As I do my background reading to write these posts, I usually find myself wishing I could meet the Honoree.  These women and men are always remarkable, and there’s often some twist that makes them real for me.  But that isn’t the case with this week’s subject, Carrie Hall; I had a hard time warming up to her.  But read on, and maybe we’ll find something interesting.

Let’s start with the quilt stuff. Carrie Hall lives on today on eBay, Amazon, AbeBooks and other sites through two things:  the book she wrote with Hall of Fame Honoree, Rose Kretsinger, titled The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America and for Bettina Havig’s book titled Carrie Hall Blocks.

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Both books include photos of the hundreds of quilt blocks made by Hall between 1900 -1935.  She, like Hall of Fame Honoree Mary Barton discussed in an earlier blog, went on the lecture circuit during the “Colonial Revival” of quilting, and used actual blocks to punctuate her talk.  Here’s Carrie dressed for a performance/ lecture, followed by a few of her blocks with the names she gave them;  if you look at all of them on the site below, you’ll find that you may call some of the blocks by different names.  In some cases, Hall was a stickler for historical accuracy, but in others, she didn’t mind being creative or redundant. Makes me wonder what she said in those lectures, but I shouldn’t be too critical because glamorizing the past was a shortcoming of many early quilt history efforts.

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I like to call the one on the left “Going to Chicago” (that’s where I’m from), and you may know it by one of its several other names.  Hall used the first recorded name from an 1884 publication—probably what she grew up with. Names are funny; the same source that named “New Four Patch” called it “World’s Fair” when they put it out again 55 years after the original.

She lived in Leavenworth Kansas while she was making these blocks, so maybe that accounts for the one on the left.  She is the only source cited by Brackman (Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns) to give a name to this pattern, and I guess she wanted to honor her home town.  As I said, sometimes she’s historically accurate, and sometimes she’s creative. 

And look; here are two very different blocks with the same name, and there are at least two other blocks also named “Rose of Sharon” in the Hall block collection:

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Not only was Hall inconsistent and repetitive in naming, but she took great license with botany as well.  I’m not talking about the stylized, pieced, modern pansies, etc; no one expects those to be accurate.  But look at these two versions of the same plant:

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Am I getting a little waspish? Sorry; I told you I couldn’t warm up to her.  But I really do admire Hall’s work; some of the designs require more sewing skill than I can muster (I sure wasn’t piecing LeMoyne stars at age seven and winning first place at the county fair at age 15), and I can’t imagine making that many blocks.  With over 800 of them (1,057 by Brackman’s count), varying from 8 inch pieced blocks to 16 inch applique blocks, she could have made over a dozen quilts!  Wait, she did make quilts—many for charity, and probably few, if any, for the contests that captivated her contemporaries.  Here are two examples:

I love this one for its blue and white border and for the red in the trees to represent cherries, and the axes masquerading as a frame.  I love the next one because it’s all blue/white and reminds me of the old ceramic tile patterns that used to be in the entries of 1930s drug stores and five-and-dimes (and old bathrooms).

The block and quilt images are all taken from the website of the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas.  You can see more of the items donated by Carrie Hall at the link below.  Be warned: there are 92 pages and many of the blocks have no image available, but starting at about page 87, you’ll find quilts and clothing made by her co-author, Rose Kretsinger which are worth seeing too. 

Well, that’s the quilting aspect of Carrie Hall’s entre’ to the Hall of Fame.  She had another interesting career in the world of fashion.  And really, aren’t fashion and quilt fabrics related? That’s the topic of another post, but let’s see how Hall segued from one to the other and back again.

After a stint as a teacher (how many of us were teachers? I had 7^th and 8^th grade for science, religion and art—what a combo!) and later as superintendent, Hall turned to dressmaking.  Under the title “Madam Hall, modiste”, she developed a thriving couture business catering to local society ladies, and included General MacArthur’s mother among her clientele. In 1938, she wrote a book I think should be required reading in all college fashion design programs: From Hoopskirts to Nudity, calling it “A review of the follies and foibles of fashion, 1836-1936”.  The cover of the 1946 edition even emphasizes the silliness of her topic, showing two “fashion” figures on the teeter-totter of time.

        

                         

Having been in the fashion business, Madam Hall knew whereof she wrote. She gives detailed descriptions of designs and construction techniques, along with plenty of information about accessories. But throughout, she expresses an amused, almost disdainful attitude toward fashion.  She encourages her readers to develop their own style, to wear what is becoming to their own figure, and to choose what is most compatible with their own personalities.  She knows how fickle fashion can be!

Her writing is at times chatty, at times moralistic, and always peppered with literary references.  You won’t be surprised to learn that Shakespeare had a lot to say about dress, but would you have thought she could work in quotes from Confucius and the ancient Greeks? Within two pages, she cites Ben Johnson, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Carlyle. There’s also lots of doggerel too, just to keep it from getting too high brow. And in case you are wondering about the title, it’s appropriate: she not only reviews the “Flora Mc Flimsey” modes of the 1920s, she goes so far as to include a photo of a nudist colony. Daring! (And I’m not gonna cut and paste that; find it yourself.)

The ups and downs of fashion that she wrote about turned personal for Carrie Hall.  A combination of the ready-to-wear market and the Depression saw the end of her couture establishment. She re-invented herself in quilting, but that didn’t last either, as travelling for lectures became difficult and her finances declined. But Hall was a survivor; she had “braved it all” (grasshoppers, crop failures and more) as a child of Kansas homesteaders in the early 1870s, and the difficulties of her later life weren’t going to keep her down. Her final career was as a doll maker.

These weren’t common playthings.  Here are some excerpts from an article in the Kansas City Star, May 39, 1948 that record the subject-matter variety and detailed construction of the Hall dolls.

Also mentioned in the article were 50 dolls representing biblical figures (now in the collection of Nebraska Wesleyan University) and dolls made to order from old photographs.

Hall’s dolls are sought after by collectors today, and she’s occasionally written up in the antique doll magazines.  I’m not into dolls myself, but I couldn’t resist purchasing a five-page article about Hall’s fashion dolls on eBay. It should arrive in time for an update in next week’s blog. Below are some of her items sold on the RubyLane website.  Look at the fabulous detail and remember that these are not full or even half size—they’re doll clothes.

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Well, I think Carrie Hall has turned out to be more interesting than I first found her.  And definitely more admirable. I’m glad I kept digging and was able to introduce myself and you to this skilled, creative, whimsical, resourceful Honoree.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

Bio info  https://quiltershalloffame.net/carrie-hall/

Blocks at Spencer Museum https://spencerartapps.ku.edu/collection-search#/search/works/Carrie%20A.%20Hall

Marie Webster Guild 10/21

Usually I write about a Hall of Fame Honoree, but today I want to talk about some women without whom there would be no Hall of Fame. The Marie Webster Quilt Guild of Marion Indiana is like most other guilds: they meet, have show and tell, and put on an annual quilt show.  But unlike other guilds, they have dedicated themselves to supporting the Quilters Hall of Fame.

