Music
on
QUILTS via BOOKS, ET CETERA
Unlike many quilters, I did not have any immediate family quilters as role models. Neither my mother nor grandmother ever made a quilt. In 1984, I learned to cross-stitch and enrolled in an eight week beginners quilting class after seeing a quilt with cross-stitched squares. My intent was to make one quilt in my life. I did not consider myself a quilter until 1991 when I met master quilter Marie Wilson of Brooklyn,New York and she saw my cross-stitched quilt, "A Record Of A Rich Heritage". Her endorsement of my work resulted in it being included in an already planned exhibition at a Manhattan Art Gallery and re-evaluation of my quilting skills. The educator in me, either subtly or overtly, slips a lesson into each quilt - love of God, heritage, family, children, and respect for accomplishments. My quilting style is to combine various techniques such as applique, cross-stitch, photo transfer,piecing, dyeing, and painting to create original art quilts. Because the inspiration for my work tends to come during sleep, I chose SOMEWHERE OUT THERE as the music for this page.
My quilts have taken on an interesting life of their own. They have been seen in many Museums and Art Galleries across the United States, including two different exhibitions at The Smithsonian; in Cape Town,Pretoria and Namibia (South Africa); and in Lyons, France. Interest in them have led to my giving many lectures to guilds, colleges and museums, including The APEX (Atlanta),The American Folk Art Museum (NYC) and The Cleveland (OH) Museum of Art. They have been a part of several NATIONAL EXHIBITIONS and the focus of four solo Exhibitions, Legacies in Fiber: The Quilts of Marlene O'Bryant-Seabrook at the Charleston(SC) City Gallery located in the Dock Street Theater, Legacies in Fiber: The Story Quilts of Marlene O'Bryant-Seabrook at the Chelsea Gallery, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC, Stories in Fiber: The Quilts of Marlene O'Bryant-Seabrook at the Avery Research Center, College of Charleston,(SC), and In The Spirit of Sankofa: The Art Quilts of Marlene O'Bryant-Seabrook at the Burroughs-Chapin Art Museum, Myrtle Beach, SC. My work is included in eight books. (To order a copy, click on the book.)
CONTEMPORARY PICTORIAL QUILTS by Wendy Lavitt (1993), contains an outstanding display by eighty-five quilters from all over the country. Represented artists are both professionals working in well-equipped studios and those working at home snatching blocks of time. My quilts may be seen on pages 74 and 78.
A COMMUNION OF THE SPIRITS:African American Quilters, Preservers, and their Stories by Roland Freeman (1996), is the first national survey of African-American quiltmakers. Freeman, a first-class photodocumentarian, traveled to thirty-eight states and D.C. over a twenty year period to produce the more than 300 photographs and interview the subjcts of this masterpiece. He was intrigued by quilts as a young boy and became a man impassioned by quilts, but with no restrictions based on workmanship. He honors the artistry inherent in ALL quilts. An Exhibition of photographs and a few quilts, based on the book, traveled from January, 1997 to September 2001. My quilt which pays homage to Harriet Powers was a permanent part of the Exhibition. Information about me and photos of my work are found on pages 338-41, and 386.
SPIRITS OF THE CLOTH: Contemporary African-American Quilts
by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi (1998) is dazzling. In a culture that still perceives quilting as a utilitarian craft, one's senses are not prepared for the bombardment of first class ART . The colors and techniques defy description. Dr. Mazloomi's book detroys the myth of THE African-American quilt. For photos of my work and information about me, see pages 15,46,51, and 186.
LIVES IN PROCESS: Creativity In The Second Fifty Years by Dottie Moore and photographer, Michael Harrison, (2002) is a strikingly visual, self-affirming experience. Even though the multimedia book is contained on a single CD, it is a real 170+ page BOOK. In 1996, Dottie and Michael spent a day with me at my home. While Michael took numerous photos, Dottie and I talked about my views as a quilt artist and about her Project - her plans for a major exhibition, a book, etc. Photos of me and my work may be seen on pages 27 and 57-58.
BLACK THREADS: An African American Quilting Sourcebook (2003) by Kyra Hicks is the first comprehensive guide to African American quilt history and contemporary practices. It includes over 1,700 bibliographic references; primary research by Kyra on Internet usage of African American quilters; a listing of over 100 museums with African American-made quilts in their permanent collections; a directory of African American quilting groups in 29 states; and a detailed timeline covering 200 years of African American quilting and needle arts events. Information about me and my quilts is found on pages 30,41,50,70,72, 85,103 and 117.
