American art by Black self taught artists from the 20th and 21st centuries is a broader and better form than previously admitted. Currently,museums struggle to become more inclusive. Above all,they give new prominence to neglected works. Moreover, William Arnett and his Souls Grown Deep Foundation helped to shine a light. Their focus is the important achievement of black self-taught artists of the American South. In other words,these artists were born of extreme deprivation and social cruelty.
About the Photograph
Thornton Dial’s two-sided relief-painting-assemblage. “History Refused to Die” (2004) gives this Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition its title. His work is in conversation with quilts. From the left, Lola Pettway (“Housetop,” circa 1975); Lucy T. Pettway (“Housetop” and “Bricklayer” blocks with bars, circa 1955); and Annie Mae Young (“Work-clothes quilt with center medallion of strips,” from 1976). Credit 2018 Estate of Thornton Dial/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Agaton Strom for The New York Times
Souls Grown Deep Foundation
The Souls Grown Deep Foundation is in the process of sharing the entirety of its considerable holdings. Meanwhile,some 1,200 works by more than 160 artists are sent to museums across the country. In short,this will have a substantial impact on black self taught artists.
An Electrifying Sense of Change for Black Self Taught Artists
The Met’s curators took nearly two years and several trips to Atlanta to finalize their selection. Moreover,they chose well. In short,the show seems nearly perfect in art, installation and greatness. Randall R. Griffey and Amelia Peck, curators, organized well.
Lonnie Holley’s 1982 sculpture “Ruling for the Child,” at left, and Thornton Dial’s “The End of November: The Birds That Didn’t Learn How to Fly,”
Majestic Effect
Furthermore,the effect is majestic. In short,the show validates the art’s stature. It transforms the Met’s footprint of African art and American folk art. Nine of Thornton Dial’s fierce, self-aware works are here. Mostly his relief paintings. Three extraordinary drawings commemorate Sept. 11, Florence Griffith Joyner and Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration.
Gee’s Bend Quilts
A dozen of the geometric quilts are here. Both muted and boisterous, they challenge the conventional history of abstraction. Furthermore,they reflect the talents of the Gee’s Bend collective, especially those of the Pettway family. Truly, black self taught artists.Nearly everything included is made from scavenged objects and materials, scraps of the shameful history of black labor in the South. One of the most valuable lessons here is the works’ inherent sense of defiance. In short,their beauty in itself as an act of resistance.
Gee’s Bend, Abstract art, black and white , violet and orange
Two very Different Galleries
The show’s two galleries have very different emotional and visual tones. After beckoning you from down the corridor with the bright colors and joyful asymmetry of Loretta Pettway’s “Medallion” quilt (circa 1960), the exhibition starts with a room of works nearly devoid of color.
“Shadows of the Field”
Dial’s “Shadows of the Field” (2008) evokes haunted expanses of cotton plants with the help of strips of synthetic cotton batting. Along one wall, the “work-clothes” quilts of Lucy Mingo and four other Gee’s Benders reflect lives of hard labor and scrimping. Their fabrics are almost exclusively blues and gray denim whose worn textures and faded colors are masterfully played off one another.Emma Lee Pettway Campbell’s Blocks are strips work-clothes quilt from around 1950.All things considered they are accomplished black self taught artists.
Thornton Dial’s “Shadows of the Field” (2008)
Joe Minter’s 1995 symmetrical arrangement of rusted shovels, rakes, hoes and chains, seems to bless the whole room. Regal and severe, it suggests both a group of figures and an altar. Moreover,its title pulls no punches: “Four Hundred Years of Free Labor.”
Joe Minter’s “Four Hundred Years of Free Labor”
Second Gallery of Black Self Taught Artists
The second gallery erupts in color brilliant in palette as in use of materials. Gee’s Bend quilts deliver. Lucy T. Pettway’s traditional housetop and bricklayer patterns are in a quilt from around 1955. Annie Mae Young’s 1976 work brings together the quilt tradition of a medallion of burning stripes of contrasting corduroy with a broad denim work-clothes border.
A dozen of the 18 geometric quilts included in the Souls Grown Deep Foundation gift are here, including Lucy T. Pettway’s “Housetop” and “Bricklayer” blocks with bars, left, and Mary Elizabeth Kennedy’s “Housetop-nine-block ‘Log Cabin’ variation.”Credit2018 Lucy T. Pettway/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Agaton Strom for the New York Times
Jaw-dropping Dial
Blessing the artworks here is a jaw-dropping Dial: a two-sided relief-painting-assemblage. It is the source of the exhibition’s title, “History Refused to Die.” One side shows a couple chained to, yet sheltered, to a white metal structure. Surrounded by a wild expanse,pieces of fabric knotted seem to billow and blow like a stormy sea or clouds.
The Other Side
The other side is a rough weaving of the straight stalks of the okra plant. Okra came to the United States from Africa during the slave trade. Its scattered colors are primarily the red, black, green and yellow. The same colors as the 13-striped Afro-American flag. At the upper right, the simple silhouette of a white dove of peace or freedom. At the top, a row of short steel angle beams are spray-painted with horizontal dashes of browns and black.
