L’dor vador: From Generation to Generation Quilts: The Stories of Generations Ilene Goldis Grayev PSLA 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 4 th States/Regions 7 th Civil War 11 th U.S. History, World War II 9 th /10 th Geometry 11 th /12 th Textiles/Fine Arts

Bibliography: Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt and African American Quiltmaking Traditions. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 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, Polacco, Patricia. The Keeping Quilt. New York: Aladdin Books, 1988.

Online Sources: The Alliance for American Quilts A Century of Quilts International Quilt Center and Museum Quilt Study Center & Museum Discover The Collections Quilt Explorer.mht Quilt Ethic 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- Spanish Ek Pidhi se Doosvi- Hindi generatión a la generción- French generazione alla generazione- Italian erzeugung zum rzeugung- Portuguese tōt tōt- Chinese dāi dāi- Vietnamese