Nelson Mandela Tribute Quilts

Genesis quilt I pieced from squares illustrated by my CCD class

I used to be a big quilter. I took a quilting class after my first son was born in order to learn how to make baby quilts for each of their cribs. I made one with bears on it for Alex's crib whose nursery had a teddy bears' picnic theme and a Peter Rabbit crib quilt for Nick to match his Beatrix Potter nursery theme.

I really liked the fact that I could express myself artistically and craft something extremely personal for the receiver ... and also have it be of practical use and possibly a future heirloom. I painstakingly cut and hand-pieced and quilted dozens and dozens of quilts, pillows and wall hangings during that time. No machine! But it was truly a labor of love.

I went on to make two quilt bedspreads for the bedroom my sons shared at our summer beach house made up of squares with cranberry red Sailing Ships on navy blue wavy oceans and alternating sand-colored squares with quilted anchors. The quilts were each embroidered with the sentiment "Sons are the anchor of a mother's life."

For our bedroom at the beach house, I made a lap quilt with an Ocean Wave pattern in periwinkle blue and all white squares with quilted shells. I made more quilts for myself, my nephew and nieces, friends and my children's school teachers and I even organized a quilting bee with friends and relatives to make a Baby Blocks quilt to present to my sister for her daughter's baby shower.

The fabric I used was very important to me and probably started me off on my obsession with pattern and material. I made four throw pillows using the actual material from the Laura Ashley bridesmaids dresses my sister and I wore for my brother's wedding and the bridesmaid dress my sister wore in my wedding. I even used the white pique Laura Ashley material from my wedding dress as the backing! I added the names and dates of our weddings and the passage we all used in our readings from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. I  gave one each to my sister, my brother and my parents as presents for their wedding anniversaries.

One of my prized possessions is the friendship quilt I made with five friends from my Mother's Group, the moms in the first playgroup for my son Alex. We each made six squares with a pattern that represented the maker and we exchanged them with each other. In the end, each of us came away with a friendship quilt of our own with six different squares representing the uniqueness of the moms in our Mother's Group.

And of course I have already blogged about the making of my tee shirt memory quilt.

So when my friend Cathy posted a notice on Facebook about the International Quilt Convention coming to Emperor's Palace, I had to check out the website to see what it was all about. Along with the usual quilting workshops and competitions, I read the convention was showcasing an exhibition of quilts in honor of Nelson Mandela.

Lead From The Back (USA), Barbara Ann McCraw

Called "Conscience of the Human Spirit:The Life of Nelson Mandela," the exhibition would be displaying 80 tribute quilts made by artists from South Africa and the USA. The project's curator Dr. Marsha MacDowell and her husband, Dr. C. Kurt Dewhurst, Professors at Michigan State University and Directors of the Michigan State University Museum quilt collection and online Quilt Index, would be there to give a talk on the display and to sell their accompanying exhibition catalog which was hot off the press. Okay, I'm in.

The international exhibit was organized to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Mandela’s election as South Africa’s president, and it was the first - and possibly the only - time all 80 quilts (50 made by American quilters and 30 by South African quilters) would be together in one room on display. After the convention, the American quilts will tour the US and the South African quilts will tour this country. There is a hope they will all reunite in a museum someday such as the one at Michigan State, but there are no firm plans as of yet.

Dr. MacDowell described the history of American quilting and in particular its place as a voice for social justice and change. She spoke about the difficulty many women artists faced in being accepted as serious visual artists by society in the past. 

Like pottery and basket weaving, quilting began as a practical woman's craft and slowly and silently began to evolve as an expression of the maker's vision, values, passions, and ideals. Most quilters were traditionally women. But once places like the American Museum of Folk Art in New York began to recognize quilting as an art, the practicality of it took a back seat to the creativity and expression it allowed. Quilts were now made by artists, men included.

Dr. MacDowell recognized particular quilts for their political and social justice statements. Like the anti-slavery and women's vote-themed quilts made in the USA in the 19th and early 20th centuries. She even spoke of the alternative philosophy of an early 20th century KKK-themed quilt currently in a private collection in rural Michigan signed by all the then members of the local clan!

In South Africa there is also a rich history of quilting. It's methods of construction were brought to the continent by the early English, Dutch and German settlers. The native people began to use this practical medium as an expression of their yearning for freedom. 

It was one quilt in particular that attracted Dr. MacDowell's attention, the so-called "subversive bedspread" of Winnie Mandela. When the bedspread was confiscated by the government upon Winnie's arrest, Helen Suzman, an early white anti-apartheid advocate (and the first female MP in South African history), had a copy of the quilt made in the US and oversaw its signing by 30 US Congressman before presenting it to Winnie Mandela in a show of one of the first acts of American support for the struggle. Imagine a quilt having that kind of power of persuasion!

Another example was the Women's Prison Quilt made by South African Barbara Hogan while she served seven years for treason in the Women's Prison in Pretoria. She persuaded her jailers to give her material and sewing implements to help her pass the time while in prison and she used contemporary newspaper and correspondence as patterns for her paper pieced quilt which serves as an ad hoc chronicle of history. She even had an envelope of paper pieces she had not assembled yet because she was caught off guard when they suddenly released her from prison in 1990. The quilt is now part of the collection at the Michigan State Museum.

Dr. MacDowell then took us on a tour of the exhibit and gave us further insight into some of the quilts on display and the quilters. One of my favorite quotes by Dr. MacDowell was her statement that "women are not afraid to use their sewing needles to prick the social consciousness." Brilliant!

 

Hester Viles and Catalyst for Change

One of the South African quilt makers was there and she spoke about her entry as well as one she coordinated with the Intuthuko Embroidery Group, 23 informally trained artists who have a booth at the Finders Keepers Market in Rosebank on Sundays. I will have to check them out!

Trials, Tribulations, and Temporary Lodgings of Nelson Mandela (USA), Valerie Pratt Poitier

Education (SA), Enid Viljoen

Who will Carry On? (USA), Leni Levenson Wiener,

Sunshine and Shadow (SA), Celia de Villiers and Talking Beads

 

I have a feeling my quilting career is not quite as over as I previously thought. I will probably make at least one more quilt using remnants of all the fabulous material and fabrics I have acquired while living here in South Africa. Another personal memory quilt.

For more information about the quilts in the exhibition and the world of quilting, check out Michigan State University's Quilt Index, a freely accessible virtual repository of images and stories of quilts and quiltmakers from distributed public and private collections around the world, including many from South Africa.