Similarly Simply Masterpieces
Several other works here are similarly simply masterpieces. In “Locked Up Their Minds,” Purvis Young offers his own version of James Ensor’s “Christ’s Entry Into Brussels in 1889.” Young’s large painting on wood shows a group of black figures. Some of the figures have halos. Others are holding up padlocks signifying their freed minds to flocks of angels. Two immense white horses add to the drama. The show’s final piece is Dial’s ironically titled “Victory in Iraq,” a painting from 2004. It hangs just outside the second gallery. Its barbed wire and twisted mesh against a field of fabric defines and holds the space.
Inspiration and the Wonder of the Collider Event Display
Inspiration and the Collider Event Display on a Tuesday 7/3/18
Ben, the physicist studies collider event displays. I, the art quilter looks for inspiration. We had our second meeting at my studio in the Santa Cruz Art Center, 1001 Center St. Downtown Santa Cruz. My studio is 243 square feet small but I have 3 walls to show my work on.
Fabric Layering Technique
I had a fabric layering piece in progress on my table. Then I explained the technique to Ben. First, I lay a piece of backing fabric on the table. I cover it with batting, the soft material inside of a quilt. Finally, I cover the piece with tulle netting and free motion quilt the three layers together. I like using this technique for making underwater fantasies and landscape quilts. I had previously made an interactive activity with precut fish and kelp for visitors to create an underwater scene. Since Ben had expressed an interest in creating some art as well, I thought that this would be a good introduction to the materials. It’s hard to create art on demand so Ben took it home to play with.
My inspiration comes from Fabmo
My inspiration comes from the materials and how they play together. Many of the materials I use come from FABMO(Fabric and more) http://fabmo.org/fabmo/Home.html. It is an all volunteer nonprofit based in Mountain View. It turns out that Ben lives nearby and jogs on the same street regularly. Each week FABMO volunteers visit the San Francisco Design Center. They collect materials; fabric samples, decorative details, wall paper sample, tiles, that would otherwise end up in the landfill. These materials available to the public for a donation. They even come to Harvey West Park in Santa Cruz about 5 times a year. I have been volunteering there for about 9 years. I am very passionate about sharing the work FABMO does as well as using their unique materials.
How do I Solve Problems?
Ben asked about limitations that I might have in my work. How do I solve problems? I find it necessary at times to stop when working on a piece.Then I return later to look at the work with “fresh eyes”. What else can be done to make it better? Are the colors and textures balanced? I had to admit that I do not stress too much about choices I make while making my art.
Let’s take a break.
Time for . . .
Fun Facts for Nonscientists
A cell is made up of molecules. A molecule is made up of atoms. An atom is made up of sub-atomic particles. Sub-atomic particles are made up of electrons and nucleons. A nucleon has protons and neutrons in it. A quark is smaller than that.
THE MYSTERY OF THE COLLIDER EVENT DISPLAY
At our first meeting, Ben, the collaborator had shown me photos of some collider event displays. Incredibly, they looked like fibers. He hoped that they might prove to be an inspiration. Some threadlike lines created a circle and crossed at the diameter. As far as art, they struck me as fairly uninspiring. However, after hearing the science behind it, they became much more interesting. Do not confuse a collider event display with a cardboard event display from a sales convention.
Path of One Particle
For example,each line represents the trajectory or path of one particle after a crash like event. The scientists break apart the particles to study them. The fallout from the crash like events can be predicted. The lines represent what it would look like after many collider events. When someone understands what they are really looking at, it becomes more interesting. Eureka! I created a truly inspired fiber piece with different threads, thicknesses, and colors. Above all, the scientific explanation solved the mystery of the uninspired photo.https://annbaldwinmayartquilts.com/2019/02/fusion-of-art-and-physics-ii/
Jessie T. Pettway (born 1929) String-pieced columns c. 1950 Cotton 95 x 76 in. (Collection of the Tinwood Alliance)
Fabric of Their Lives
The quilters of Gee’s Bend, Alabama lives have been transformed by worldwide acclaim for their artistry By Amei Wallach
SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2006
This article from 2006 is still a great resource.
Recollectin’
Annie Mae Young of Gee’s Bend is looking at a photograph of a quilt she pieced together out of strips torn from well-worn cotton shirts and polyester pants. “I was doing this quilt at the time of the civil rights movement,” she says, contemplating its jazzy, free-form squares. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Young’s hometown of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, around that time. “I came over here to Gee’s Bend to tell you, You are somebody,” he shouted over a heavy rain late one winter night in 1965. A few days later, Young and many of her friends took off their aprons, laid down their hoes and rode over to the county seat of Camden, where they gathered outside the old jailhouse.
Martin Luther King Jr., his visit
“We were waiting for Martin Luther King, and when he drove up, we were all slappin’ and singin’,” Young, 78, tells me. I visited Gee’s Bend, a small rural community on a peninsula at a deep bend in the Alabama River. Wearing a red turban and an apron bright with pink peaches and yellow grapes, she stands in the doorway of her brick bungalow at the end of a dirt road. Swaying to a rhythm that nearly everyone in town knows from a lifetime of churchgoing, she breaks into song: “We shall overcome, we shall overcome….”
His Words
“We were all just happy to see him coming,” she says. “Then he stood out there on the ground. He was talking about how we should wait on a bus to come. We were all going to march. We got loaded on the bus. But we didn’t get a chance to do it, ’cause we got put in jail,” she says.
Many who marched or registered to vote in rural Alabama in the 1960s lost their jobs. Some even lost their homes. The residents of Gee’s Bend, 60 miles southwest of Montgomery, lost the ferry that connected them to Camden and a direct route to the outside world. “We didn’t close the ferry because they were black,” Sheriff Lummie Jenkins reportedly said at the time. “We closed it because they forgot they were black.”