Someone has to welcome visitors and cover the phone and attend to the gift shop every day that the Museum is open.  Sometimes that falls to the Executive Director or paid staff, but they have their own work to so, so it’s more likely to be done by volunteers from the Marie Webster Guild. And who do you think hangs displays at the Museum?

They also hang the entire show for Celebration every year.  That includes the Honoree’s quilts at the Library, and quilts that go along with the lectures and programs at the church. This is in addition to hanging their own quilts, organizing the Vendor Mall and operating the craft and book sale at the same time.

And if you’ve been to Celebration, you know that they put in countless hours of work for the fund-raising auctions. Can you imagine how much work it is to package all the fabric that’s donated for the silent auction?  Look how many tables of stuff they have; every bag has to be packaged with a bid sheet attached. And of course, someone has to store all the donations throughout the year.

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And they help out with the live auction.  Anyone can donate to the live auction, but the Guild also makes items—a different theme is set each year. One year the challenge was “Black and White and a Color”.

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Next year, the challenge will be to make an item using fabric designed by Marti Michell, the 2021 Honoree. (I could take us down a rabbit hole of wondering how many of the Hall of Fame Honorees have designed fabric, but that should wait for another day.)

 Here’s the fabric, and they still have a few yards left in case you want to pick up the gauntlet. I think I actually had some of that blue at one time, and enjoyed working with it.

What show is complete without raffle baskets? One of these has stuff I would have wanted—guess which one. (Yes, I’m a sucker for fabric, especially pre-cuts.)

My Guild puts on a quilt show every other year; I’m pretty sure we couldn’t do it annually. Thanks, Marie Webster Guild. You got a pass this year because of Covid—a well-earned break.  But I know you’ll be back for the next live Celebration.  In fact, you’re probably planning now. Or maybe not. Because this is the time of year that the Guild does a holiday craft market at the Hall of Fame. Guild members sell for their own account (free space at the Marie Webster house as a thank you for their hard work all year), but it’s also a great way to bring new people in to the Museum.  Here are some shots from past sales.

If you can’t shop in person, fun things are available year round on the Hall of Fame website. Most of these items have been made by members of the Marie Webster Guild. https://shop.quiltershalloffame.net/products?page=1 Check out the face masks on the last page. 

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Oh, and by the way, those lapel pins are designed each year by Marie Webster Guild member, art teacher and current Chairman of the Quilters Hall of Fame Board of Directors, Debi Shepler. 

But wait (as they say on late night TV); there’s more.  It’s almost time for holiday decorations. I know not many of us will get to Marion to see the house this year, so here are some photos from Christmases Past.

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Before

After

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There’s more that could be written about how the Guild was instrumental in the restoration of Marie’s house and the work they are doing and supporting on the train depot across the street.  But I think you get the idea. The ladies of the Marie Webster Quilt Guild may not be Honorees, but they certainly deserve recognition for all their work.  They aren’t in the Hall of Fame; they are the Hall of Fame.  And here they are.

Kudos and thanks to all Marie Webster Guild members.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

Road trip!  Who wants to go to a lovely little quilt shop in Wisconsin? Well. at least virtually that is. 

But before we go, I’m sorry to report it, but I have Bloggers’ Block. I spent the time I should have been writing on Sunday in virtual study centers offered on Zoom by the American Quilt Study Group.  I learned a lot and got to see some old familiar faces, but now it’s hard to get down to work. So I’m going to reprise some information I have on hand about last year’s Heritage Honoree, Mary McElwain.  If you’ve been in one of my regional study groups and heard my Power Point already, or if you learned about Mary McElwain at Celebration 2019, then you can take a pass; but please come back next week.

So now let’s get on the bus and head to Walworth, Wisconsin, the site of the Mary McElwain Quilt Shop.  It’s just about an hour from Chicago going Northwest into an area of moraine hills, woods, and clear, deep lakes left by the last glaciers.  You would love this scenery even if it weren’t for the quilt shop. Nearby Lake Geneva has been a favorite tourist destination for Chicagoans since the wealthy travelled there to escape the 1871 Fire. In 1968, the late Hugh Hefner built his first Playboy resort at Lake Geneva, and there is still a resort on that site. On the left is a resort hotel from the days when Mary had her shop and on the right is the Lake today.

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Mary opened her business in 1910 in a corner of her husband’s jewelry store on the town square in Walworth, but quilts soon took over. By 1933 (at the height of the Depression) the space was expanded with a double archway to access the shop next door. The expansion was marked with a two-day event where 500 people saw two new quilt designs, had tea, and were entertained by Miss Jean Radebough who sang old-fashioned songs to her own melodeon accompaniment. Here’s the shop in 1932 before the renovations and an interior view with some of the gift items offered in addition to the quilts.

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It took a lot of work to develop the McElwain enterprise, and Mary was tireless in her efforts.  In the early days of her business, Mary would take quilts around to small towns in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, giving lectures and exhibiting her collection at local club shows, fairs and bazaars. She also took her show on the road to other cities such as Rochester, NY and St. Petersburg, FL. (I suspect she was combining business with pleasure; there are lots of McElwains in both areas, and maybe she was visiting family.) She promoted her business by writing an article for “Hobbies” magazine called “Heirlooms of Tomorrow”, and by speaking engagements, including one on WLS Radio. In March, 1933, Mary was invited to exhibit at Navy Pier for the Garden Club of Illinois, and later that year, she was one of the judges for the Sears contest at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Phew! Here’s Mary (on the right) with the other judges at the fair.

 Mary’s shop also became famous as a destination for groups as well as for individuals who enjoyed a drive in the country. She displayed quilts not only on the walls, but also had what may have been the original bed turnings. When she wasn’t having turnings, quilts were displayed on beds as well as on the walls of the shop. This is Mary and her husband, William, with a Daisy Chain quilt on a handsome spindle bed.  If you look carefully, you’ll see that there’s not much unused wall space. No wonder a trip to Mary’s shop was such a treat!

Some of Mary’s customers were society ladies who included the wife of an ex- governor of Illinois, a Rockefeller, the wife of the Norwegian Consul, and a visitor from Paris, France. But she also served the local women and shoppers who drove up from Illinois. Mary had connections with large department stores too. A store like Carson, Pirie & Scott in Chicago would have made her products available to the many Park District quilt clubs which were active in the 1930s and 1940s.

McElwain’s connections weren’t just local.  And her success in one tourist area led her to another.  In the late 1920s, St Petersburg, FL became a popular winter getaway, especially in 1929 when the city opened the “Million Dollar Pier”. Mary McElwain was right there with them, offering her goods in the McIntosh department store. The green benches on the sidewalk outside the store are still a tourist attraction. The upscale Wilson-Chase store also carried Mary’s products, but the chicest location for her line was the McElwain shop on Beach Drive.  It was located in the posh Ponce de Leon Hotel, just across from the yacht club. Here are some Florida shots—just to make this a real virtual road trip:

Million Dollar Pier. Mary’s shop is in the hotel to the left of the pier , just under the word “The” in “The Sunshine State”.

