By the Work of Her Hands
Click here to checkout Eliza Lambert's essay about her participation with By the Work of Her Hands, which was just published by the prestigious Oral History Review!
Summaries of the Oral Histories of the QCNNY conducted by the students of NYU
Please enjoy the sneak previews below of the oral histories of the women of Quilters of Color Network New York. Stay tuned for the full length oral histories to come!
Click the icon to hear an excerpt from Jackquelynn Jones' Oral History!
An excerpt from the oral history of Jacqueline Johnson, conducted by Holly Michelle Farkas.
"One day I went to see my grandmother in my twenties. My grandmother raised dogs and cats together. And one day she had a dog on her porch, wrapped up in a quilt. It was an old old quilt. It happened to be an old North Star quilt. Now the North Star quilts were used by the slaves to find their way North. There would usually be a pattern of stars, the map of the constellations which they used to guide them. I recognized the quilt intuitively when I saw it, but I was a college student so I just kind of blew it off. I didn’t go and unwrap it from around the dog then, which I really regret, because you know it was such a historical quilt. I should have taken it...it’s what I regret most to this day...
I think subconsciously everything I am doing [with quilting] is in response to that quilt, to that moment. There’s something in having seen that quilt, knowing of it’s existence, knowing that it was in her possession. And knowing that for whatever reason, she just thought ‘oh let me keep my dog rolled up in it’. As if she didn’t attach anything to it. It probably meant more to me that it did to her. It told me that somebody, whether in my family or in the community my family lived in, used that quilt for it’s original purpose. That was a lived piece of fabric. It pointed to something that was hidden; beyond reason, beyond my conscious knowing. My grandmother lived to be 94 but I never had the opportunity to ask her [about the quilt]. And that’s okay. Like I said I treat it as a creative catalyst. I still have the idea of it. I have never seen any other [North Star quilts] except that one, but I know they exist. My answer is to create fabrics in response to the small [North Star] quilt, and in turn, to that moment in time. To that memory."
-Jacqueline Johnson
An excerpt from the oral history of Minnie Curry conducted by Eliza Lambert.
"You really don't think about the composition of fabric when you're lookin' at fabric. You don't think about how it was made. When I first went to college, I was a textile major. When they say textiles, you actually think, “You're going to sew your little behind off.” It's not like dat. What I found out the har' way was a textile major was under the technical science program at Savannah State College in Georgia. Little did I know, all the chemistry classes you had to take and the physics classes that you had to take. I remember my first thought wuz, when I was told that I have to take Invertabrate. Zoology, I'm saying to myself, "What on earth that has to do with anything as far as fabrics are concerned?"
Good old silkworm.
When I went away to college, my grandmother made me a quilt. I still have that quilt to this day. Basically, it had no batting inside, there were patches that she had sewn together. They were probably from clothing or somethin' like dat. She might have purchased some fabric to go with it. It was hand stitched; the whole thing was handmade. I'll probably need to mend it, because it had so much use and so much washing over the years. It's a treasure that I will never get ride of."
-Minnie Curry
An artist statement of Peggy McGeary.
"I grew up in rural Pennsylvania & at 10 years old joined the 4-H Club where I learned to sew. That training was augmented by a mandatory Home Economics class from 7th to 9th grades. That early introduction to fabric and sewing formed a passion in me for fabric that remains today.
I began quilting in 1999 and am self- taught. Using the many how-to books, I learned the basics of quilt construction.
Because I don’t enjoy working in symmetry or matching corners, my designs are mostly improvisational, using color rather than motif. I rarely measure or work with templates. Lately I have turned to designs that express my inner feelings on political issues, the environment and my passion for music.
In “The Blues” I used blue and white cotton in a strip patch design and hand embroidered the names of 37 blues artists. Most of the artists were born in the USA & come from a wide geographical area; many from the deep south.
The quilt is hand quilted.
In ”Purple Cone Flower” I used several different fabrics in an graphic, abstract design. There are Batiks from Ghana & Indonesia, Ikats from India, and commercial silks and cottons. The Cone Flower is thread-stitched in the lower right corner.
My love of fabric has evolved into an art form that I hope can be enjoyed by others. My work is meant to be enjoyed by all."
-Peggy McGeary
An excerpt from the oral history of Diane Pryor-Holland conducted by Jessica Nguyen.
“Quilting has been passed down for generations in my family because you needed to know how to sew in order to have decent clothes, curtains, and blankets. You had to have warm blankets during the long winters for yourself and your family. I found out on my father’s side that quilting was a way of life. We didn’t sit down and quilt because of our love for it, but because we had to do it. At first, my quilting was a big laugh for my family because they heard that my quilts were displayed in art exhibitions and in art galleries, and that I was teaching others how to quilt. My family was very surprised that one, it was still being done to this today and two, that you’re showing them in galleries; before it was from the sewing board directly to the bed. They didn’t understand that quilting is an art form."
-Diane Pyror-Holland
An excerpt from the oral history of Sheila Bligen conducted by Jessica Nguyen.