Most Miraculous Works
Six of Young’s quilts, together with 64 by other Gee’s Bend residents, have been traveling around the United States. The exhibition that has transformed the way many people think about art. Gee’s Bend’s “eye-poppingly gorgeous” quilts, wrote New York Times art critic Michael Kimmelman, “turn out to be some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced. Imagine Matisse and Klee arising not from rarefied Europe, but from the caramel soil of the rural South.”
From the South
If you think I’m wildly exaggerating, then you must see the show. Curator Jane Livingston helped organize the exhibition with collector William Arnett and art historians John Beardsley and Alvia Wardlaw. Livingston said the quilts “rank with the finest abstract art of any tradition.” After stops in such cities as New York, Washington, D.C., Cleveland, Boston and Atlanta, “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend” will end its tour at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s de Young Museum December 31.
Young’s Work
The bold drama of the quilt Young was working on in 1965 is also found in a quilt she made out of work clothes 11 years later. The central design of red and orange corduroy in that quilt suggests prison bars. The faded denim that surrounds it could be a comment on the American dream. But Young had more practical considerations. “When I put the quilt together,” she says, “it wasn’t big enough, and I had to get some more material and make it bigger, so I had these old jeans to make it bigger.”
Good Money for Raggedy Old Quilts
Collector William Arnett was working on a history of African American vernacular art in 1998. At that time, he came across a photograph of Young’s work-clothes quilt draped over a woodpile. He was so knocked out by its originality, he set out to find it. A couple of phone calls and some creative research later, he and his son Matt tracked Young down to Gee’s Bend. They then showed up unannounced at her door late one evening.
A Quilt for Free?
Young had burned some quilts the week before (smoke from burning cotton drives off mosquitoes). At first she thought the quilt in the photograph had been among them. But the next day, after scouring closets and searching under beds, she found it and offered it to Arnett for free. Arnett, however, insisted on writing her a check for a few thousand dollars for that quilt and several others. (Young took the check straight to the bank.) Soon the word spread through Gee’s Bend that there was a unbelievable white man in town paying good money for raggedy old quilts.
The First Show
When Arnett showed photos of the quilts made by Young and other Gee’s Benders to Peter Marzio, of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), he was so impressed that he agreed to put on an exhibition. “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend” opened there in September 2002.
Reviving a Dying Art
The exhibition revived what had been a dying art in Gee’s Bend. Some of the quilters, who had given in to age and arthritis, are now back quilting again. Many of their children and grandchildren, some of whom had moved away from Gee’s Bend, have taken up quilting themselves. With the help of Arnett and his nonprofit, Tinwood Alliance, fifty local women founded the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective in 2003. Their mission to market their quilts. Some of which now sell for more than $20,000. Part of the money goes directly to the maker. The rest goes to the collective for expenses and to share with the other members.
A Second Exhibition
Now a second exhibition, “Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt,” has been organized by the MFAH and the Tinwood Alliance. The show features newly discovered quilts from the 1930s to the 1980s.It also includes more recent works by established quilters and the younger generation they inspired. The exhibition will travel to seven other venues, including the Indianapolis Museum of Art (October 8-December 31) and the Orlando Museum of Art (January 27-May 13, 2007).
Arlonzia Pettway
Arlonzia Pettway lives in a neat, recently renovated house off a road plagued with potholes. The road passes by cows and goats grazing outside robin’s-egg blue and brown bungalows. “I remember some things, honey,” Pettway, 83, told me. “I came through a hard life. We weren’t bought and sold. But we were still slaves until 20, 30 years ago. The white man would go to everybody’s field and say, ‘Why you not at work?” She paused. “What do you think a slave is?”
Her Family Quilted
As a girl, Pettway would watch her grandmother, Sally, and her mother, Missouri, piecing quilts. She would listen to their stories. Many of the stories were about Dinah Miller. She had been brought to the United States in a slave ship in 1859. “My great-grandmother Dinah was sold for a dime,” Pettway said. “Her dad, brother and mother were sold to different people. She didn’t see them no more. My great-grandfather was a Cherokee Indian. Dinah was made to sleep with this big Indian like you stud your cow…. You couldn’t have no skinny children working on your slave master’s farm.” In addition to Pettway, some 20 other Gee’s Bend quiltmakers are Dinah’s descendants.
A Long Quilting Tradition
The quilting tradition in Gee’s Bend may go back as far as the early 1800s. At that time, the community was the site of a cotton plantation owned by a Joseph Gee. Influenced by the patterned textiles of Africa, the women slaves began piecing strips of cloth together to make bedcovers. Throughout the post-bellum years of tenant farming and well into the 20th century, Gee’s Bend women made quilts.They were needed to keep themselves and their children warm in unheated shacks. The shacks also lacked running water, telephones and electricity. Along the way they developed a distinctive style, noted for its lively improvisations and geometric simplicity.
Hard Laborers
Gee’s Bend individuals grew and picked cotton, peanuts, okra, corn, peas and potatoes. When there was no money to buy seed or fertilizer, they borrowed one or both from Camden businessman E. O. Rentz. The interest rates were such that only those without any other choice would pay. Then came the Depression. In 1931 the price of cotton plummeted. Cotton went from about 40 cents a pound in the early 1920s, to about a nickel. When Rentz died in 1932, his widow foreclosed on some 60 Gee’s Bend families. It was late fall, and winter was coming.