THREADS OF FAITH: Recent Works from the Women of Color Quilters Network (2004) is the hard back catalog of the exhibition of the same name, co-curated by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi and Dr. Patricia Pongracz. Entries are divided into five thematic categories: biblical narratives (Sacred Moments: From Scripture to Cloth), women and family (Bearing Witness), prayers and spiritual mediations (Hope: The Anchor of Our Souls), worship through the arts (Blessed are the Piece Makers), and African American experiences (We Have Come This Far by Faith). "The varied individual perceptions of and responses to the role faith plays in the larger world are recorded in the artists’ own words." My quilt and its story are on pages 68 and 69. Additional listings are on pp. 15,21,171,and 175. On the cover (top,center), is a "detail" image of the quilt. The "snake" quilt, shown on page 28, was purchased from a Gees Bend quilter and is a part of my collection.
I REMEMBER MAMA (2005) features full-color photos of the 164 quilts, along with artist statements, which have been part of three different special exhibits - 2003,2004,2005 - of the same name seen at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX. The book/catalogue by Karey Patterson Bresenhan includes my quilt,"Lessons Learned" which is pictured on page 37.
TEXTURAL RHYTHMS:Quilting The Jazz Tradition (2007) is the hard back catalog of the exhibition of the same name,curated by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi. The 83 quilts pictured include traditional, improvisational, and art quilts from some of the countries best known African American quilters. "Textural Rhythms:Quilting the Jazz Tradition" unites the two most well known and popular artistic forms in African American culture - jazz and quilts. My quilt, "Strange Fruit" is pictured on page 94.
QUILTING AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN'S HISTORY: Our Challenges, Creativity, and Champions (2008) is the hard back catalog of the exhibition of the same name,curated by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi. The 100 quilts pictured were created by 55 contemporary artists - some are the best known African American quilters in the United States. My quilts, "Roots AND Wings: A Millennium Challenge" and "Camouflaged" are pictured on pages 134 - 137.
In 1995 my paper, Symbiotic Stitches: The Quilts of Maggie McFarland Gillispie and her Son, John Gillispie, Jr., was selected for presentation at their convention in Paducah, Kentucky and publication by the American Quilt Study Group (AQSG). Annually, AQSG invites manuscripts of 4500 to 9000 words - based on original research of the author - for possible presentation at its annual Seminar. Accepted papers are published in the annual volume of their scholarly journal, UNCOVERINGS. You may read my paper in UNCOVERINGS 1995: Volume 16 of the Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group, pages 175-198.
Like many Southern African-American women, Maggie McFarland Gillespie was taught to quilt by her mother. She, in turn, passed the skill to her only child-a son. This paper reviews the literature on Southern matrilineal quilters, discusses the exixtence of African males in the textile arts in Africa and during slavery, and explains how European gender-role ideology has permeated the African-American male views of quilting and other needle arts. The details of this extraordinary story of an inseparable mother and child are based on an oral history and other primary sources.
This work provides a model to use in quilt research among people under-represented in printed sources.
I have followed my quilts to inclusion in Dottie Moore's, PIECING A QUILT OF LIFE project which honors fiber artists over the age of fifty. I am pictured in the lower right corner of the brochure. This project has produced two Exhibitions and includes lectures, workshops, a newsletter, Creative Traces, and a thirty minute documentary which has been shown on the South Carolina Educational Television network.
In October 1998, LIVING IN SOUTH CAROLINA magazine profiled me as one of the top nine quilters in the state. The top and left side of the cover show details from my quilt which honors the sixteen Americans who won the Nobel Peace Prize.(That quilt is shown on the LAUREATES page. Those are faces on the flowers. )
I am pictured first row across,third.
My review of the book, Hidden in Plain View: The Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad by Jacqueline Tobin and Dr. Raymond Dobard, appears in the Spring 2000 Volume of THE AVERY REVIEW, pages 131-134. This scholarly journal, published semiannually by the College of Charleston's Avery Research Center For African-American History and Culture, focuses primarily on African-American studies in the South Carolina LowCountry. Mrs. Ozella Williams, the subject of the book, sold quilts in Charleston's Old Market.
Click On Quilt Block To Read About Some Fascinating Quilters That I Have Met. 