Green benches at McIntosh department store which carried Mary’s goods.

Ponce de Leon Hotel.  Mary’s shop occupied the street-level corner on the left side.

So, what did Mary sell?  Mostly, other people’s products, but she did design one pattern called “Daisy Chain”. This may be her most-recognized pattern because it was on the cover of her catalog, which I’ll tell you about in a minute. “Daisy Chain” sold at 35 cents for a paper pattern, $12.50 for a stamped or cut kit, $25.00 for a basted top and $85.00 for a finished product.  The “Painted Daisy” crib quilt was available in pink or blue, stamped at $1.75 or finished at $7.50.

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Other patterns and quilts sold by the McElwain shop were traditional designs like Drunkard’s Path, re-named “Gypsy Tears”. Mary wasn‘t shy about giving her own names to common blocks and settings; for example, what we know as Trip Around the World was sold as “American Tapestry”. Other patterns were based on old quilts in Mary’s collection, or came from well-known designers such as Marie Webster and Ruby Short McKim.

There is no evidence that McElwain took out ads for her patterns and kits, but the shop did provide little brochures of its offerings.  In 1934, Mary compiled a catalog-cum-commentary which she called “The Romance of the Village Quilts”. This 34 page booklet cost twenty five cents in the store. The catalog contained photos of finished quilts that could be purchased as a paper pattern, a kit which was either stamped or cut, a basted top, or a completed quilt.  Mixed in with these were a romantic essay on quilts written by Mary, a poem describing the bed turnings (written as a tribute to McElwain), interior shots of the shop, and an Edgar A. Guest poem in praise of the afghan. 

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Mary used quality products for the finished quilts she sold and offered those same products through the catalog for those who were making the quilts themselves.  She carried fabric, rulers, stencils, batting and bias binding.

The quilt patterns and kits that McElwain sold were mostly traditional, but she had something for other tastes as well. Here’s a “Modern Rose” on the left (made by next year’s Heritage Honoree, Mary Gasperik) and a “Pines and Wreaths” on the right made by Esther Swingle Weter, who stored it with a note saying, “Pattern and material from the McElwain shop in Walworth, Wisconsin.”

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McElwain not only sold directly, she also distributed her patterns indirectly through other companies.  Rock River batting from nearby Janesville, WI, was carried in the shop and catalog, and was used in the finished quilts that Mary sold; in exchange for this placement, she arranged for a McElwain pattern to be included on the batting wrapper. Rock River Cotton Company also purchased patterns from Mary, which they printed on tissue paper and sold as a set of eleven. Here’s a photo of a Rock River batting wrapper and the listing for the batting in the McElwain catalog.

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 McElwain’s patterns were distributed on Mountain Mist labels as well, but there is no indication that their batting was sold by McElwain.  Mary also had a working relationship with the Boag Company of River Forest, IL.  Mary would sell Boag’s quilt and pillow kits at her store and through her catalog, and in return, Boag would slap a McElwain label on his Julia Fischer Force catalog.

This is from the inside of a Boag/ JFF catalog, and below is the cover with the McElwain label.  Look closely and you’ll see the glue outline from the original Boag label around McElwain’s name.

How’s that for marketing?

As you can imagine, the McElwain enterprise took a lot of workers.  Mary began with her own work and items made by local women; her husband helped with the accounts, and her daughter, DeEtte, was a mainstay.  Eventually, McElwain teamed with a Women’s Exchange of nearly 60 workers who made the completed quilts.  Mary’s granddaughter delivered projects to their homes and was paid a nickel per item (even if 3 items went to same house).  The local girls who helped with the large bed turnings were friends of the family and they were “paid” with a soda (or do you say pop?). One of Mary’s pattern designers, Lillian Walker, became famous in her own right.

Well, I’ve taken you on a virtual road trip and introduced you to a quilt entrepreneur of the highest order. Sadly, you can’t take a real trip to the McElwain Quilt Shop because it closed in 1960.  But the Walworth Historical Society has a permanent exhibit displaying quilts and giving information about the shop.  Not all of these items are McElwain’s, but I think I see a Webster kit which she would have sold in the first picture, and some of the patterns from her catalog in the second. Who knows what else they have?

That’s it for now.  I promise to be back on track next week.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

How did you learn to quilt? In my case, no one in my family was a quilter, so I was introduced by a friend. I purchased four block of the month kits from JoAnns and gave it a try.  Then I started reading. I got Harriet Hargrave’s Quilter’s Academy books (freshman and sophomore years only—I was an academy drop out), Ruby Short McKim’s One Hundred and One Patchwork Patterns, a number of how-to books and a few coffee table books for inspiration. If I had been born 50 years later, I’d probably have just looked on the internet and found Alex Anderson and Jenny Doan.

But what would I have done if I had been born 50 years earlier? I would have read Marie Webster (Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them), Ruth Finley (Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them), and Marguerite Ickis (The Standard Book of Quilt Making and Collecting. These classics are part of the quilt historian’s essential library, and are still available on eBay and the open market. Today I want to tell you about one of these authors.

If you read the bio on the Hall of Fame website (link below), you’ll see that Marguerite Ickis re-invented herself many times over.  Her way of putting it was that she had nine lives–hence “The Cat”.  We know her from her quilting books, but she’s known for much more. But before I get to that, here are the quilting books.

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The “Standard” book is just that, an all-inclusive handbook.  To give you an idea of its scope, here’s what the publishers say about it:

You’ll learn how to plan the quilt, the number of blocks to fit a bed, how to select the pattern to harmonize with the design and color of the room, and how to choose materials. Clear directions explain how to cut, sew, and make applique patterns, patchwork, and strips. An entire chapter on design discusses basic elements, sources, making your own designs, avoiding sewing problems, how to use the rag bag, and much more. The section on patterns gives directions on tracing, seam allowance, and estimating quantity. There is full information on borders, quilting, and tufting, and just about every other aspect of quilt making. Mrs. Ickis shows you over 100 traditional and unusual quilts, including Basket, Tree of Life, Flowers  in a Pot, Traditional Geometric, Friendship, Square and Cross, Saw Tooth, Drunkard’s Path, Flying Geese, Mexican Cross, Pennsylvania Dutch, Crazy Quilts, Yo-yo Quilts, Album Quilts, and dozens of others, including over 40 full-size patterns. You are given other uses for quilting, such as drapes, curtains, upholstery, lunch cloths, purses, cushions, and Italian quilting. Completing the coverage are fascinating chapters on collecting quilts as a hobby; how to make full-size patterns of famous American quilts from pictures, small designs, and museum or collector’s quilts; and a history of quilt making with personal memories.