The Depression
“They took everything and left people to die,” Pettway said. Her mother was making a quilt out of old clothes when she heard the cries outside. She sewed four wide shirttails into a sack. The men in the family filled the sack with corn and sweet potatoes and hid in a ditch. When the agent for Rentz’s widow came around to seize the family’s hens, Pettway’s mother threatened him with a hoe. “I’m a good Christian, but I’ll chop his damn brains out,” she said. The man got in his wagon and left. “He didn’t get to my mama that day,” Pettway told me.
Problems Continued
Pettway remembered that her friends and neighbors foraged for berries, hunted possum and squirrels. But mostly went hungry that winter. Then a boat with flour and meal sent by the Red Cross arrived in early 1933. The following year, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration provided small loans for seed, fertilizer, tools and livestock. Then, in 1937, the government’s Resettlement Administration (later the Farm Security Administration) bought up 10,000 Gee’s Bend acres. The land sold them as tiny farms to local families.
A Memory Quilt
In 1941, when Pettway was in her late teens, her father died. “Mama said, ‘I’m going to take his work clothes, shape them into a quilt to remember him, and cover up under it for love.’” There were hardly enough pants legs and shirttails to make up a quilt. But she managed. That quilt made of rectangles of faded gray, white, blue and red is included in the first exhibition. A year later, Arlonzia married Bizzell Pettway. They moved into one of the new houses built by the government. They had 12 children. But no electricity until 1964 and no running water until 1974.
In the Same House
A widow for more than 30 years, Arlonzia still lives in that same house. Her mother, Missouri made a quilt she called “Path Through the Woods.” The quilt was inspired after the 1960s freedom marches. A quilt that Pettway pieced together during that period, “Chinese Coins”, is a medley of pinks and purples. A friend had given her purple scraps from a clothing factory in a nearby town.
Better Times
“At the time I was making that quilt, I was feeling something was going to happen better, and it did,” Pettway says. “Last time I counted I had 32 grandchildren and I think between 13 and 14 great-grands. I’m blessed now more than many. I have my home and land. I have a deepfreeze five feet long with chicken wings, neck bones and pork chops.”
Lots of Pettways
The first exhibition featured seven quilts by Loretta Pettway, Arlonzia Pettway’s first cousin. (One in three of Gee’s Bend’s 700 residents is named Pettway, after slave owner Mark H. Pettway.) Loretta, 64, says she made her early quilts out of work clothes. “I was about 16 when I learned to quilt from my grandmama,” she says. “I just loved it. That’s all I wanted to do, quilt. But I had to work farming cotton, corn, peas and potatoes, making syrup, putting up soup in jars. I was working other people’s fields too. Saturdays I would hire out. Sometimes I would hire out Sundays, too. I needed to give my kids some food.
After Work
When I finished my chores, I’d sit down and do like I’m doing nowI would get the clothes together and tear them and piece. Then in summer, I would quilt outside under the big oak.” She fingers the fabric pieces in her lap. “I thank God that people want me to make quilts,” she says. “I feel proud. The Lord lead me and guide me. He give me strength to make this quilt with love and peace and happiness so somebody would enjoy it. That makes me feel happy. I’m doing something with my life.”
A Dam and Lock
In 1962 the U.S. Congress ordered the construction of a dam and lock on the Alabama River at Miller’s Ferry, just south of Gee’s Bend. The 17,200-acre reservoir created by the dam in the late 1960s flooded much of Gee’s Bend’s best farming land, forcing many residents to give up farming. “And thank God for that,” says Loretta. “Farming wasn’t nothing but hard work. And at the end of the year you couldn’t get nothing. The little you got went for cottonseed.”
Quilts all the Time
Around that time, a number of Gee’s Bend women began making quilts for the Freedom Quilting Bee,. This organization was founded in 1966 by civil rights worker and Episcopalian priest Francis X. Walter. He wanted to provide a source of income for the local community. For a while, the bee (which operated for about three decades) sold quilts to such stores as Bloomingdale’s, Sears, Saks and Bonwit Teller. But the stores wanted assembly-line quilts. They had to be orderly with familiar patterns and precise stitching. A far cry from the individual improvised and unexpected patterns and color combinations that characterized the Gee’s Bend quilts.
Personal Quilts
“My quilts looked beautiful to me, because I made what I could make from my head,” Loretta told me. “When I start I don’t want to stop until I finish. If I stop, the ideas are going to go one way and my mind another way. So I just try to do it while I have ideas in my mind.”
Loretta’s Work
Loretta had been too ill to attend the opening of the first exhibition in Houston. But she wore a bright red jacket and a wrist corsage of roses to the opening of the second show last spring. Going there on the bus, “I didn’t close my eyes the whole way,” she says. “I was so happy, I had to sightsee.”
In the New Show
In the new show was her 2003 take on the popular “Housetop” pattern. It is a variant of the traditional “Log Cabin” design. Her piece is an explosion of red polka dots, zany stripes and crooked frames within frames. It is a dramatic change from the faded colors and somber patterns of her early work-clothes quilts. Two other quilts made by Loretta are among those represented on a series of Gee’s Bend stamps issued this past August by the U.S. Postal Service. “I just had scraps of what I could find,” she says about her early work. “Now I see my quilts hanging in a museum. Thank God I see my quilts on the wall. I found my way.”
