working on the next quilt in the series (J2WH) Dr. Gaither incorporated elements of the community quilting from both the Airport Quilt and the TTT Quilt. She used community members to help her sew the quilt together just as she did with the Airport Quilt, however this time the quilt stayed in one place and the community came to it. Just like TTT, she allowed the community to bring stories to the quilt, only on J2WH the community added the stories, emotions, and names to the quilt themselves rather than having her do it for them.

The Airport Quilt was the first quilt Dr. Gaither created after I met her and I remember the debut of the work at the BWI exhibition. The exhibition opened with great fanfare including an opening ceremony with over 100 people in attendance from the community, BWI, airport patrons wandering through, a community choir, and the exhibiting artists just to name some of the people there. I didn't really know Dr. Gaither very well at that point, but I do remember sitting behind her during the ceremony. Just prior to the start of the ceremony, she told a few of the people seated around her about the creation of the quilt and how, just like every other one of her quilts, it was a race to the finish, but with all of the extra hands working on it she had been able to get some rest at the end. A minor miracle considering she always finds something to continue "tweaking" on her quilts.

When I look at the Airport Quilt, I think it is the quilt that visually makes the connection between the Brown's quilt and the other quilts in the series. It has a greater proportion of the muted colors that make up the Brown's quilt than the others in the series surrounded by the traditional My American Series border. Perhaps that is a result of the disconnect between Dr. Gaither and this quilt. While the quilt was pieced together by her, she did not sew each square. I have observed that Dr. Gaither really edits and changes her quilts as she works through each individual piece. Since she did not spend as much time on this quilt as the others, she did not necessarily have the opportunity to edit and change as she normally would. This is neither good nor bad, just different. When all six quilts go on display at School 33 in Baltimore, MD this summer, I encourage you to come visit and put my theory to the test and see if you agree. In the meantime, you will have to make do with the pictures here.

Quilting for Social Justice Exhibition Extended

2010-04-26T22:53:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to share a quick note to say the exhibition A Pathway to Awareness has been extended until 3 May 2010. If you didn't get a chance to see this fantastic exhibition put together by Dr. Gaither and her students at the Maryland Institute College of Art, you have a few extra days. The exhibition is up until next Monday, so hurry up and go see it before it comes down!

Exhibit Details:

13 April - 3 May 2010
Maryland Institute College of Art
Meyerhoff Gallery in the Fox Building
1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21217
For information contact 410.225.2297

Photo by Alex Arocho.

Click here to view a previous posting on this exhibition.

Upcoming Lecture

2010-04-24T11:03:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to share in case you missed it at the end of my last lengthy post, Dr. Gaither will be speaking at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum on Saturday, May 1, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. The lecture will focus on her work and you can have the opportunity to see J2WH with an artist-led tour at the museum.

Please join us for the event. The talk is free, however you do have to pay to get into the museum ($8.00).

A note on getting to the museum/parking - the Annual Kinetic Sculpture Race will take place in Baltimore the same day. If the route is similar to last year's, please make sure you allow extra time to get to the museum.

Teaching Teachers

2010-04-18T07:59:00.005-04:00

Over the past week, the National Art Education Association has held their annual conference in Baltimore, MD, bringing in educators from all areas of the country to discuss work going on in the field from several perspectives. Attendees have spent a week looking at art and art education through the lens of social justice and the implications social justice has on education, human interaction, and how each individual and/or community views their world and what that means. For my part, I have attended sessions talking about how museums can help to shape the way people view their own communities and share their worldview with others as well as the role of museums in the future when it comes to interpreting people and communities outside of their own.

NAEA conferences are unlike any conference I have previously attended as there is a great emphasis on learning while doing. Many of the lecture sessions are interactive and there are opportunities around every corner to create. The exhibit hall is literally jammed with people at every vendor booth making art and talking about it. One of the other great things the convention offers is the chance to interact with artists and other teachers around the country in hands-on workshops.

25 conference attendees had the treat of participating in a sold-out workshop with Dr. Gaither at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum on Friday. The workshop began in front of J2WH (Journey to the White House or the Obama Quilt), with Dr. Gaither talking about the piece and the symbolism included. She went through several of the images on the quilt explaining their significance as well as talking about the traditional quilting symbols involved and the way she puts her own "spin" on them. I have heard her talk about her work many times and to many audiences over the past three years, but I knew this audience was going to be different when they broke out into applause for her and her work after 10 minutes.