All this for under $5.00 at today’s prices! But a word of caution: the directions may not be so simple.  Here’s how to make a Caesar’s Crown block: “Fold block diagonally each way across center and then across to get center creases. Draw in 2 circles. Use compass to draw center block. The tops of the diamonds will come along the fold in the block. Piece design and appliqué to block.” Here’s the block, in case you can’t visualize it from the directions:

Even so, the book is more than worth the cost for this famous quote from an unknown Ohio great-grandmother:

It took me more than 20 years, nearly 25, I reckon, in the evenings after supper when the children were all put to bed.  It scares me sometimes when I look at it.  All my joys and all my sorrows are stitched into those little pieces.  When I was proud of the boys….When the girls annoyed me….And John too….Sometimes I loved him and sometimes I sat there hating him as I pieced the patches together.  So they are all in that quilt, my hopes and fears, my joys and sorrows, my loves and hates. I tremble sometimes when I remember what that quilt knows about me.

Wow!  If that doesn’t make quilting into something magical and mystical, I don’t know what would.

With an undergraduate degree in education from Ohio University and a master’s in botany from Columbia, Ickis’ first career/”life” was as a teacher. Before going to Columbia, she was an instructor in recreation at New York University and Dean of the New York Recreation Training School. She then went East to work as the curator of the Botany Department at the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station (Mass. Agricultural College) in Amherst.

Following that “life,” but related to it, was a career with the Girl Scouts. Beginning with the Paterson (New Jersey) Council in 1923 as a “first class nature specialist”, she went on to direct the acclaimed nature museum at the Council’s summer camp. She spent almost a decade working with the Girl Scouts as a trainer at the national level, and was affiliated with the National Recreation Association as a member and as Assistant Editor of “Recreation” magazine. She was also Dean of the Recreation Training School for the Works Projects Administration (WPA). This was a time when the “Playground Movement” was coming into its own, and Ickis would be glad to know that there is a playground named after her in Massachusetts.

Playground on Cape Cod named after Marguerite Ickis.  See more at link below.

A few of Marguerite Ickis’ “lives” came from difficult circumstances.  When she was around 60, she began losing her sight to cataracts. Rather than retire, she did two things: she started painting and she opened a restaurant.

The restaurant was located in the town of Dennis on Cape Cod.  She poked fun at herself in this “life” saying that even though she had no restaurant experience, she could see enough to measure three cups of flour and one cup of lard for a pie crust. She ran the restaurant for fourteen years, and “The Pheasant” is still at the original location, serving freshly-caught seafood and other food cooked on an open wood fire. This new popular restaurant is a far cry from where Ickis started her foodie career. As she explained, “My building had been a storehouse for clipper ships on the Dennis shore and had been moved to Main Street. There was a stall in it which housed a horse and it certainly smelled terribly. We used grills. I had no screens. And do you know the Rockfellers, Fleischmans and others of that ilk came often and loved it.” (“Dennis Author-Painter Still Lives Valiantly,” Women’s World, 1978). I’m including photos of the new restaurant—because I miss going out to eat in pandemic times, and this makes my mouth water. See the link below for their Facebook page; if you are in the area, they have take-away these days.

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Ickis also took up painting.  She said she wanted to stop chain smoking and using a paint brush gave her something to do with her hands. Her paintings have been likened to Grandma Moses, but she thought they were less stick-like.  In fact, she tried to make them homey and personal.  One painting is a reminder of the shopping trips with her mother and sister at Stone and Thomas in Ohio to buy new hats—one every year for Easter and another for the county fair.  Another is based on people from her childhood town: the butcher and his wife, the man with the ear trumpet, the woman who nursed her baby “right in church”.

Marquerite Ickis’ painting of a quilting bee.

You can see more of Ickis’ paintings in “The Ickis Room” of the Dennis Senior Center, Dennis MA—if we ever get to travel again.

Ickis had a well-established “life” as a writer. In addition to her quilting books, she had several titles related to crafts, hobbies and the “Playground Movement”. Among these are Nature in Recreation, Pastimes for the Patient, The Book of Games and Entertainment the World Over,Weaving as a Hobby, The Book of Arts and Crafts, Folk Arts and Crafts, and Handicrafts and Hobbies for Pleasure and Profit. Garnering the most hits on Newspapers.com are articles about Ickis’ holiday books.  Between 1965 and 2000, journalists all over the country relied on her for filler in their feature stories whenever a holiday came around. In October, Ickis was cited as attributing Jack-o-lanterns to the Irish; in the Spring she was quoted on the origin of Easter egg hunts.  And at Christmas time, the papers trotted out her craft ideas for holiday decorations. Here are the holiday books:

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I want to close by coming full circle in Marguerite Ickis’ nine lives, and end with her life as a quilter.  This was probably her first “life”; she learned to quilt at a young age in Ohio.  She was taught to quilt by her mother and Quaker grandmother and she helped batt quilts with wool produced on the family sheep farm. The Quilters Hall of Fame is very lucky to have an Ickis quilt; this one was made with scraps of costumes from WPA theater productions. (Thanks for the donation, Holice Turnbow!) There’s a link below for more information about the quilt.

Marguerite Ickis. Fan Medallion c. 1940

Well, that’s the many “lives” of Honoree Marguerite Ickis. I think I would have enjoyed knowing her; she had a sense of humor and self-deprecation as well as a determination to make the most of the hand she was dealt. Worthy traits to emulate.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

Hall of Fame bio https://quiltershalloffame.net/marguerite-ickis/

Ickis Playground https://capecodplaygrounds.blogspot.com/2015/05/johnny-kelley-park-dennis.html

Restaurant. https://www.facebook.com/thepheasantcapecod/

Fan Medallion quilt https://quiltershalloffame.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/342CC602-9798-4B42-AA73-866582057530

Idle hands may be the Devil’s workshop, but Grace Snyder must have put him out of business.  The story of her life is told in an autobiography written with her daughter titled No Time on My Hands.  One reason she had no time was that she made over 300 quilts including one containing over 87,000 pieces! But Grace wasn’t busy all the time; she was a dreamer too. As a child she “… wished that (she) might grow up to make the most beautiful quilts in the world, to marry a cowboy, and to look down on the top of a cloud.”  If you count air travel for looking down on a cloud, her dreams all came true.  How many of us can say that?

At first glance, Grace Snyder’s life is unremarkable: the daughter of 1880s Nebraska homesteaders, she married a Nebraska rancher/cowboy (Bert), did some teaching, and raised four children. But she also made quite a few  remarkable quilts, and that’s what we’ll look at today. You can learn more about her story in the bio information on the Hall of Fame website and the Nebraska Quilters site (links below); the latter is an especially thorough presentation for a reason I’ll tell you about later. 