Mary Lee Bendolph
Mary Lee Bendolph, 71, speaks in a husky voice and has a hearty, throaty laugh. At the opening of the new exhibition in Houston, she sported large rhinestone earrings and a chic black dress. For some years, kidney disease had slowed her quiltmaking. But the first exhibition, she says, “spunked me to go a little further, to try and make my quilts a little more updated.” Her latest quilts fracture her backyard views and other local scenes. They are fractured in the way Cubism fragmented the cafés and countryside of France. Her quilts share a gallery with those of her daughter-in-law, Louisiana Pettway Bendolph.
Mary Lee Bendolph
Louisiana now lives in Mobile, Alabama. But she remembers hot, endless days picking cotton as a child in the fields around Gee’s Bend. From age 6 to 16, she says, the only time she could go to school was when it rained. The only play was softball and quiltmaking. Her mother, Rita Mae Pettway, invited her to the opening in Houston of the first quilt show. On the bus ride home, she says, she “had a kind of vision of quilts.” She made drawings of what would become the quilts in the new exhibition. The shapes seem to float and recede as if in three dimensions.
Quilting helped redirect my life
“Quilting helped redirect my life and put it back together,” Louisiana says. “I worked at a fast-food place and a sewing factory. When the sewing factory closed, I stayed home to be a housewife. You just want your kids to see you in a different light.You want them to see you as someone they can admire. Well, my children came into this museum. I saw their faces.”
Quiltmaking is History and Family
To Louisiana, 46, quiltmaking is history and family. “Generally,we think of inheriting as land or something, not things that people teach you,” she says. “We came from cotton fields. We came through hard times. Now we look back and see what all these people before us have done. They brought us here, and to say thank you is not enough.” Now her 11-year-old granddaughter has taken up quiltmaking. She, however, does her drawings on a computer.
Well Deserved Fame
In Gee’s Bend not long ago, her great-grandmother Mary Lee Bendolph picked some pecans to make into candy. She had to have candy on hand for the children. The only store in town is often closed. Then she soaked her feet. Sitting on her screened-in porch, she smiled. “I’m famous,” she said. “And look how old I am.” She laughed. “I enjoy it.”
Marion Coleman Art Quilter receives an impressive award! Today the National Endowment for the Arts is announcing the newest recipients of the NEA National Heritage Fellowships. Moreover,they range from an old-time fiddler to a Day of the Dead altar maker to an R&B musician. The NEA National Heritage Fellowships are awarded annually by the National Endowment for the Arts. Certainly,they highlight the breadth and excellence of the artistic traditions found in communities across the United States. As a result,the 2018 recipients will receive a $25,000 award. Furthermore they are honored in Washington, DC at an awards ceremony. In addition they are presented at a free concert on September 28, 2018. The concert will be streamed live at arts.gov.
Ethel Raim(New York, NY)—traditional music and dance advocate In addition,Raim is the recipient of the 2018 Bess Lomax Hawes NEA National Heritage Fellowship. It is in recognition of an individual who has made a significant contribution to the preservation and awareness of cultural heritage. 2018 NEA National Heritage Fellows
“The 2018 NEA National Heritage Fellows have dedicated their lives to mastering these distinctive art forms. As well as sharing them with new audiences both within their communities and nationwide,” said Mary Anne Carter, acting chairman for the National Endowment for the Arts. “We look forward to celebrating them and their incredible artistic accomplishments this fall.”
About the NEA National Heritage Fellowships
The National Heritage Fellowships is the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. It recognizes the recipients’ artistic excellence. Furthermore it supports their continuing contributions to our nation’s traditional arts heritage. Over the years including the 2018 class, the NEA has awarded 431 NEA National Heritage Fellowships.
200 Distinct Art Forms
Recognizing artists in More than 200 distinct art forms. Former winners included bluesman B.B. King, Cajun fiddler and composer Michael Doucet, sweetgrass basketweaver Mary Jackson, cowboy poet Wally McRae, Kathak dancer and choreographer Chitresh Das, and gospel and soul singer Mavis Staples. More information about the NEA National Heritage Fellows is available on the NEA’s website. https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage
Nominated by the Public
Initially,the public nominates the Fellowship recipients. The recommendation is often by members of their own communities. Then a panel of experts in the folk and traditional arts judges the work. After that,the panel’s recommendations are reviewed by the National Council on the Arts. Afterwards they sends the recommendations to the NEA chairman. Finally,the chairman who makes the final decision.
Class of 2019
In addition,the NEA is currently accepting nominations for the 2019 class of NEA National Heritage Fellowships. The deadline is July 30, 2018. Finally,visit the NEA’s website for more information and to submit a nomination.
First of all, I am delighted and excited to announce that I am the recipient of a 2018 NEA National Heritage Fellowship. Certainly,many thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts for this tremendous honor. Above all,I remain grateful to the African American Quilt Guild of Oakland, the Women of Color Quilters Network, family and friends for your support through the years.