“I like the African style because I love the nature, especially the leaves; it reminds me of the forest or jungle. Animal prints and the jungle image make me think of Africa. I’ve never been to what most would consider to be Africa, but I’ve been to Morocco which really is a country influenced by European culture. I get that feel of Africa from looking at pictures, watching television, and seeing movies. Leaves especially make me think of Africa and its funny because leaves could represent anywhere, like it could be Vermont, but for some reason it makes me think of Africa. When I have a project to make masks, although every culture has masks, my mind just thinks of Africa. I guess it’s just in me, it’s innate, that’s my culture, that’s what I think of, and a lot of stuff does relates to Africa and the Caribbean."
-Sheila Bligen
An excerpt from the oral history of Jackquelynn Jones, conducted by Breana Carly Roberts.
"As an ex-teacher, one of the things that I found extremely, I didn't realize it then but it is the thing that doesn't happen at schools now is that, in sewing I learned that practice really does make perfect and that taking something in and out and redoing it, there was value to that. That's not what kids learn today. That's not what they learn today. They learn to get it right the first time, the second time exit and toss it aside. And so, what I learned was that perseverance, all the things that always come out and that you have to practice to make something good..."
"I'm very much – I don't know what you say– a feminist, but at my age I look up at where women have been and where they have gone. So sometimes I'm kind of moved by that particular piece [her Malala Yousafzai quilt]. I'm moved with women's rights, education of girls. I still say even though we have made a lot of progress, we are still so far behind in some countries that women just don't have the right to be educated. We have the right to – we don't even have rights to our bodies. I think in some cases it's moved by who I am just as a woman."
-Jackquelynn Jones
An excerpt from the oral history of Sandi Howell conducted by Eliza Lambert.
"I know what works for me and what colors appeal to me. Red's my favorite.
Other people worry over it. I know because I do a color workshop at [quilting] guild, teaching members. People get stuck in colors.
I tell them the story about brown. Brown doesn't do a thing for me. (laughs) I was reading an article and they were talking about color comfort zones. I sat there thinkin' about it. My color dilemma was to deal with brown. I'm standing in the store. I'm standing back. I'm looking at all the browns. Once I started thinking about brown as chocolate, that was easy. Chocolate and mint. Chocolate and strawberries. Café au lait. I had to play those tricks with myself with brown.
I want everybody to be as colorful as possible."
-Sandi Howell
An excerpt from the oral history of Diane Larrier Collier, conducted by Adam Zhujiang.
"I never thought of myself as an artist. Maybe I am an accidental artist, but I just like to sew. My mother taught me to embroider when I was four. I’m sixty-five. There hasn’t been a year in my life where I haven’t done something with needle and thread. I taught myself how to knit when I was seven and my mother would make my back to school clothes. I’ve always been around fabric and we always had gorgeous clothes but not even on a beer budget. We had champagne taste with a Kool-aid budget. I would always stay up with my mother whenever she would work with fabrics at night, and while I guess some of the talent is genetic, I would say I really inherited the love of it too. It was just fun. I have a grandson that is being born next month. It’s a boy, and I’ve already knitted him two sweaters and embroidered some towels for him!"
-Diane Larrier Collier
An excerpt from the oral history of Thadine Wormly conducted by Adam Zhujiang.
"I was about six years old and my mother made my brother and I an outfit or two. And, I remember I had a few Barbie dolls. My mom, she wouldn’t buy new clothes for the Barbie so I had to just sew her new clothes. From there, I’ve really developed my skills. You know, it starts with Barbie dolls, then it goes to my clothes, and then to other people’s clothes – I’ve even made clothes for performers on Broadway. Eventually, I stopped doing that and I only started to make clothes for my family but by then, quilting became more important to me because it was just a new challenge and a different way to go about it. I was never a professional painter. I can’t draw, I can’t do that. But I have always been able to envision something, maybe draw it on my sketchpad, and then put it onto to fabric. It’s just my eye. I can’t explain it."
-Thadine Wormly
An excerpt from the oral history of Teresa Vega conducted by Breana Carly Roberts.
"When I walked into the [meeting], I remember walking in and was like, 'Okay, I found you guys. I found you.' I knew you existed and it was the first time I was a part of a group where they had quilts like my quilts.[in reference to her QCNNY members] I remember doing my first ever show and tell and I brought this quilt [she holds up one of her earlier pieces] and this is the joke we all have, because I cannot tell you how many times a new quilt has walked in.
'Oh my god, I just started quilting and you show those quilt and it’s new quilting, yeah.' And that was the reaction I had. I just was working it out and I had the six masks here on the other side representing ancestors and I always try to include cowry shells in my work and this was back then. I didn’t even know where to buy cowry shells, so I cut out cowry shell fabric, but now it’s on my other quilt, you’ll see that. I actually have a cowry quilt.Cowry quilts were used for a number of different things, used as money and sometimes they’re used in Santeria Yoruba culture too."
-Teresa Vega
An excerpt from the oral history of Wendi Higginbotham, conducted by Adam Zhujiang.
"My mother was a big craft person. She taught me how to crochet, how to knit, how to embroider. You know, needle point stuff. As a young person, she also painted and later went to Parsons for design. I was just surrounded by arts growing up. In fact, my younger sister and brother are both professional artists. There was always this atmosphere in the house where people were always painting or drawing. I wasn’t. I could never draw. But I excelled at hand crafts. So for me, this was my creative avenue. It gave me the canvas I never had before. I could draw using fabric."
-Wendi Higginbotham