I’m going to miss researching and writing the #CelebrateBlackQuilters thread for #BlackHistoryMonth 2025. Now that the month is ending, I put together a few notes, some odds and ends that didn’t fit into the daily posts #Quilting 🧵 - ThreadSky

inarticulatequilter.mastodon.art.ap.brid.gy • 23 days ago

I’m going to miss researching and writing the #CelebrateBlackQuilters thread for #BlackHistoryMonth 2025. Now that the month is ending, I put together a few notes, some odds and ends that didn’t fit into the daily posts

#Quilting 🧵

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inarticulatequilter.mastodon.art.ap.brid.gy•23 days ago

Bonus post! I’d like to leave a link to Create Whimsy, an AMAZING resource that regularly spotlights a different creator, crafter, maker or quilter. Every time I found one of the artists in my list interviewed by Create Whimsy, I knew I was in for a treat – lots of detail, in the quilter’s own […]

inarticulatequilter.mastodon.art.ap.brid.gy•23 days ago

And finally, it is rarely easy to describe a quilt, especially when it uses as many colors and techniques as these quilts do. But there were two that I felt I wrote particularly good alt text for -

When Hope Unborn Had Died
https://mastodon.art/@inarticulatequilter/113969048073552425

My […]

inarticulatequilter.mastodon.art.ap.brid.gy•23 days ago

Even more favorites, this time quotes. My second favorite quote is from Chawne Kimber –

“You can’t talk about the history of United States without talking about cotton. You can’t talk about racism without talking about cotton. These things are so firmly intertwined.”

🧵

inarticulatequilter.mastodon.art.ap.brid.gy•23 days ago

My second favorite story was about Mozell Benson. Although her works became world famous, she never profited off her quilting. While giving a talk to an Auburn University architecture class about her art, the fact that she recently lost her home came up. In response, the faculty and students […]

inarticulatequilter.mastodon.art.ap.brid.gy•23 days ago

More favorites - my favorite story was about Carolyn Mazloomi’s first quilt. Only knowing that the middle of the quilt was supposed to be cotton, she went to the drug store daily to buy cotton wound dressing for her quilt sandwich. Eventually, the pharmacist pulled her aside and said she […]

inarticulatequilter.mastodon.art.ap.brid.gy•23 days ago

Speaking of artists, it was not surprising that many of the quilters I featured have quilts that are now in permanent museum collections, including the International Quilt Museum and the Smithsonian. What I was surprised by was how many had quilts displayed in U.S. embassies overseas! This is […]

inarticulatequilter.mastodon.art.ap.brid.gy•23 days ago

When I started the thread, I had a passing familiarity with about 1/3 of the Black quilters included. Which means I had to find a lot of new-to-me quilters! And now I have two new favorites: Clara Nartey and Beverly Y. Smith. Both of them have developed personal styles that put them not only […]

inarticulatequilter.mastodon.art.ap.brid.gy•23 days ago

Then I read about Chawne Kimber, Sara Trail and Stephen Towns – and they are facing the exact same issues today. Shows refusing to exhibit Kimber’s work. Trail’s fellow guild members dismissing her pain over Trayvon Martin’s death. One of the most heart wrenching stories I have ever read was […]

inarticulatequilter.mastodon.art.ap.brid.gy•23 days ago

Unfortunately, the more I researched, the more racism in quilting I uncovered. So many Black fiber artists are self-taught because they are rejected from traditional quilting spaces by white quilters. Many spoke of not just being unwelcome, but actually laughed at. Censored, too. The amount of […]

inarticulatequilter.mastodon.art.ap.brid.gy•23 days ago

Based on this sample size, quilting keeps you young! I was pleasantly surprised to see how many of these fiber artists were still creating into their 80s and 90s. And while a number of the Black quilters included have recently passed away, it was thrilling to find so many new, young quilters […]

inarticulatequilter.mastodon.art.ap.brid.gy•23 days ago

I didn’t include anything by the Gee’s Bend collective. Partly it’s because a lot of info on the group is just that, info on the group. While they became famous as a collective, I sometimes feel that overlooks the individual contributions of the members. Gee’s Bend is ripe for a thread that […]

inarticulatequilter.mastodon.art.ap.brid.gy•23 days ago

To start, I want to mention this was all done by a quilter who loves quilting. I am not an art historian, nor a scholar of African-American quilting traditions. I used primary sources (artist websites) when possible, but mostly read interviews and online articles. No AI was used for any of the […]

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