L’dor vador: From Generation to Generation

Quilts: The Stories of Generations Ilene Goldis Grayev

Ilene.goldis@rtsd.orgPSLA Conference

April 30, 2009

Communities share culture through the creation of quilts

• How is the culture of a society depicted in its textiles?• What features of a quilt enhance our understanding of

a time and place?• Why is this type of artistic expression valued?• What do we learn about the community through

quilts?

GEE’S BEND: THE ARCHITECTURE OF

THE QUILT

AND AFRICAN AMERICAN QUILTMAKING TRADITIONS

*Note: The first six quilts in this slideshow are from the exhibition, Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt. The last four quilts are from the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and are not always on view.

Gee’s Bend Quilts

• Located in Wilcox County, Alabama• Land that was once all plantations • Owned by emancipated slaves after the Civil War• Tradition of quilting connected generations• Early quilts made from used textiles• Believed that the love and spirit of the people who

wore the clothes remained in the cloth• Used this form to tell the stories of who they were

and where they came from

Quilts tell stories…

…stories about a person’s life

…stories about family history

…stories of someone’s hopes and dreams

What are some similarities between the patterns in these two quilts?

How are they different?

Mary Lee Bendolph gets ideas for her designs from the world around her - including clothing, her barn, others’ quilts, and the way the land looks when she’s high above it in an airplane.

What do you think she saw that inspired some of the designs in this quilt?

The quilt on the left was made by Pearlie Posey. The quilt on the right was made by her daughter, Sarah Mary Taylor.

What similarities do you notice about their quilts?

How would you describe each artist’s unique style?

Faith Ringgold based this quilt on her children’s book, Tar Beach, which is about Cassie, a young girl, who imagines that she can fly.

Here, Cassie, her family, and friends are enjoying a summer evening on the roof of their building in New York City.

Ringgold based this part of the story on her own childhood memories.

Curriculum Tie-Ins

• K-3 Storytelling, Language Arts• 4th States/Regions• 7th Civil War• 11th U.S. History, World War II• 9th/10th Geometry• 11th/12th Textiles/Fine Arts

Bibliography:

Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt and African American Quiltmaking Traditions. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2008.

Krinitz, Esther and Bernice Steinhardt. Memories of Survival. New York: Hyperion Books, 2005

McKissak, Patricia. Stichin’and Pullin’: A Gee’s Bend Quilt. New York: Radom House, 2008.

Polacco, Patricia. The Keeping Quilt. New York: Aladdin Books, 1988.

Online Sources:

The Alliance for American Quilts http://www.allianceforamericanquilts.orgA Century of Quiltshttp://www.pbs.org/americaquilts International Quilt Center and Museumhttp://www.International Quilt Study Center & Museum Discover The Collections Quilt Explorer.mhtQuilt Ethic

http://www.Quilt Ethnic, Resources on Antique Quilts, Native American Quilts, Quilt Fabrics and much

more.htm

From Generation to Generation“The Same in Any Language”

de generación en generación-SpanishEk Pidhi se Doosvi-Hindigeneratión a la generción-Frenchgenerazione alla generazione-Italianerzeugung zum rzeugung-Portuguesetōt tōt-Chinesedāi dāi-Vietnamese