Thank you Congressman Eric Swalwell
In addition,thank you Congressman Eric Swalwell for your visit. It was a delight to share my quilts with you. Moreover, thank you Ora Clay for your encouragement and support. In addition,thanks to the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) for helping me and others reach and teach community members to enjoy quilting. Certainly,congratulations to the other NEA fellows. #NEAHeritage18
The gloomy June coastal overcast was just lifting as I stepped off the bus on Science Hill at the University of California, Santa Cruz(UCSC). The sun was out but a coolness in the air remained. A slight hint of redwood filled the air. Having been on campus numerous times but I hadn’t recalled the loveliness of the fragrance. Enchanting, it was.The collaboration between the artist and the scientist is about to begin learning from guarding chalk to black holes.
Bridge from one side of campus to the other.
The Physics Office
I enjoyed the short walk to Benjamin Lehmann’s office in the Interdisplinary Science Building. I had never been there,but I had been to the nearby Science Library. After arriving a bit early, I took the opportunity to look around the lobby . I snuck a look at the photos of professors and PhD candidates on the wall. As it was finals week, the lobby was busy with a diverse group of students working on their laptops. The days of science being a males only field are over.
Ann Baldwin May 2018, art quilterBenjamin Lehmann, Phd physics studentBen’s office
Ben’s Office-From Guarding Chalk to Black Holes
When Ben arrived, he showed me his office, a small room with 4 desks and a chalkboard. Evidently, physicists resisted the change to white boards. They have been able to continue with chalk and blackboards for their labors. Each grad student guards their special stash of chalk. As a retired elementary school teacher who spent most of her career teaching from a chalk board, I found the practice relatable and charming.
The Search for Common Ground
We began taking baby steps to find common ground to work together. Ben pulled up some images,photos,charts and graphs on his computer that he thought might be a starting point of inspiration. They were incredible shots of space. I prefer my art be more impressionistic rather than photo image perfect. However, I plan on keeping an open mind on this aspect. I may be adjust my opinion for this project. Ben expressed an interest in being an active participant in some of the artwork.The fabric laying techniques easily accessible to newcomers. He would create a scene and I would do the sewing part. The possibility is worth looking forward to.
Learning about Dark Matter
Ben asked what I understood about dark matter. My response pertained to my very limited knowledge of black holes. Ben graciously commented that many words seems similar but have different meanings. As a theorist, he explained that he studies the beginning of the universe by studying particles and their actions right after the Big Bang. Dark matter is matter(solid, liquid, gas)that is all around us but we can’t see it. I thought of wifi. As an educational system, a core part of UCSC curriculum fosters interdisciplinary studies and collaborations as essential to the future work environment. Ben, as one of its students was successful in communicating these difficult ideas. While I understood his explanations, I warned him that I might need to have them repeated again.
Scientists need to Communicate Clearly
The issue of scientists communicating to others is crucial, more now than ever. Explaining complex scientific concepts to people, however educated they my be in their own fields, is a crucial skill. Ben shared that monthly lectures were offered by the Physics Department. At those meetings, different physicists to share their work. He admitted that he sometimes couldn’t totally understand the physicists whose work was in a field of physics different from his own. We must all work to break down the silos of communication.
Creativity -Thinking with an Open Mind
Creativity involves being open to new thinking or trying something new. One must venture forth without knowing what the end process or destination may be. In other words, Ben, theorical physicist and I, art quilter both had a creative day.
Finals Week
As the early afternoon heated up, Ben had to leave to proctor a final exam. I continued to sit on the bench we had found outside inhaling the redwoods until it got too hot. UCSC rightfully holds a place on the list of most beautiful campuses. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit. I undoubtably was the only person relaxed and smiling on that finals week afternoon.
Lost in space. Starting the collaboration,I felt a bit lost.
Collaboration of Physics and Art 1
My Collaboration of Physics and Art 1 began June 13, 2018. I am an art quilter and fiber artist. Physics PhD candidate, Benjamin Lehmann, University of California, Santa Cruz was my collaborator, (I have read far too many World War II books to not get stuck on the multiple meanings of the word, collaborate. I must get past that.) UCSC Physics professor, Stephanie Bailey,initiator of the idea,explained,
“This project aims to enable people to access and engage with physics through art and to think about the role physics plays in our lives and world at large.” I plan on blogging about our collaboration. I hope that it proves to be of interest.
The Artist’s Short Bio
Professor Bailey initiated the collaboration with a call of interest to local artists. I responded in order to connect more with the field of my daughter’s boyfriend. My own background is in the Humanities,History and Spanish. I started sewing in high school. Later I took up traditional bed quilting. About ten years ago, I initiated my foray into art quilts. In 2012, I retired from teaching elementary school.
Searching for the New
Since then I have been a full time art quilter. I never took physics in high school. Feeling ready to try something new,I really had no idea what I had signed up for. While being open to the experience, I didn’t know what to expect. What will I be able to create? Will the scientist be creating art as well? The timing for the project was compatible with my schedule. I was open to taking a new direction in my art. The plan is to complete the project with a show in January, 2019.
City Lights, a fabric art quilt
Imagining a Plan
At first,I considered which of my pieces might align best with “space shots”. Then I decided that the abstract pieces or fabric layering technique creating scenes would work best. I feared I would have problems coming up with ideas. Then at least I could fall back on what I had already done. While it feels safe to have ideas before I start, I want to keep my options open to be inspired to move in new directions.
This is the process that I could use. Imagine stars instead of jellies.
What Could I Do?
However, so many questions remained. How many pieces of art would be expected? How many other pairs of collaborators would there be? As if she heard my questions, Professor Bailey communicated a list of 15 local artists. I recognized several friends of mine on the list. Their work, painting and fused glass is very different from mine. I will focus on what lends itself to fiber. I will not be too concerned about completely a certain number of works.