Let me start with some of Grace’s not-so-remarkable quilts—and when I say “not so remarkable”, it’s only in comparison with her others.  From her earliest days, Grace was taught to make small neat stitches, and every Snyder quilt displays her fantastic workmanship.  But some of her quilts are show-stopping designs and others are more personal.  These are the personal ones—the ones that reveal something significant to the maker. (You won’t be able to zoom in on these images, but you’ll find them in the expanded bio link and can view close ups there if you want.)

This quilt was made with fabric from one of Grace’s favorite childhood dresses. Not an unusual story, but here’s the Snyder twist: the dress was torn as she ducked through a barbed wire fence to escape a charging bull. 

Not every Grace Snyder quilt tells such personal stories.  Here are some that tell us the quilter could be conventional. I wish I could give you better shots of the quilting; I’ve put links below to their home sites where you can at least zoom in.

The Lincoln Quilt, International Quilt Museum

Snyder, Grace. Grape and Vine Applique. 1951. From University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Nebraska Quilt Project (Lincoln Quilters Guild). Published in The Quilt Index, http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=57-90-6E2. Accessed: 09/12/2020

Snyder, Grace. McGills Cherries; Applique. 1945. From University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Nebraska Quilt Project (Lincoln Quilters Guild). Published in The Quilt Index, http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=57-90-6E1. Accessed: 09/12/2020

Remember I mentioned show-stoppers? I think these last three would qualify, but (wait) there’s more.  Grace won quite a few ribbons in her day, having made 24 quilts expressly for exhibition or competition. In addition to honors at county and state fairs, in 1950 four of Grace’s quilts were displayed at the Women’s International Exhibition in New York City. “Covered Wagon States” won a special ribbon in the International Division, and “Grape and Vine Applique” won a blue ribbon for its fine applique work. Her “Flower Basket Petit Point” and “The Bird of Paradise” were placed in a special division since there was nothing else like them at the exhibition. And there’s still more: Grace also has two quilts that were included among the 100 chosen for publication in The Twentieth Century’s Best American Quilts, and here they are:

This is a mosaic in the style of Albert Small (who made three hexagon quilts, the last one having pieces only 3/8 inch!).  Grace probably saw the design in a 1939s magazine, and she made up her own color scheme from a black and white photo included with the article.

Nebraska State Historical Society

Before it was one of the 100 Best, this quilt was the Sweepstakes winner at the 1944 Nebraska State Fair and earned Grace a prize of $2.50. You can’t really appreciate how detailed it is without seeing the video in the extended bio (link below.) The video starts off with some great close-up shots so you can see how she used half square triangles to create the look of needlework. Really, follow that link and play at least the first minute of the video. Wowza!

The State of Nebraska is justly proud of Grace Snyder, and Nebraskans make sure her legacy lives on. Her autobiography has been re-interpreted as a book for young readers, Pioneer Girl, which teachers throughout the state use in the required State History course.  The University of Nebraska has also developed study aids to keep Grace’s story alive because it’s the story of the state itself, a real life Prairie life. And of course there’s the presentation available at the extended bio link below. What other state has memorialized one of its quilters in this way?

That got me to thinking about who the famous or most-recognized quilters are in each state  I live in Illinois, and we have Bertha Stenge (I promise to write about her soon) and next year Mary Gasperik will be inducted.  Indiana has Marie Webster; California claims Yvonne Porcella and Jean Ray Laury; Nancy Crow put Ohio on the art quilting map. So, who is your state’s best or most notable quilter—current or historical? Is there one for every state? Is she or he in the Quilter’s Hall of Fame, or will you be making a nomination so your state won’t be left out?  If Grace Snyder’s story tells us anything, it’s that someone can be living a quotidian life, all the while making quilts and making her dreams come true. So, look around for people like her, and look at yourself to see if your dreams are coming true.

Bio information https://quiltershalloffame.net/grace-snyder/

Expanded bio http://nequilters.org/node/8

The Lincoln Quilt https://www.internationalquiltmuseum.org/quilt/20090320001

Grape and Vine Applique http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=57-90-6E2

McGill’s Cherries http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=57-90-6E1

Hooray! Hooray! Yippee! Hooray!  It’s a good thing I’m writing rather than talking because I’d be tripping over my tongue with excitement. I have big news.

A few months ago, I told you about the process for nominating someone to be selected as a Quilters Hall of Fame Honoree. Well, I went through that process last year, nominating Mary Gasperik to be a Heritage Honoree—the category for a person who is deceased or was active in the quilt world at least 80 years ago.  And now the word is out that Mary was chosen and will be inducted in 2021. I couldn’t be more thrilled, but I’ll try to contain myself and tell you about my journey with Mary Gasperik. It all started when I went to the American Quilt Study Group 2012 Seminar in Lincoln, Nebraska.  I had just retired, and was checking things off my bucket list, including a visit to the International Quilt Museum.  I didn’t dream that rather than being a “one and done” trip, this jaunt would open up a whole world of quilt study and travels for me.  I didn’t know anyone there, but everyone welcomed me and treated me with a level of collegiality that I had no reason to expect. One day, I was standing next to Merikay Waldvogel (Hall of Fame Honoree, scholar, and nationally-known expert on the quilts of the Chicago World’s Fair) and she asked what I was studying—as if, naturally, I would have an area of expertise.  I told her that, being from Chicago, I would have been interested in researching the 1933 Sears quilt contest at the Fair, but that she had already covered that ground. Without missing a beat, Merikay assured me that there was plenty more to look into, especially some of the individual quilters. When I came home from Lincoln, I took a look at Merikay’s book and learned that there were Park District-sponsored quilting clubs in 1930s Chicago, and that Mary Gasperik was active in one of them. Here’s a photo of Mary (on the left in the back row) in front of her Laurel Wreath quilt with some of the other ladies of the Tuley Park Quilters.

Something hit a familiar chord when I saw that picture: not only did Mary remind me of one of my favorite aunts, she was also—like me—a South Side girl. Anyone familiar with Chicago knows about the rivalry between the North Side and the South Side. The Cubs and Sox slug it out in their crosstown classic mini-series every year (except this year, with COVID-19), and there are other bones of contention which I’ll tell you about when I write up Bertha Stenge, a Hall of Fame Honoree from the North Side.  Anyway, I decided that Mary Gasperik and I were sympatico. I started learning about Mary indirectly when I prepared a presentation on Alice Beyer who, in her capacity as an “Artcraft” supervisor for the Park District, worked with the Tuley Park Quilters to publish a quilting handbook in 1934. Here’s the cover of the book, with a sample page and the quilt Mary Gasperik made from that pattern. 

And, so you’ll get a preview of Mary’s work and start to know why she was chosen as an Honoree, here’s a close up shot of the quilting:

I’m pretty sure this quilt will be at Celebration next year, and you won’t want to miss seeing it in the cloth. And there are some great stories to go with it, but I won’t spoil that for you now.

