Story Quilt Artist Hosts Talk at Hood

Hood College hosted artist Joan M.E. Gaither on Friday for an artist talk as part of their exhibit “I AM: Identity – A Shared History,” which displayed 22 of her quilts from Jan. 19 to Feb. 19 in Tatem Hall.
The exhibit is part of the college’s colloquium series “Narrative at the Edge of the World,” designed to explore “the ways in which the stories we tell can and often do push beyond what we understand as the ordinary,” according to a press release by the college.
Gaither, a former professor and former chair of undergraduate art at the Maryland Institute College of Art, describes herself a non-traditional quilter.
“I use everything,” Gaither said. She mixes a variety of fabrics, paints, objects and mementos to create her works.
Gaither’s quilt “How Much Longer” discusses race in America and her experiences growing up an African-American. The quilt is held together entirely with safety pins and straight pins, meant to symbolize that the connection of being Black and American is held together with pain.
“Any image or text you have must have a meaning,” Gaither said. “Everything is strategically placed.”
Gaither’s early work started from introspection and asking herself a series of existential questions and creating a collection of quilts called “I Am My Way of Being” that detailed her upbringing, experiences, and influences.
In this collection are quilts centered on her mother, education and childhood.
In the piece “Ode to Mama Mamie: The Wise One,” which was dedicated to her mother, she uses sheer lace over quotes in order to force the viewer to “look beneath the surface.”
Her influences range from fellow artists to her middle school art teacher, whom she cites as her mentor.
On the topic of mentors, Gaither suggested that the audience, in their professional career, acquire a seasoned mentor, a younger mentee and a peer on a parallel level.
“We all have a story that no one can tell but us,” Gaither said.
As an educator, Gaither would instruct her students to write down one influential thing that has happened in their lives in every year and begin to tell their story from there.
“Think of yourself as a pebble that creates ripples in the water,” she said. “You have to start with yourself.”
Gaither’s more recent pieces reflect on her relation to the world around her. The “Decades” series consists of a collection of general memories of American culture placed with Gaither’s personal memories of that decade.
She has transitioned a sizeable amount of her work into the activism and civic engagement arena. She described it as “a community thing.”
Gaither often enlists the help of her church community when she is working on a quilt. Her latest quilt is nine feet and was created in one month with their assistance.
In a piece called “1864 Sesquicentennial Maryland Slave Emancipation Quilt,” Gaither included an 18 inch square for each county in Maryland, including Frederick county, and details each county’s individual slave laws and emancipation policies.
Each quilt square was created by a committee in each county and then sent in to be sewn together.
Gaither cited one of her biggest accomplishment to be her quilt that brings awareness to the Black watermen of the Chesapeake Bay, ignored in the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.
“One of my favorite parts of my work is the celebration,” Gaither said.
The quilt reveal party drew in a crowd of over 200 people, greatly surprising Gaither.
Gaither’s medium has inspired her former students Rebecca Nagle and Hannah Brancato in their art piece “FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture,” a quilt addressing rape and abuse that will be displayed at the National Mall in October 2017.
Upcoming events in the Colloquium series include talks by Dr. Emilie Amt on “Remembering Africa in Western Maryland,” and Elmer Dixon, a founding member of the Black Panther Party.