I intended to just quickly past through the quilt exhibition at the De Young museum yesterday, but I couldn't. Instead I halted to stare. I was razzled, dazzled, befuddled by what I saw and heard.
These sixty quilts by four generations of African-American woman from an impoverished area of Alabama are no ordinary geometric, traditionally designed quilts. Their innovative colors and design surprise and enthrall. No cookie cutter designs here. The pieces are often curved or slanted. There is meaning, statements in what they have created.
These quilts emotionally charge the room. The favorite of fellow exhibit-viewer was a quilt made with old denim jeans, mattress ticking and other worn out fabrics. It spoke of how they surmounted the paucity of money and materials to still create beauty.
My favorite was a quilt of just two colors - light blue background with two rows of dark blue columns
diminishing in size, drawing me in and down. I saw it as a scene of the heavenlies.
The New York Times has even praised these quilts as "some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced."
And don't miss the video in the small room in the back. I got a kick seeing this room so crowded that people were sitting on the floor, standing in the back and outside the doorway. The video depicts interviews with the makers of these quilts.
As I saw their pain and suffering in the quilt-makers' faces and the quarters in which they live or worship -- small, bare rooms or churches, unadorned except for these quilts -- I felt both compassion and admiration.
And for those of you who don't live in California, you can view the quilts and learn more about the history and significance of them and about how these quiltmakers have been honored and recognized by the state of Alabama, Auburn Univ., the Smithsonian and oodles of New Yorkers. Go to:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/other/geesbend/explore/freedom_quilting_bee/index.htm
If you'd like to see the video I saw, you can order it from Public TV. They showed it recently and now it's backordered two - four weeks! Go to:
http://www.shoppbs.org/sm-pbs-the-quiltmakers-of-gees-bend-dvd--pi-1954063.html
One woman says something like, "I always pray as I quilt. I sing to God too. He wants me joyful and I get that by singing." When else have I seen museum featuring a preacher talking about God? or woman praying or singing gospel songs?
THese women's works of art are shown to be coming from their community of faith and their ability to rise above their circumstances through their trust in Jesus.
The exhibit lasts through December. It's the last of our tour these quilts have been making. So if you're in northern California, don't miss it! It's a spiritual experience.
