Review: ‘Threaded’ highlights the changing history of Black textiles

In it hangs histories as Black and rich as the soil on the banks of Gee’s Bend, a remote and now-revered community on the Alabama River, in the heart of the state’s Black Belt region.

Seven Gee’s Bend quilts from Spelman College’s permanent collection are the cornerstone for the museum’s current exhibit, alongside several Gee’s Bend prints and the Souls Grown Deep Foundation’s film, “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend,” in the gallery’s video room. “Threaded” also features recent, contemporary textile works, all by Black women, including Bisa Butler, Flora Moore, Ebony G. Patterson, Qualeasha Wood and others. The exhibition will be on view through May 24.

Credit: Courtesy of Spelman College Museum of Fine Art

Credit: Courtesy of Spelman College Museum of Fine Art

“I really like the idea of elevating quilts and textiles because these are things that are often thought of as women’s work — craft, lesser than,” says Liz Andrews, Spelman museum’s executive director, who co-curated the exhibit with curator-in-residence Karen Comer Lowe. “But these women were covering the people they loved. It was a normal part of their everyday lives but the skill and artistry behind it is so powerful and intense.”

The “Threaded” works span from the 1960s to the present, although the Gee’s Bend quilting tradition stretches back to the enslavement period. The story of their rise into the public eye begins with Great Depression–era shifts in the remote community that eventually led to opportunities for economic independence for the women, such as the 1966 founding of the Freedom Quilting Bee.

Many of their earlier quilts are geometric and soft, with pastel blues, yellows and pinks, earth tones and endearing floral and plaid patterns reflective of their rural surroundings, like Ruth Pettway Mosely’s “Carpenter’s Wheel” and Willie Ann Benning’s “Diamond in Square.” While accents of red are a mainstay over the years, their later works shown on the prints are more abstract, with deep jewel tones, suggesting an evolution to creating purely for enjoyment rather than necessity.

Their presence beside the more contemporary works show the continuity of this craft, the endurance of the moments when elders shared with children knowledge from their hands.

“Seeing people relate to this exhibit has been incredible,” Andrews said in an interview. “They walk through and say, ‘These remind me of my grandmother’s quilts,’ or ‘I learned how to quilt from my mother,’ or ‘I wish they would’ve taught me how.’ They see themselves within these pieces because, truth be told, the women made them out of pleasure and community and had no intention of ever being shown in a museum.

“Because of women like them, we now see many generations and many interpretations of textiles that go far beyond what we know as quilting,” Andrews says.

“Threaded’s” textiles are as varied as the women who created them — made from cotton, polyester, wool, sateen, corduroy, silk, chiffon, kente cloth, pima cotton, lace, velvet and hand-dyed fabrics adorned with cowrie shells, beads and broaches, as the museum describes them.

Phyllis Stephens uses bold, regal colors. With a sharp hand for detail and a breathtaking command of storytelling through fabrics, her five generations of quilting lineage shine through the declarative “Royal Court” and the peaceful and airy “Majestic.”

Bisa Butler’s eye-catching style — stunning photorealism in quilt form — cherishes the lives of various subjects, some unknown, some familial, who never had a chance to tell their stories.

Credit: Courtesy of Spelman College Museum of Fine Art

Credit: Courtesy of Spelman College Museum of Fine Art

Ebony G. Patterson’s “The Dream” bursts with wonder. The bricolage work assembles strings of pearls, jewelry, tassels, mosaic patterns and thick, luxurious fabrics into statements about human nature, with hints of the human form, like a single hand or a swaying body, hidden throughout. Its beaded and sequined foreground revels in femininity and adornment, dancing on the tranquil field of flowers papered on the wall. But closer looks reveal a contrast of beauty with something ominous and unsettling underneath.

With their utilitarian roots, textile arts have always been present. But a refreshing appreciation for textiles in the past few decades has cemented their overdue place in fine art, as evidenced by exhibits at Atlanta Contemporary, as well as a journey through pivotal political moments surrounding textile making in “Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction,” currently at the National Gallery of Art.

Qualeasha Wood’s current works, also the result of passed-down traditions, reflect the preservation of such traditions while transforming them. Born in Long Branch, New Jersey, Wood recalled fabric wall hangings around her home, sewing and embroidery lessons from her mother and mementos crocheted by her great-grandmother. She’s a premier artist in fusing the connective the power of digital media with the tenderness of a handmade tapestry.

Wood’s self-portraits, “Ascension” and “Heart of Glass,” made from woven jacquard and glass seed beads, deify the Black woman in religious iconography and explore social media’s relationship to Black women’s bodies and culture that is both admiring and exploitative.

With messages and memories woven into each piece, “Threaded” invites people into the multifaceted experiences of Black women that remain underlined by a fight for the respect of their contributions.

“Seeing textiles and crafts being celebrated as high art is incredible because, for a long time, and even still, craft was often downplayed,” Wood said in an interview. “Things that were considered utilitarian weren’t ever considered to also be beautiful objects. And that labor was never valued. So to be in this show, in this room with Black women I’ve admired, keeps me grounded. It keeps me mindful of why I’m here.”

ART REVIEW

“Threaded”

Through May 24 at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art. Noon-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays. Suggested donation, $3. 350 Spelman Lane SW, Atlanta. spelman.edu

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Angela Oliver is a proud native of old Atlanta who grew up in the West End. A journalism and Black studies grad, daily news survivor and member of Delta Sigma Theta, she works in the grassroots nonprofit world while daydreaming about seeing her scripts come alive on the big screen.

Credit: ArtsATL

Credit: ArtsATL

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