Upon reflection, I am struck by the greater meaning of our collaboration. How do people of different points of view and experience come together ? How do we learn to work closely together? Ultimately, how can we learn to see the world through the eyes of someone different from ourselves?
Above all, Art at the Santa Cruz County Building offers incredible art to a place where the public actually goes. Moreover, it brightens the day for people that are paying their taxes or just inquiring about a property. Some pieces just bring a smile to your face. However, sometimes people are truly at the county building for a serious item. They may choose to engage or ignore the art.
Above all,I am pleased to have my art quilts seen by such a random group of the public. All citizens visit the Santa Cruz County Office Building at 701 Ocean St. The display was up in July,2018. There are a variety of media to enjoy. Art at the County Building, First Friday Reception was Friday, July 2, 2018.
Underwater Fantasy by Ann Baldwin May, art quilter
Ann Baldwin May
My art quilts may be abstract, whimsical or impressionistic. Moreover, inspiration comes from the natural world as well as from Mexican influences. Furthermore, my materials of choice are often redirected fabrics from the San Francisco Design Center. Art quilts free me to play with color and texture.
Bio
I was born and raised in Palo Alto, California. Later,I studied sewing for two years in high school. After living and traveling in Europe for a year, my husband and I moved to Santa Cruz, California in 1980. Then,in 1975, I took a quilting class. From then on,I continued to sew clothes and make quilts for my family. Finally, I stopped counting bed quilts at 300. After teaching 30 years in Watsonville as a bilingual teacher, I retired. After that, I began to spend more time on my art quilting career.
Groovin High by Faith RinggoldTar Beach , an art quilt by Faith Ringgold
Faith Ringgold Quilt Artist
Sacramento, Calif –UPDATED December 22, 2017 –
On February 18, 2018, the Crocker Art Museum will bring to Sacramento Faith Ringgold: An American Artist. This exhibition features Ringgold’s famous story quilts. In other words, tankas, inspired by thangkas, Tibetan textile paintings. Also included are Ringold’s oil paintings, prints, drawings, masks, and sculptures. Furthermore, on view are the original illustrations from the artist’s award-winning book Tar Beach.
Harlem-born Artist and Activist
After a trip to Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum in 1972,Harlem-born artist and activist Ringgold began working with textiles. After that,a gallery guard introduced her to Tibetan thangkas. Above, all,thangkas are traditional Buddhist paintings on cloth, surrounded by silk brocades. After returning home, Ringgold enlisted the help of her mother, a professional dressmaker.Importantly, Ms. Ringgold made politically minded thangkas of her own. Certainly,she sewed frames of cloth around depictions of brutal rape and slavery. In 1980, Ringgold crafted her first quilt. Again,with some sewing help from her mother. Ms. Ringgold created Echoes of Harlem (1980).Moreover,she portrayed 30 Harlem residents in a mandala-like composition.
Moreover,these works combined visual and written storytelling to explore topics. In addition, the underrepresentation of African Americans in art history stands out. Moreover, she explored her upbringing in Harlem. After that, the legacy of Aunt Jemima. According to the artist, the textile medium allows her political messages to be more digestible. “When [viewers are] looking at my work, they’re looking at a painting. Certainly,they’re able to accept it better because it is also a quilt,” she says.
Above all, Sandy Takashima Shaw sees art as a place to begin conversations. Furthermore, she is a lifelong painter. In college, she majored in business and studied fine art. She’s half Japanese. Sandy grew up in Ohio. After graduation, she moved to Japan. That is to say she wanted to learn more about her heritage. She then traveled around Asia. Finally, she moved to San Francisco to begin work as a marketing manager in the technology industry. After years of painting in the evenings, Sandy was able to quit her day job. At last,she began to travel the world and paint.
Now she lives in Aptos with her family. Furthermore,she paints while the kids are at school. Her work appears in galleries around the U.S. Moreover,she teachs art. Google San Francisco recently commissioned a work for their office. She still travels annually with her family to surfing destinations. AND, fun fact, she’s also a certified life coach!
Sandy Takashima Shaw in front of her art
An authentic Artist
Foremost,Sandy’s main goal is to be completely authentic in her personal life. That is to say,Hher vibrant, mixed media acrylics feature hundreds of layers of paint, Japanese rice paper and ink. Similarly,my goal as an artist is to create art to spark positive social impact, thoughtful conversation, and meaningful connections.
the AND series
In her newest series is the AND series. For example, each painting represents an issue in our current political, social and cultural landscape. In addition,the word ‘and’ is prominently featured in each and brightly illuminated.
Art Inspired Salon
Out of this series, the idea was born to create an Art Inspired Salon. In addition,the salons bring people together to create positive actions. For example, we can take create the world we want. Furthermore,she holds the event at her studio. Attendees come together to enjoy food, beverages and conversation. They study the series on display and discuss.
Looking ahead,I believe that if we stay optimistic that positive change is possible. We will be more motivated to take personal action, both small and large. We can make the world a more compassionate and kinder place. It is time for feminine leadership to rise and heal our country and world.
Thanks, Sandy! We look forward to joining in the discussion.