One of Mary’s granddaughters, Susan Salser, helped me with the Alice Beyer lecture by filling in lots of information about the Tuley Park Quilters, and this naturally included Mary Gasperik.  Susan is a scholar in her own right: she has researched, from microfiche if you can imagine, hundreds of articles about the Detroit News Quilt Club Corner to learn about her grandmother’s participation in the “club”; she has scoured design records to find the sources of images that appear on the quilts; she’s been a keeper of family records related to Mary’s quilting.  And the crown jewel of Susan’s efforts is the fact that every known Gasperik quilt has been documented, in detail and with the help of Merikay Waldvogel, on the Quilt Index.

Well, the more I talked with Susan, the more I thought that Mary Gasperik should be in the Hall of Fame. Her quilts are many and varied, ranging from whimsical to elegant; her workmanship is superb; she even has a quilt on display at the Smithsonian. Her story is worth recognizing: as a Hungarian immigrant with little command of the English language, she assimilated through quilting in the Park District and membership in the Detroit club which required bus trips to participate in their shows. Unlike several other Honorees who had a formal art background, Mary used her untrained eye to adapt published patterns and to create her own original masterpieces. Mary wasn’t a society lady, but she was like so many unsung quilters of her era who just plain enjoyed quilting.

So, let me tell you about the nomination process. Mary Gasperik’s nomination was made in the name of the Northern Illinois Quilt Study Group, my local quilt study group. I had given a Power Point presentation about Mary to the group, and we were lucky to have two other granddaughters bring us some of Mary’s quilts to examine.  These granddaughters also brought family scrapbooks, appliqued clothing made by Mary, and other ephemera. The study group had a great time, and everyone was so impressed that they readily adopted my suggestion to nominate.

There’s a form for the nomination on the website, but it’s really bare bones.  The first part is writing about why the nominee is deserving. Once I had lined up the reasons above, I just had to put down my thoughts. Writing is easy for me, but if you are thinking about submitting a name, don’t let writer’s block worry you; what’s important is the nominee’s merit, not the nominator’s writing talent.

Then you need to gather up a record of supporting evidence—in the case of a quilter, it’s her quilts.  Here’s where I chose well: with all of Gasperik’s work on the Quilt Index, I could get pictures and information all in one place. If you’re going to nominate a contemporary quilter, you might be lucky and find their work on their website or elsewhere on the internet.

The last part is getting references, and this is where I had some nice experiences, rubbing elbows with the big wigs. Shelly Zegart, producer of the series “Why Quilts Matter”, had referenced Mary Gasperik in several episodes, and she was able to use those points again to boost Mary’s nomination.  Merikay Waldvogel graciously contributed by placing Mary Gasperik in the context of the 1930s milieu.  And Marsha McDowell wrote a nice letter about the significance of having the Gasperik collection online at the Quilt Index, and of recording family legacies in general. Susan Salser added to the backup with a reference from the woman who had coordinated a museum exhibit of Gasperik quilts, and quilt historian Karen Alexander also gave a reference.

If you’ve ever thought “So-and-So should be in the Hall of Fame” or asked why a certain prominent quilting personality hasn’t been named, the answer may be that no one has made a nomination of that person yet. The Hall of Fame relies on you to bring a name forward—you can do this. I’m here to tell you that submitting a nomination is a little like herding cats, but it’s well worth the effort. You’ll learn a lot, meet some interesting people, and (almost as an aside) maybe your efforts will pay off with a selection, and you can come to Celebration to see your nominee honored. 

I know where I’ll be in July 2021 (pandemic permitting), and I hope I see you there—in Marion, welcoming Mary Gasperik into the Quilters Hall of Fame.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

Link to the Nomination form on The Quilters Hall of Fame website: https://quiltershalloffame.net/honoree-nomination/

My first blog entry was about Gail van der Hoof, who is known as one of the forces behind the ground-breaking quilt exhibit at the Whitney Museum in 1971. Now it’s time to tell you about the other half of that partnership, Jonathan Holstein. As a refresher, the exhibit they mounted, Abstract Design in American Quilts, at New York City’s Whitney Museum of American Art, is credited with taking quilts from the bed to the wall as a form of art to be appreciated not for warmth but for artistic qualities such as form, color and design. You can read a fleshed-out version of the Holstein/van der Hoof collecting and exhibit story, along with more info about his life at the bio link below.

Today, I want to go to a museum—at least in my mind—and think about art. Having repeated the conventional view of the Whitney exhibit, I wonder how accurate it is. Haven’t there always been quilters who saw their work as art? Remember last week when we talked about Rose Kretsinger’s designs? Surely, she was applying the principles of form and design that she learned at the Art Institute of Chicago. As did Bertha Stenge, another Hall of Fame Honoree who studied at the San Francisco School of Art. Take a look at the center of one of Stenge’s quilts, Gazelle, and see if you don’t recognize the Art Deco elements. Or The Spectrum, which was another quilt artist’s entry to the 1933 Sears contest at the Chicago Worlds Fair, which certainly shows color, form and line.

I would say that the artistic element could always be found in at least some quilts, but it took a Jonathan Holstein to make the art world –and not just the quilting world–aware of it.  So, what was special about the Whitney exhibit that makes us say (properly) that it was the beginning of quilts being seen as art? For a scholarly analysis, I read Karin Elizabeth Peterson, cited below.  Peterson makes the interesting  point that it’s the whole museum experience that transformed quilts into art. First, it’s the venue in  which the quilts are displayed. She says, “Museums can be understood as places where quasi-sacred rituals take place. Rituals that define legitimate objects, legitimate artists and legitimate viewers…. Museum space facilitates an art-for-art’s sake experience by employing a series of architectural and display cues: isolated rooms, small labels, white walls, spotlighted pedestals, space to stand back from works and grasp their effect…. The museum, which is structured to appear neutral, objective and disinterested, privileges a special way of viewing objects within its walls.”

The other aspect Peterson notes is Holstein’s discourse about the quilts. For example, when he “pitched” the exhibit to the Whitney staff, he presented slides of the works, just as he would have done with his photographs. In titling the exhibit, he carefully chose wording that would make a connection to the world of abstract art.  And when he wrote the catalog and promotional materials, he was careful to write about quilts as he would any other work of art: not focusing on workmanship, but using phrases like “sensibilities and visual skills of the artist”, “laying on colors and textures”, “a traditional American approach to design, vigorous, simple, reductive”. (1971 Exhibit catalog)

So, here’s the takeaway: Art is seen at the art museum, not the local school gym.  And if you’re going to call it art, you have to use art jargon.  Sounds simplistic and a bit cynical, but that’s just what Jonathan Holstein did, and he was successful with it. The quilt world hasn’t been the same since.  

There were other “art” exhibits after the Whitney: in 1972, American Pieced Quilts, opened at the Renwick Gallery of the National Collection of Fine Arts in Washington, D.C. (this exhibit traveled to twenty-one American museums and two English venues under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES); in 1975, there was an exhibition for the Shiseido Corporation in Tokyo and the American Cultural Center Kyoto, the first show of American quilts in Japan; the following year, another exhibit was mounted at the Kyoto Museum of Modern Art.; and in 1980, Amish Quilts, from Pennsylvania and the Midwest, was seen in ten museums in the United States. 

