Mother and I visited theTacoma Art Museum today. We went primarily to visit the lovely quilts by the ladies of the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective. We got lucky and were able to speak with Loretta Bennett, one of the quilters. She is only a few years older than I am, and her quilts (she is prolific) are amazing. Like Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass windows… I noticed several other ladies there, they were all so kind and happy to talk to the people who were looking at their quilts.
Of course, not all the quilts appealed to me equally. Some I liked for the colors. Some for the patterns. Some I admired for the technical skill displayed though the actual quilt was not something I particularly liked. Some were just really really amazingly cool. (Can you tell I liked them?) I appreciated them all.
The textiles in the quilts tell a spectacular story of people living the motto:
Use it up, wear it out;
Make it do, or do without.
Now quilts, like most things we now collect, started out as something utilitarian. In this case, something to keep the cold at bay. Like the people in my mother-in-law’s family for generations, the people of Gee’s Bend lived a rural, relatively low-income life for many generations. They used their resources wisely… and part of that is taking pride in your work. Making something utilitarian is the starting point. The pride comes in when you make it well, either by making it function better than the minimal, or by making it beautiful. Like the women in my mother-in-law’s family, the women of Gee’s Bend showed their pride by taking scrap fabrics (often pre-used) and making beautiful – and warm – quilts.
Quilts of jeans. Quilts of shirts. Quilts of dresses. Quilts of any materials they had. And following both traditional designs and their own hearts. I wish I had some pictures I could show you… alas! I can only hope to describe the way the thin-wale corduroy absolutely glowed from a distance. Or how the patterns in the quilts made more sense, formed a sort of static dance, as you stood back and followed the patterns. I wish I could describe the stitching — difficult enough to do on pure, thin cotton fabric — on everything from flannel to cord, to denim to silks and broadcloth. A textile historian would have a field day. Some of the prints were quite unusual…
The history of Gee’s Bend starts before slavery ended, and the quilting can be traced back to one particular former slave, ancestress of Ms. Bennett (and many others). Left somewhat isolated by the end of the 1800s, the women of the town, seemingly all related by blood or marriage, carried on the tradition of making quilts to keep their families warm. Eventually, one lady (I forget who) formed a quilter’s collective. They have been working together to make quilts for over 50 years. Some of the women who made these quilts are way up in their 80s and 90s. One quilt displayed was by a woman who lived 103 years.
Events like this quilt exhibit make me hopeful for humanity. We can live in difficult — inhuman — situations, and still we can make beautiful things for those we love. We can do something, even if it’s small, to improve our lot, or the lot of those around us. Rather than sitting in their town stuck in poverty, the women through the generations have worked to improve their families’ lives. And though it took a while for outsiders to find them and begin to send money in to the community (they actually made quilt tops and pillow shams for Sears in the 1970s!)… it happened, not because they were aggressively self-marketing, but because their work was perfectly wonderful.
If these quilts come to a museum near you, please attend. Even if you don’t ordinarily like fabric arts, check this one out. The design and variations on themes are magnificent and beautiful. The ladies are even more so.
On to the rest of the day…
We also visited the Washington State History Museum, but instead of going to see the temporary exhibit on quilts, we spent an hour in the Native American section, and I told Mother all about the things I am learning about the Squaxin Island history and art. Many similarities in materials, design and history with the tribes who are represented at the state museum.
Then we had lunch at TwoKoi, a Japanese/Sushi restaurant across the street (uphill) from the Tacoma Art Museum. They are celebrating their first anniversary this weekend. I had not eaten there before. I found the service slow but friendly… the food was excellent. Not a budget restaurant, but reasonably priced if you want something a bit nicer than a sandwich shop. I didn’t have sushi this time, but the Unagi Don (broiled eel on rice) was excellent, as were the miso soup and seaweed salad. The tea, a light corn tea, was the perfect foil.
I think it was just about the perfect day.