by Tony J. Dickerson
Cash (1995) says that quilts can be used as important resources in reconstructing the experiences of many African American women. They can provide a record of their cultural and political past. They are not just pieces of cloth; they are important art forms. Honoring who we are—not just our famous folk, but our everyday supporters—is an important part of the portrait quilt. Like Mama’s decision to gift the family quilts to Maggie over Dee in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use,” being immortalized in textile is a cathartic experience for all involved. It tells us that we all matter.
In 1949, a group of primarily African American residents of Marin City, CA, and a group of primarily white residents of neighboring Sausalito, CA came together to form an integrated trying to create a school of African American history. They wanted to resurrect the buried history of Blacks in this country and decided to start by creating a portrait quilt of Harriet Tubman. This quilt was to be displayed at Marin City’s Negro History Week celebration in 1950. Actually finished in 1951, the portrait quilt of Harriet was considered to be on the cutting edge of the enormous political and cultural changes that would soon rock our country and was an important landmark in the history of American quilting art. The group didn’t stop there. In 1952, the group created a portrait quilt of Frederick Douglass.
“The Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman quilts are the earliest examples I know of quilts made with an overtly political purpose,” says Patricia Turner, quilt expert and professor of African American and African studies at the University of California, Davis. “They are also the first portrait quilts created in the African American quilting tradition. Today, there are hundreds of quilters using the media to make political statements. Lots of portraits, lots of political content. But the Tubman and Douglass quilts were made decades before all this.”
Today, portrait quilts can be seen everywhere. They make political statements. They honor loved ones. They make us think and they make us laugh. They are realistic and they are abstract. Who hasn’t fallen head over heels in love with a Bisa Butler quilt? Born in Orange, NJ and raised in South Orange, Butler’s artistic talent was first recognized at the age of four, when she won a blue ribbon in the Plainfield Sidewalk art competition. Trained as an artist with a degree from Howard University, Butler’s quilts have been described as “quilts that communicate art, emotion, heritage, tradition, and beauty.”
In 2016, Butler showed her quilts at an exhibit entitled, “Royalty Without Riches: Bisa Butler’s Portrait Quilts at the Richard Beavers Gallery.” Demetria Lucas explained that Butler “creates intricate portraits of people who surround her; her father, a friend’s daughter, her grandmother, or famous women who inspire her. She sees nobility in the people she encounters daily, and [seeks to] reflect their sense of dignity in her work.”
Closer to home, Marla Jackson, CEO of Marla Quilts Inc. African American Museum and Textile Academy in Lawrence, teaches students—and the community at large—African American history through art. In 2013, Jackson expanded her teaching by opening the textile academy and African American museum in the Warehouse Arts District, Marla’s Quilts at 720 E. Ninth Street, No. 2. A native of Detroit, Mrs. Jackson has developed a national reputation, showing several of her quilts in more than thirty-five national and international venues including museums such as the Spencer Museum of Art, the Anacostia Community Museum (part of the Smithsonian), and even Lincoln Center in New York.
Jackson says that, “Quilting allows me to access a place deep within my soul. I am a quilting poet, whose intention is to provide opportunities to challenge common beliefs, promote questioning, and to inspire others to change their world to be a better place for all people.”
One of Marla’s most precious dreams was realized in 2017. That is when the National African American Quilt Convention and Conference was born. A citywide event celebrating the history and legacy of African Americans in Lawrence, KS, the African American quilting tradition, and contemporary art in various mediums by African American artists, the conference will celebrate its second year this July 2018. With such notables as keynote speaker Faith Ringgold, the conference will include exhibitions, demonstrations, classes and visits to the Watkins Museum, Spencer Museum of Art, Brown v Board of Education wayside Rest Plantation, The School of Textile Design, and Kansas University. It is an event not to be missed!
One of the ways Marla Jackson has allowed professional and novice quilters alike to honor those amongst us is to call for artists to create quilts honoring the “Me Too” movement. These quilts were left wide open to artist interpretation. While I cannot relate to a personal “me too” moment, as an educator of some 32 years, I have unfortunately been privy to too many conversations in this area. I was extremely touched by Me Too founder Tarana Burke’s telling of the 13 year old child who she calls “Heaven.” This child tried to tell Burke about being molested and Burke just couldn’t “deal.” “I was not ready,” Burke said. “When she disclosed, I rejected her.” She sent her to someone else. “She never came back to camp,” Burke said. To this day, she doesn’t know what happened to Heaven.
Through the power of art, I helped Burke “find Heaven.” Taking a picture of Burke and a picture of an unknown child being comforted by an unknown woman, I merged the two together. Through the power of fabric and thread, Burke appears to be comforting “Heaven;” and the child allows herself to be comforted in Burke’s arms. I took words from Burke’s history and created a Wordle which I blew up and printed on cotton fabric. These words tell Burke’s history and her intent for the movement that she created in 2006. This interpretation will be shown at the 2nd National African American Quilt Conference in Lawrence, KS July 11 – July 14, 2018.
It is my dream that this quilt will then find its way to a Women’s History Month quilt exhibit during March 2019 at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Indianapolis, IN sponsored by the Central Indiana Akoma Ntoso Modern Quilt Guild. Entitled “Strength, Courage, Dignity: Stories of everyday women,” this exhibit will be our way of keeping the tradition of honoring those strong women who have come before us: our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, famous and just plain regular sistas. Not just pieces of cloth. Not just political. Our history. Our voices. Our stories. Told as only a quilter–and a quilt–can tell them.
References
Carr, Margie (2013, April 7). A community in stitches. Retrieved from http://www.lawrence.com/news/2013/apr/07/community-stitches/, June 6, 2018.
Cash, F. B. (1995). Kinship and quilting: An examination of an African-American tradition. The Journal of Negro History, 80(1), 30-41.
Childers, Brianna (2015, November 4). Marla Jackson, a Lawrence artist and quilter, will be the featured guest at Slow Art Sunday at the Spencer Museum of Art. Retrieved from http://www.kansan.com/arts_and_culture/marla-jackson-a-lawrence-artist-and-quilter-will-be-the/article_722b271c-8346-11e5-ae36-1388bd86166c.html , June 6, 2018.
Goldberg, Eve (2015, January). Making Art/Making History: The Negro History Quilt Club of Marin City and Sausalito. Retrieved from http://www.americanpopularculture.com/archive/politics/quiltclub.htm, June 6, 2018.
Lucus, Demetria, (2016, Februrary 15). Royalty without riches: Bisa Butler’s portrait quilts at the Richard Beavers Gallery [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.demetrialucas.com/blog/black-nobility.
Ohlheiser, Abby (2017, October 19). The woman behind ‘Me Too’ knew the power of the phrase when she created it — 10 years ago. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/10/19/the-woman-behind-me-too-knew-the-power-of-the-phrase-when-she-created-it-10-years-ago/?utm_term=.d0abae6635f3, June 4, 2018.
Rutledge, Nia (2018). National African American Quilt Convention. Retrieved from https://www.naaqc.org/, June 6, 2018.