Holstein is also the author or co-author of several books, all of which are in the Quilters Hall of Fame collection and available for purchase on the open market.

In 2003, the entire Holstein/ van der Hoof collection of quilts and ephemera was donated to the International Quilt Museum in Nebraska.  It was then valued at around $2.2 million—not bad for collectors who had initially set themselves a $36.00 limit when buying a quilt. There’s a link below to a charming video of Holstein reminiscing about the first Amish quilt he purchased—for $5.75! There’s also a link that will give you access to all of the quilts now in the IQM, but I’ve put in a few here as a teaser.

These two are graphic, and I think I can recognize what must have drawn Holstein to them.

OK.  You’ve seen my choices. When you have time, take yourself to the International Quilt Museum and pick out your own favorites from the Collection. Let me know what you find, and what strikes your fancy; leave a comment at the end of the blog.  And if you have lots of time, you might also enjoy hearing Jonathan Holstein walk you through an exhibit that was shown at the IQM called “Quilts in Common”. (link below) There are a few quilts from his Collection, but the exhibit format was comparing pairs of related quilts.  Holstein’s artist’s eye, which first got quilts on the Whitney walls, is well worth looking through as he talks about these quilts. And he shares some stories and photos which are a funky and fun view of his early buying days.

After I’ve written something like this, I find myself thinking “What if??” and recognizing how much I don’t know.  What if I had studied design or trained to be a museum curator? What if I had chosen, as Jonathan Holstein did, to center my professional life around quilts? Well, I didn’t, so I can just be grateful that Holstein was on the scene when he was, and that he continues to be active in the quilt/art world today.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

Biographical info https://quiltershalloffame.net/jonathan-holstein/

Karin Elizabeth Peterson, “Discourse and Display: The Modern Eye, Entrepreneurship, and the Cultural Transformation of the Patchwork Quilt,” Sociological Perspectives. Vol 46, Number 4, 2003

First Amish quilt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8vD8UhoBBM

Holstein quilts at International Quilt Museum https://www.internationalquiltmuseum.org/collections/search?title=&field_quilt_primary_pattern_tid=All&field_quiltmaker_value=&field_quilt_geo_origin_country_tid=All&field_quilt_geo_origin_state_reg_tid=All&field_quilt_predominant_techniqu_tid=All&field_quilt_object__value=&field_quilt_collection_tid=8024&field_quilt_date_range=&field_cultural_group_tid=All&combine=

Quilts in Common lecture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUs5m7AqvOY

Anna’s posts will now be posted on Wednesdays instead of Tuesdays. That’s tomorrow! We appreciate your patience!

Happy Quilting!

Deb Geyer

I have an item of housekeeping before I write about this week’s Honoree. A shout out to Dale Drake, who edits my rough drafts so you don’t have to be subjected to word salad, half-cut pastes and poor grammar.  I try very hard to grammatically follow the rules, but she always finds something that can corrected or improved. (Let’s see if she catches that last one.) Dale is the Chair of the Collections Committee at The Quilter’s Hall of Fame, a crafter (who do you know who still tats? or makes her own kaleidoscopes?), and a scholar who has researched her own quilting heritage (Louisiana cotonnade quilts from her Acadian ancestors).  And she still finds time to help me out every week.  Thanks, Dale!

OK, on to Rose Kretsinger, whom I thought would be a quickie because I was feeling lazy this week.  But I found lots of good stuff, as you’ll see, and went off on a few fun tangents.

Rose Kretsinger put Emporia, Kansas on the 1930’s quilting map. Coming from a Kansas family of crafters (grandmother made quilts, mother painted china, grandfather was a potter), Rose received formal training at the Art Institute of Chicago under Alphonse Mucha and others, graduating in 1908.  She worked for several years designing fabric and buying for Marshal Field’s department store and designing jewelry. When her marriage took her back to Kansas, she applied her knowledge and aesthetic to quilting.

That aesthetic was greatly influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement.  Following William Morris’ directive, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful,” she made quilts that embodied both ideals. It gave her joy, and throughout her career she sought joy in beauty.  You can read a bio of Rose Kretsinger at the Hall of Fame link below, or if you have time (and who isn’t looking for a diversion these days?) you can listen to a fleshed out story of her life given by scholar Jonathan Gregory of the International Quilt Study Center.

Let’s start with Rose’s masterpiece, Paradise Garden. It was chosen as one of the 100 Best Quilts of the Twentieth Century. You may be familiar with it as the classy peek-a-boo cover of the Hall of Fame book of Honorees.

Here’s a full view:

Spectacular, isn’t it?  But like so many quilts, this one stands on the shoulders of other quilters in a way that lets us explore Rose Kretsinger and her sense of beauty. It’s not a completely pretty story: Rose took second place in the 1942 National Needlework Contest sponsored by Woman’s Day magazine to a quilt by Pine Eisfeller. In a moment of sour grapes, Rose noted that it was a “poor design,” and went on to create her own version of a garden quilt. Here’s Eisfeller’s quilt:

So, what’s wrong with this design?  Let’s give it it’s due: it was an adaptation of a classic, taken from an early authority on quilt history—here’s a screenshot from the book.

Not only did Eisfeller’s quilt take first place in 1942, a quilt from that design won Viewer’s Choice in another national contest held by National Quilting Association in June 1977.  And to top things off, Eisfeller’s garden quilt was also named as one of the 100 Best Quilts of the Twentieth Century. Not too shabby for a “poor design”.

Eisfeller changed the Bowen quilt to her liking.  She says, “The original Garden quilt had more open space …but I wanted mine to be more flowery.” And it certainly is. But maybe that reduction of open space was what Kretsinger didn’t approve of. Certainly, Paradise Garden returns to the well-defined rings of white space. And I admire the relief from the curvilinear that is provided by the angular swag drape.  Eisfeller’s colors are sweet; Kretsinger’s are bold and rich—I think that’s just a matter of taste, not design.

Apparently, these garden medallions were the pinnacle of mid-30’s craftsmanship (kits abounded, and double wedding rings were easy by comparison). Here’s another Kansas version:

And they remain popular into the 21^st Century.

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What would Rose Kretsinger have to say about these designs? Would she complain that the green leaves are clunky, or object to the jumble of shapes (heart, squares)? Would she like Suiter’s limited palette? Here’s another of Kretsinger’s floral quilt designs for comparison.

Plenty of white space—check.  Complementary colors—check. Several values of each color – check. Framed circle—check.  Graceful curves—check. Good ratio between central image and border image—check.  Good design!  I’m beginning to feel like I’m channeling Rose Krestinger’s aesthetic.  So now I feel confident enough to critique one of her quilts.  Here’s her Indiana Wreath on the left and the frontispiece from Marie Webster’s book, embroidered with “E.J. Hart, July 1858,” on the right.  I like everything about Rose’s quilt better except her flattening of the points made by the grapes.  But, until I can applique like that, maybe I shouldn’t be criticizing.