Current and Upcoming Events
October 1, 2017 – September 30, 2018
Resilient and Revived Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History The Chamber of Heart and Mystery Exhibit January 5 – February 4, 2018
Spoken/Unspoken Juried Exhibit Santa Cruz Art League Reception: February 2, First Friday, 6:00-8:00pm February 8 – March 17, 2018
I had the pleasure of meeting Sandy Takashima Shaw, a kind and generous artist.
Read this interview about Cindy Grisdela,art quilter by Studio Art Quilt Associates(SAQA) too good not to share.
Art Quilter Cindy Grisdela
JourneysEndDetail-CindyGrisdela
SAQA: When did you begin making art with fabric? Do you work in other media as well?
GRISDELA: I started sewing when I was 10. My mother decided I was old enough to be trusted with her beloved Singer. I studied art in high school and college experimenting with painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture and weaving.I made my first quilt in 1983. After seeing an article in a magazine of a queen size Trip Around the World, I wanted to make one. After that I was hooked. I spent a number of years making traditional quilts as a creative outlet while I raised my family. About 15 years ago, I got bored with following patterns. So I started seriously trying to make my own art in fabric.
Color and Texture
SAQA: What inspires you?
GRISDELA: I’m inspired by abstraction, color and texture. I enjoy playing with color and seeing how various colors and shapes interact. One of the reasons I create with fabric instead of with paint is the ability to add another dimension to my compositions. I can add texture with dense free motion quilting. The stitching is an integral part of the composition. It is not just a means to hold the three layers together.
SAQA: Have any artists or art movements influenced your work?
GRISDELA: I have a degree in Art History. There are always lots of influences rattling around in my head. I love Abstract Expressionism, especially the Color Field School of artists. Matisse’s cut outs are important to me, as are Klee, Kandinsky and Klimt. I’m also drawn to the work of Robert and Sonia Delaunay. Among quilt artists, I am indebted to the work of Gwen Marston who was an early influence.
SAQA: What techniques and materials do you use?
GRISDELA: I use hand dyed fabrics to create almost all of my current work mostly by Cherrywood Fabrics. I experimented with dyeing my own fabrics a number of years ago, but realized that’s not my skill. So I’m happy supporting others who do it well.All of my work now is created using improvisational piecing techniques and free motion quilting. I enjoy the dialogue that happens when I’m just cutting out colors and shapes intuitively. One decision leads to the next. It’s a little like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Only I get to decide what the picture is going to look like. I do all my quilting without marking ahead of time or using a computer program.
A Lakeside Studio
SAQA: Where do you create?
GRISDELA: I have a studio in the basement of our townhouse. I look out on the lake while I’m sewing. It’s a very peaceful retreat. The commute downstairs is great too! I also have a shared space with nine other artists a short distance from my home. I’m the only fiber artist in the group. But it’s good to be around other creative people and share inspiration. I try to spend one day a week there.
Artmaking and Business
SAQA: How do you reconcile the artmaking and business sides of your creative life?
GRISDELA: That’s the tough part. For the last ten years I’ve been traveling extensively showing an selling my work at fine art and fine craft shows all over the country. I do about 12-14 shows a year. I also have an active blog and presence on Instagram and Facebook. I’m a regular contributor to the SAQA (Studio Art Quilter Associates)Journal.
I spend about half my time on the business side. This entails writing, applying to shows, keeping my website up to date, marketing, and other business. I like to spend time in the studio in the morning and early afternoon. That’s when I’m most creat I work on other business later in the day. I keep lists and work backward to make sure enough time is allotted to keep my inventory up for the shows. Sometimes I’m writing blog posts or marketing pieces on the road.
Publications
SAQA: Have you published books or been a guest on an art-related media program?
GRISDELA: I will continue doing shows. Probably not as many as I did in 2017. I’m doing a lot more teaching now to promote the book. It’s such fun to see a diverse group of artists come together for a day or more to explore their individual creativity. Each person’s work is different from the others and different from mine. We all bring our own personalities and backgrounds to the table.
I also have plans to work on a new series of larger improv quilts. The great thing about improv is there’s always something new to explore!
Tranquility with black stitches pulled through to the front before quilting.
New stitches can be found by accident. Mistakes can sometimes lead to a wonderful realization or improvement.
Discovering New Stitches by Mistake
Tranquility, an art quilt with black stitches pulled through to the front before quilting.
The Tension was Off.
Tension is the balance between the top threads and the bottome threads on a sewing machine.A while back my 20 year old Huskavarna Lily was acting up. Out of the blue, the tension would change as I was sewing. The action pulled the bobbin thread through to the front (top) of the fabric. As annoying as this was, I liked the way the stitches looked. I was discovering new stitches quite by accident. Could I repeat the success of this stitch ?
Let me confess, that I am not a person who often uses all of the stitches that are available on my machine. I usually use the zigzag stitch and one or two decorative stitches. I decided to fool around. How could I could use this “accidental stitch ” to my advantage? I wanted to discover new stitches by mistake. Would it be a way to add interest to my art quilts?
Changing the Tension
I changed the tension to 8 or 9 high on my machine. with a black thread in the bobbin. The top thread I used matched the white or beige color of my fabric. At the time, I was doing Native American inspired quilts. Moreover,I felt the black dots on the top somehow seemed to work for me. The maximum contrast drew my attention. I also adjusted the stitch length and width to make them as large as possible for maximum visibility. The results were pleasing.
In conclusion,errors can turn into serendipitous wonders if we keep our minds open to them. In the future, I should be more adventuous to change the tension and adjust more of my machines stitches.