After viewing J2WH, the teachers were then taken into a classroom where they had the opportunity to see several of Dr. Gaither's works involving social justice issues. She has quite a few of them - more than I can go into, especially considering I hadn't even seen two of them until that morning. I will see what I can do about getting some information about these quilts on here in the future. The teachers then settled in for some brainstorming considering the definition of social justice and then coming up with ideas for quilt squares based on a particular issue.

After the initial drawings were completed, they were placed on the floor together to have people consider their work as well as the others for ideas and ways they could enhance their squares. After a brief discussion, everyone went to work on their individual squares. The final product resulted in a patchwork of ideas and colors, each completely different and reflecting an individual's own unique perspective but all tied together through the common thread of quilting and this workshop, thereby creating a new temporary community.

The reactions of the participants to Dr. Gaither's work and creating their own pieces was extraordinary and very interesting to see. Alissandra Seelaus, one of Dr. Gaither's students helping with the workshop, noted that it only took 18 minutes before we overheard someone say "I love her." I think that is a new record. Participants came away from the workshop talking about how they were going to incorporate what they had learned into their classrooms with promises of keeping Dr. Gaither informed on their progress. It will be fascinating to see how large Dr. Gaither's quilting community grows as a result of this workshop.

Throughout the conference, Dr. Gaither received multiple requests for presentations, lectures, and articles from people and organizations around the country. If everything works out, she will definitely be living up to the idea that you are busier in retirement than you are in your working life. Given how much she runs (and has me running with her) now, my head is spinning at the prospect. Spinning in a good and excited way, though. The Energizer Bunny has some worthy competition. I will keep a running list of her upcoming speaking engagements and appearances here on the blog as soon as I have them.

I think that is a long enough posting for today. We took several pictures at the workshop this week, but unfortunately for me they are all on Dr. Gaither's camera. I will kidnap the camera at some point soon and post a few of the images to show off everyone's handiwork. ***UPDATE! As you can see, I got the pictures. Enjoy!

Oh, one other note on speaking engagements. Dr. Gaither will be giving a lecture on her work and J2WH at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore on 1 May 2010 at 2:00 p.m. The lecture is free, but you do have to purchase a ticket to get into the museum which is $8.00 per person.

A Pathway to Awareness: Quilting for Social Justice

2010-04-14T20:51:00.005-04:00

Last night saw the opening of the exhibition A Pathway to Awareness: Quilting for Social Justice at the Maryland Institute College of Art. For loyal readers of this blog, you will remember a posting from Sara Allred in January about the very beginning of this exhibition process. This exhibition is the culmination of two and a half months of work by Dr. Gaither and her students to develop a quilt exhibition focusing on social justice issues. The exhibition opening was a phenomenal success with 200 people coming out from MICA, Baltimore-based community organizations, and members of the National Art Education Association in town for their 2010 annual conference.

As Dr. Gaither has continuously stated over the past week, the exhibition was nothing more than an idea up until 22 January 2010. Dr. Gaither was originally approached by MICA's Dean of Art Education, Dr. Karen Carroll, last December about teaching a course during the spring 2010 semester on quilting and using art to talk about social justice with a full exhibition and programming to coincide with the NAEA conference. The idea was to involve students from all parts of the college, asking them to create artworks discussing social justice issues and work with community groups to create their own quilts to be included.

The exhibit process began in January with a workshop where the 13 participants were taught about quilting and given the tools to teach others how to quilt. The participants then went out and worked with school classes, after-school programs, community organizations such as House of Ruth, a women's shelter in Baltimore, and many others to create quilts depicting social justice issues. The resulting quilts included quilt squares created by middle school students telling a personal story about their community. The entire quilt is held together by safety pins. Another piece, put together by women at House of Ruth (a Baltimore women's shelter), is in the shape of a dress and is placed on a dressform. The dress has the phrase "Sex as a Weapon" on the front with the skirt composed of images of women quilted by women from the shelter. The piece is extremely powerful and amazing to see.

The exhibition also contains pieces from the students in Dr. Gaither's class who not only put the entire exhibition together but contributed their own work. Additionally, pre-service art education students from Towson University participated in quilting sessions with Dr. Gaither resulting in a quilt of their squares combined. The exhibition includes a photography component with photographs of a local community by fifth grade students - 12 from the inner city and 12 from suburban Baltimore. At the exhibition opening last night, many of these students were present as well as a drumline from Waverly Community Center composed of young musicians ranging in grade level from 2nd through 9th giving their first public performance outside of their area.