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One last view of a garden quilt.  This one is taken from a book co-authored by another Hall of Fame Honoree, Barbara Brackman.  I’ll leave it to you to decide whether the corner  and border treatment  is something Kretsinger would have liked (hint: it’s origins are in Emporia); get the book for further reading.

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I’ll close by sharing the tangents I found. First, Hall of Fame’s own Deb Divine is from Salina, Kansas and has studied Rose Kretsinger and the Emporia crowd extensively.  She has given many living history presentations of Rose’s work to historical societies in the state.  Here she is talking about Rose’s 1926 quilt in the Antique Rose or Democratic Rose pattern. There’s a link below to Deb’s full presentation.

Way to go, Deb!  I love finding people I know when I’m searching for info about the Honorees.

The other tangent was discovering that Rose Kretsinger not only made quilts, she did some unusual garment sewing. Use the link to the Spencer Museum to see all of Rose’s quilts plus a bonus of three very creative items of clothing. I’m sure she had fun making them.

Which brings me full circle to close out this discussion of Rose Kretsinger and her search for joy through beauty.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

• Hall of Fame bio https://quiltershalloffame.net/rose-kretsinger/
• Jonathan Gregory’s presentation https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=219373075977880
• Collection of quilts and other items https://spencerartapps.ku.edu/collection-search#/artist/18103
• Deb Divine as Rose http://claycenterpiotiquequiltersguild.blogspot.com/2014/08/special-visit-from-rose-kretsinger.html

I wondered when I’d get a chance to say “It’s not rocket science” here.  And then I came across Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi.  This Honoree has a PhD. in aerospace engineering! But as intriguing as that might be, it’s not what she’s known for among quilters.

Dr. Mazloomi is an author who has written a dozen books on quilt related topics. Her book, Spirits of the Cloth (Random House), was given the “Best Non-Fiction Book of the Year” award by the American Library Association. She is also a curator and has presented numerous exhibitions of African-American quilts, beginning in 1998, “Spirits of the Cloth” at the American Craft Museum, New York City, New York and most recently in 2019 with “We Who Believe in Freedom” at the National Freedom Center Museum, Cincinnati, OH.  As the founder and general factotum of the Women of Color Quilters Network, she has helped preserve and promote the cultural significance of quilt-making in the African-American community.

You can read more about Dr. Mazloomi in the several links below—and you should because she has an impressive list of accomplishments.  But she has been called a fiber griot (a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, or musician), and I want to take a look at her quilts and the stories she tells with them. 

Dr. Mazloomi sees herself as a storyteller as well as a craftsperson; yes, the process may be exciting and wondrous, but what’s behind it is more significant. From an Oral history interview with Carolyn Mazloomi, 2002, September, 17-30, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution:

The ability to create a piece of work that’s graphically complex from a simple piece of cloth is fascinating. The ability to combine various pieces of cloth, various colors and textures of cloth, to create a graphic piece to me is mind-boggling…. It’s always about the story and the finished product. And I think as with all artists, all quilt-makers, as long as you’re living, as long as you can think, you will always have stories. If you lived 100 lives, you can’t get all these stories out…We will always have stories and you want to get them out, and that’s the satisfaction of quilt-making.

One of the big stories Dr. Mazloomi tells is family. In her view, this is a central cultural theme for African-American quilters.  In talking about their quilts, she says,

They were made for family. They were made for friends. And for us, friends are family. In the past it was about taking those bits of cloth, and still now in the South, taking old clothes and making them into a quilt to give to the grandkids or to one’s children. Again, you go back into that oral history about who we are and sharing who we are, and you know, sharing that with our families and friends. But that was the – that’s the backbone of African American quilt-making. Even to this day, the majority of the quilt-makers make the work for their family. And they love to show references of the family, or people in the family, on the quilts. That just binds the family, bonds them closer together, you know…. “I am quilting. This is my legacy for my children. This is what I leave for my children. I leave a bit of myself in these quilts for my children. I leave this for my family. This is who I am. This is who we are.”

Here is one of her own quilts—not for, but about, family. It’s made in a striking black and white woodcut style that she favors (when she’s not going wild with color). You can see more quilts in this series on her website linked below.

Another major theme is politics, because, as she says about herself and quilters of her generation,

Events in our lives that have happened to us socially and politically are reflected in our work, okay. We came up in that ‘60s and ‘70s generation; you know, we were the children of the civil rights movement. Of course, it’s going to be in our work, because we can’t forget that. You don’t live through that and leave it behind. People say we should leave it behind, but I’m bringing that baggage with me, because it’s just something I can’t forget. It’s something that I shouldn’t forget.  

Here is a quilt she made to honor the Selma March; it’s dedicated to the late John Lewis.

On another note, (pardon the pun), Dr.Malzoomi tells the story of jazz.  As a child she was close to and supported by an aunt who owned a juke joint.  In true griot fashion, Dr. Mazloomi sings the praises of this beloved woman through her portraits of Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, the jazz scene, and this quilt.

So many stories to tell! And what happens to these stories once the quilts are made? Dr. Malzoomi said in an interview for NEA Arts Magazine 2014,

When the quilters are in sync with the social and political and the cultural currents in their community, they render that in their artwork. So, the quilts are community property. It’s one of the ways that we as artists use this tool, these quilts, to foster knowledge. And it’s about engaging other people in our culture as well.

But they’re creating these community documents and actually they’re cultural documents. They’re pieces of history that tell the story of our culture, what’s happening here in the United States. They’re serious, serious cultural documents and I’m just in awe.

When you can look at something and it has the power to touch you and inform, then you’ve done your job as an artist. And I often tell the quilt makers sometimes you can make a quilt that’s so powerful in story and it touches so many people. Then you have lost that quilt, because the quilt does not spiritually belong to you anymore. It belongs to the public. It belongs to the people that see it because it becomes a part of their spirit, and it’s touched them in such a way that is so profound it becomes unforgettable.

I don’t make quilts like this—it’s not in my cultural tradition or my personal inclination, but I’m glad that Dr. Mazloomi and the other artists she has encouraged to keep up this work are out there touching our spirits. I imagine she has “lost” a lot of quilts over the years.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

All quotes, unless otherwise noted, are from Oral history interview with Carolyn Mazloomi, 2002 September 17-30. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Further reading and viewing:

Carolyn’s Website: https://carolynlmazloomi.com

On The Quilters Hall of Fame website: https://quiltershalloffame.net/carolyn-mazloomi/

Oral history interview https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-carolyn-mazloomi-11504#transcript 

Dr. Mazloomi will be the Keynote Speaker at Virtual AQSG 2020 Saturday, October 3, 2020. “Surviving Blackness in America:
Quilts as Political Statement” https://americanquiltstudygroup.org/