This course is serving as Dr. Gaither's "swan song." After 44 years of teaching in the public school systems in Baltimore City and Howard County and at MICA, she has announced she is retiring. As she phrases it, she is not retiring from teaching so much as retiring to working as an artist full time. This course is the perfect fit for her style of artmaking as it incorporates teaching people to quilt in her style, involves community members, and essentially is teaching her students to do what she does. The result is a phenomenal exhibition.

The exhibition is a great, thought-provoking experience and I strongly encourage people to go visit. Thanks to Dr. Gaither's student Alex Arocho for the picture of Dr. Gaither at the exhibit opening last night. The exhibition will only be on display for a week, so go soon!

Exhibit Details:
13-19 April 2010
Maryland Institute College of Art
Meyerhoff Gallery in the Fox Building
1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21217
For information contact 410.225.2297

New Exhibit and Artist Talk

2010-03-18T21:31:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to let everyone know the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt will be making its Maryland debut post-dedication this Saturday at the Banneker-Douglass Museum. Actually it will be hung tomorrow (Friday) morning and on display on March 19-20 ONLY! The quilt exhibit is part of the museum's contribution to the Maryland Day celebrations going on throughout Annapolis and southern Anne Arundel County over the weekend. On Saturday, the museum will show a one hour documentary on the black watermen of the Chesapeake Bay and fingers crossed some of the film's stars will be on hand to talk about the documentary afterwards. If you would like to come see the quilt and possibly meet the artist herself, come on by at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.

For a second chance to meet Dr. Gaither and hear about her work, join us at the Annapolis Barnes and Noble at 2:00 p.m. this Sunday, March 21. She will give a talk on her quilt I Am, currently on display at the bookseller. You might even get a chance to preview one of the quilts she is currently working on. If you can't make the artist talk, her quilt will be on display at Barnes and Noble until the end of the month.

My American Series - The Poulson Slaver Quilt

2010-03-18T21:11:00.004-04:00

The third quilt in the My American Series is the Poulson Slaver Quilt. The quilt was created in 2007 for the exhibition At Freedom's Door: Challenging Slavery in Maryland, a joint exhibition between the Maryland Historical Society, Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Maryland Institute College of Art, and Morgan State University. This exhibition was created by the students at MICA and Morgan with the assistance of staff members at the MDHS and the Lewis Museum. As part of the exhibition, two artists were selected to serve as artists in residence for the exhibition, one of whom was Dr. Gaither.

Dr. Gaither created the Poulson Slaver Quilt especially for this exhibition and based it on an artwork in the MDHS permanent collection. The quilt takes its name from the center square featuring the Poulson slave ship which is the subject of the painting in the exhibition. Dr. Gaither used the Poulson slave ship as the launching point for a visual discussion of slavery throughout the quilt. The squares in each corner of the center square represent the abolitionist movement and their actions. In the outer corners of the quilt are squares depicting a few of the ways slaves were able to gain their freedom - manumission (being set free by the slave's master), a will, escape, or joining the Union Army during the Civil War. On this quilt, the American-themed fabric rope which is included in the My American Series border comes down in the bottom corners to form nooses. This unique feature of the quilt border acknowledges the lynchings occurring in Maryland during slavery and beyond.

The exhibition has a great website with extensive information on the show and images including a great quote from Dr. Gaither talking about this quilt. In line with my belief that no one talks about Dr. Gaither's work better than she does, here is a portion of her statement from the website.

According to Gaither, “I juxtapose issues of slavery and racism against the warmth and comfort that quilts provide. I highlight the consequences of laws, codes, beliefs, and values for those who continue to be marginalized. These quilts are layered, embedded and embellished with images, text, objects, and symbolic cloth to make emotional connections with issues of identity and freedom of body, mind, and spirit. The Baltimore Album style quilt focuses on particular people, places, objects, and events that challenge the complexities of the institution of slavery.

- http://digital.mica.edu/exhibition/

When the exhibition opened, it was located at both the Maryland Historical Society and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. The Poulson Slaver Quilt was hung at the Maryland Historical Society next to the painting it was based on. Also included in this exhibition was Dr. Gaither's quilt How Much Longer? This powerful quilt is held together entirely by pins. There are no stitches holding it together. Dr. Gaither depicts acts of discrimination and racism against herself all while asking the question how much longer will this go on. Several of the pins on this quilt are left open to show the pain brought about by racism and the events shown on the quilt. It is an impressive and moving work which uses soft colors to draw viewers into the artwork only to confront them with the subject of racism upon looking at the quilt up close.

More information to come on this quilt in the next few days. To learn more about the exhibition At Freedom's Door: Challenging Slavery in Maryland, visit http://digital.mica.edu/exhibition/.

Long Time, No Blog

2010-03-11T19:39:00.000-05:00

Hello blog readers!

It has been nearly a month since I have posted anything here for which I apologize. You can't exactly have a weekly series when you aren't posting weekly. I will endeavor to make up for my lack of posts in the coming weeks. There are several events and much quilt news as of late that I thought I would share.

The My American Series quilts have returned to Maryland. The Community Threads exhibition in Hartford, CT ended last month and was a resounding success with people interested in holding the exhibition again in the next few years. Dr. Gaither went to Hartford for the closing of the exhibition where she gave two artist talks on her work at the Capital Community College which were well received.

Two weeks ago, Dr. Gaither presented a quilting workshop for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History. This workshop was held in conjunction with the museum's exhibition on the Skurlock Studio, which was a photography studio run by a family of photographers in Washington, DC who chronicled African American life and culture in DC. The program was a great success with several quilters in attendance who made quilt squares as well as showed off some of their work. Their work was truly amazing.

As I mentioned in posts last month, Dr. Gaither has a quilt on display at the Barnes and Noble in Annapolis. Due to the snow storms and some trouble getting the quilt hung, the exhibition of her work was extended and her family tree quilt will remain on display through the month of March. She will be presenting a talk on her work at the store on Sunday, 21 March 2010 at 2 p.m. If you are in the area, please come out and join us.

As a special treat for the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County commemoration of Maryland Day, the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt will be making an appearance at the Banneker-Douglass Museum. The most recent addition to the My American Series will be making its Maryland debut on Saturday, 20 March. The quilt will only be on display for one day, so be sure to come in and see it. The largest of the My American Series quilts, it promises to take up quite a bit of space. I will be interested to see exactly how high we have to move the quilt to get the entire thing to fit. Fortunately we have an entire former exterior wall of a building to work with. (The Banneker-Douglass Museum is comprised of two buildings, a former church and a glass and brick addition. When constructing the addition in 2005, the museum preserved the exterior wall and now use it as an interior.)

J2WH is now on display at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore and will remain there until 6 June 2010. It is on exhibit thanks to the National Art Education Association's 2010 Annual Conference to be held in Baltimore in April. Dr. Gaither will conduct a workshop on her methods during the conference for teachers in attendance.

Finally, a new member of the My American Series family is in progress! Dr. Gaither was commissioned last year to create a quilt for the National Black Theatre Festival held every other year in North Carolina. I have seen the initial stages of the quilt and can say it will do its fellow My American Series quilts proud. This quilt is being prepped to have the greatest amount of community contribution yet. Working with organizers of the festival, Dr. Gaither hopes to incorporate images of people past and present who have worked with the festival as well as have them add something personally to the quilt. The border of the quilt appears to be almost twice as large as any of the others to leave room for many of the festival's attendees to add their own stitches. It should be an amazing process to watch. I will try to post some pictures throughout the process. I will add that it might just overtake the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt to claim the title of largest quilt in the series! It is currently larger, but we will have to see how much it shrinks as it is quilted.

Well, that is enough updates for the moment. I will restart the My American Series postings this weekend. No more month-long breaks between postings, I promise!

Updates and News

2010-02-12T12:42:00.003-05:00

Good afternoon everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2010-02-10T10:28:00.010-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2010-02-06T20:35:00.006-05:00

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

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

Talking about the Brown's Quilt as the opening or the first in what was to become a series [is difficult] because I didn't know at the time [it would become a series]. My process involves sharing the familiar experiences, sharing stories, and the moving out from that to incorporate others. Identity, choices we make, and then how these are layered. The format, the structure, felt like a perfect fit that it becomes more than that. Quilts protect us, keep us warm, are easily accessible. People have some knowledge of at least comfort quilts. Quilts are holders, holding the human stories, not just comfort quilts.
What has driven the series is the notion of an American Series. What struck in the Brown's quilt that needed telling was the news commentary that people were surprised not by the amount of money donated but that it was an African American couple who had done that. It made me stop and think.
While I was working on [the Brown's Quilt] I was working on series for my sabbatical show on who am I and I was struck by the number of people making up my biological family, spiritual family, and friends/community family. Each could be a story. The key for me is finding that story that needs telling that only that sort of one person can tell. With the Brown's quilt, it was significant that they had wealth and chose to give it for the preservation of the culture of the African American story in Baltimore; looking and recognizing the history and contributions as part of a collective American culture, not a separate culture.
I just stepped out into the community, telling the Brown's story, my own family story, my church story. It seemed like the next logical piece would be [to go into] the neighborhood and that was Trails, Tracks, Tarmac (the Community Quilt). In order to get that completed it required going out and working with the comminuty to identify people, places, and events that shaped Anne Arundel County. From that, the conversations multiplied. Somewhere in the mix, it became a 501(c)3 organization. That was like a huge pivitol moment that happened around art making and bringing people together for art, history, fellowship, museum collaboration. It just built on itself and just exploded.

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

My American Series - The Brown's Quilt

2010-02-04T21:36:00.006-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quilting for Social Justice workshop at MICA!

2010-01-29T13:23:00.013-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

New Workshop and Exhibit!

2010-01-29T10:35:00.004-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2010-01-25T20:50:00.014-05:00

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

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

Thank You to My Ever-Growing Community

2010-01-24T18:16:00.009-05:00

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

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

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

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

Happy Anniversary J2WH!

2010-01-17T14:04:00.005-05:00

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

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

In the year since J2WH debuted:

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

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

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

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

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

Last minute quilting...again

2010-01-12T21:30:00.003-05:00

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

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

Hartford, CT Exhibition of Dr. Gaither's Work

2010-01-11T16:35:00.005-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

Now What?

2009-12-23T09:52:00.003-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

The quilts have landed in Connecticut!

2009-12-19T11:06:00.012-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quilt Dedication Ceremony: Another Perspective

2009-12-18T10:21:00.004-05:00

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

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

What Does a Traveling Exhibition Look Like?

2009-12-15T11:22:00.008-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

And They're Off...

2009-12-14T17:33:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

The Quilting Sessions Get Musical

2009-12-03T14:23:00.003-05:00

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

Quilt Dedication Ceremony and a new tour date

2009-12-02T14:23:00.003-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Other Chesapeake

2009-12-02T11:04:00.004-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

The Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Quilt:

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

Oyster Shucking Live!

2009-11-24T15:03:00.004-05:00

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

2009-11-19T14:07:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-18T16:49:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-16T17:01:00.001-05:00

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!

2009-11-16T15:33:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-14T08:56:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-14T08:50:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-13T18:05:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-13T10:44:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-11-11T14:26:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-10T08:10:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-09T13:27:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-09T10:22:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-03T13:41:00.002-05:00

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.

Sneak Peek of the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake Quilt

2009-10-29T17:02:00.006-04:00

Check out the image below for a sneak peek of Dr. Gaither's latest work, Black Watermen of the Chesapeake. This quilt is the newest installment of the American Series and features the people, places, and communities associated with Maryland's African American watermen.

The image below was taken nearly three weeks ago and the quilt has changed dramatically since then, but I wanted to share this work in progress to encourage as many people as possible to come join in the public quilting sessions next month. Dates, times, and locations of the quilting sessions may be found to the right of this posting.

New American Series Quilt & Public Quilting Sessions!!!

2009-10-22T23:29:00.007-04:00

While the blog has been silent for the past few weeks, it is only a sign that much work has been going on behind the scenes. Dr. Gaither has been busily working on the latest addition to the American Series entitled Black Watermen of the Chesapeake. The quilt documents the lives of the African American men and women involved in Maryland's maritime occupations.

I have seen the quilt twice in the past few months and can say it is amazing. I will post pictures in the next day or so. When the quilt is photographed, the images end up looking like a 3-D map of the Chesapeake Bay. This quilt has the same multi-layered border as the other American Series quilts, with some additions to make it a bit more nautical. As the quilt comes together, images of people and places will be added throughout to tell the story of the watermen.

Just as J2WH was a race to the finish to get it completed before going on display, work on the Black Watermen of the Chesapeake quilt is moving along at an accelerated rate. It must be finished in time to go to Hartford, CT for the opening of a new exhibit featuring the American Series on 15 December 2009. With that being said, many people are hard at work to help Dr. Gaither complete this quilt.

Another great aspect the new quilt shares with J2WH is that Dr. Gaither is opening up the quilt for the public to add their stitches and messages. This will occur at 4 public quilting sessions in November in Annapolis, Shady Side, and Grasonville, MD. Anyone who would like to add a message, share a story or image of a member of their family who was/is a black waterman or involved in the maritime industry, or just help add a few stitches to the quilt is invited to participate. If anyone has pictures of watermen, please feel free to bring them to one of the quilting sessions for possible inclusion on the quilt.

The locations of the four quilting sessions are listed below. All of the events are free and open to members of the public of all ages. Please come and join us for this great project.

Thursday, November 12, 2009
10:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Bates Legacy Center
1101 Smithville St.
Annapolis, MD 21401

Saturday, November 14, 2009
10:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Banneker-Douglass Museum
84 Franklin St.
Annapolis, MD 21401

Friday, November 20, 2009
2:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.
Meredith's Seafood & Carry Out
3227 Main St.
Grasonville, MD 21638

Saturday, November 21, 2009
10:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Captain Salem Avery Museum
1418 East West Shady Side Rd.
Shady Side, MD 20764

For more information, please contact the Banneker-Douglass Museum at BDMPrograms@goci.state.md.us or 410.216.6186.

Farewell, What's Next, and Above All Else - Thank You!

2009-09-29T15:16:00.010-04:00

J2WH was deinstalled this morning and what a sigh-worthy moment it was. When Dr. Gaither and one of her students, Sarah, arrived at BDM this morning to take the quilt down we all took a moment to reflect on the departure of the quilt and the many events that have taken place along its journey thus far. I asked Dr. Gaither to talk about the process of creating the quilt and how it came to be at the Banneker-Douglass Museum on film partially so that we would have a record of the exhibit but also to help reflect on a fantastic and inspiring exhibition. As Dr. Gaither spoke about the journey, I couldn't help but reflect on the many amazing stories and events I was witness to during this exhibition. Watching people come in only to stop talking and stare at the quilt or exclaim "wow," reading the comments in the book accompanying the quilt in the museum, sharing the story of the quilt and watching the many visitors get excited and ask questions, looking at the statistics for this blog as they climbed higher and higher with hits coming in from more and more areas throughout the globe, and helping to share this fabulous artwork with so many people it is little wonder why I am sad to see J2WH leave.

As for what is next, J2WH is going in for "repairs." Repairs isn't really the right word. A tune up perhaps if I am going to stick with car terminology. Dr. Gaither will be working with several folks to tighten up loose stitches, more firmly secure the rod pockets that held the quilt onto the mounting rod, and fix a few things on the body of the quilt as well as work to get out all of the dust the fabric picked up while hanging on the brick wall. If you are wondering why they would need to work on the rod pockets since it was hung for several months, this picture should help explain why. Yes those are staple removers in their hands. In order to help secure the quilt to the rod, the pockets were literally stapled to the wooden pole just in case some of the pockets didn't hold against the weight of the extra embellishments from the quilting workshops.

As the previous posting announces, J2WH will be packing up and going on tour beginning in December of this year. The quilt will go with the other quilts in the American Series for a city-wide quilt exhibition in Hartford, Connecticut. If you live in the area, be sure to stay tuned for more details on how you can see the quilts and participate in one of Dr. Gaither's workshops.

If you would like to get involved in Dr. Gaither's latest quilt, here is your chance. Dr. Gaither is currently working on the final installment to the American Series focusing on the black watermen of the Chesapeake. Dr. Gaither will open this quilt to the general public to add their own stitches just as she did for J2WH. There will be a quilting session here at the Banneker-Douglass Museum on 14 November and at the Captain Salem Avery House in Shady Side, MD on 21 November. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.

For my last "what's next" segment, I want to let you know that the blog will continue and follow J2WH as it goes out on tour around the country. Please come back and read about its progress as well as find out more information on some of Dr. Gaither's other works. For an extra special treat, be on the look out for a possible posting from Dr. Gaither herself. While the previous posting was written in her name, it was a group effort to try to teach her how to blog. I have given her a few weeks to practice before I ask her to do a posting completely on her own. I guess this is my own way of teasing her as she teased me in the days leading up to the start of the J2WH exhibition about handing her more work to do.

Finally I would like to say thank you. Thank you to everyone who came out to add their stitches to the quilt, to those who came to view the quilt, to those who participated in the workshops, to those who read this blog, to those who shared the story of J2WH. The past 10 months have been a gratifying and humbling experience for everyone involved in this project and we are profoundly grateful. I especially want to thank Dr. Gaither for all that she has done on behalf of, well, everyone listed above. Without your inspiration, talent, boundless energy, generosity, and spirit none of this would have ever happened in the first place. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to make our own mark on this important time in America's history. We now send this quilt on knowing that many others around the world will be able to share in the amazing journey we have been privileged to be a part of over the past 10 months.

Genevieve Kaplan & Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither

Thank You!

J2WH Starts its Journey

2009-09-29T12:09:00.004-04:00

As the image above indicates, the Journey to the White House quilt is finally leaving the Banneker-Douglass Museum and hitting the road. We have been promising for several months information about taking the quilt on tour and we are now able to release the details. The upcoming tour dates and cities are as follows:

15 December 2009 - 15 February 2010
Multiple venues
Hartford, Connecticut

3 March 2010 - 6 June 2010
Reginald F. Lewis Museum
Baltimore, MD

Details are being worked out for Milwaukee, WI and locations in California. Look for more information here as we finalize the details for these venues and others.

If you are interested in bringing the quilt to your area, please contact us at ObamaCommunityQuilt@gmail.com. We would like to see the quilt go to as many locations as possible to encourage more and more people to celebrate the important people, places, and events in their own journey.

The Last Day!!!

2009-09-26T09:40:00.002-04:00

Today is the last day you can see J2WH while it is on display at the Banneker-Douglass Museum. The museum will be open from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Come and see it before it leaves!

Table linens beware!

2009-09-25T10:31:00.005-04:00

Following the line of thinking that you never know when inspiration is going to strike, I thought I would share a story that shows how inspiration can strike anywhere - and in Dr. Gaither's case could be cause for table linens to become artwork.

In a previous posting, I related the story of how one of Dr. Gaither's quilts in the Trails, Tracks, Tarmac exhibition was designed on a napkin at her favorite local restaurant. When I first heard the story I couldn't help but laugh and have since repeated the story and pointed out the image of the napkin while the quilt was on display at the Banneker-Douglass Museum. Last week I got to watch as yet another restaurant table linen, well actually the paper covering the table linen, became the sketchpad for a new work.

While at lunch in a certain Annapolis restaurant, Dr. Gaither and I were having a discussion on various events when she suddenly got a look on her face and all the sudden started talking about needing paper and a pen to write something down. Then her eyes lighted on the table with the realization that the table we were seated at was covered in paper and was the perfect drawing space. I wasn't quite sure what was happening until she started sketching something based on our conversation and talking about a 3-part piece she is developing. The sketch that took shape on the table covering is to become the basis for her idea for the second quilt in the series. For the next several minutes I was able to watch her creative process at work and see the "birth" of a new artwork. It was certainly something to see.

If you ever have the opportunity to watch an artist work and see their creative process it is fascinating. No two people share the same process. When I was in high school I remember my first trip to Giverny, Impressionist painter Claude Monet's home 50 miles outside of Paris. While touring the gardens that Monet painted many times, I came across one of my friends sitting on a bench in front of an archway sketching the scene. I ended up spending the next hour just watching him work and seeing the piece come together. On a subsequent trip to Giverny 10 years later, I was drawn to that same location by the memory of my last visit and spent quite some time photographing the scene inspired by Tony's pencil sketches. There is something inspiring about watching an artist. I encourage you to try it the next time you see an artist at work. They might just inspire your creative process as well.

And just in case you are interested in finding out what happened to the table covering when we left the restaurant - lets just say our server may have been wondering why half of the table covering was missing when we left. I was even more amused the following week when Dr. Gaither brought the in-progress quilt that makes up the first part of the series for Saturday's workshop and the table covering drawing was on top of the box. If nothing else, I have certainly learned that the next time I join Dr. Gaither at a restaurant I better have pen and paper handy just in case the Muses strike and the restaurant doesn't have paper napkins or table coverings!