Inspirations: Books

These books have provided ideas, knowledge, and a sense of connection with other quilters, even those of another place and time.

Bibliography:

North Carolina Quilts, edited by Ruth Haislip Roberson, published by the UNC Press in 1988, is a study of individuals and their quilts, with pictures and biographies of the quilters, as well as excellent photographs of the quilts.

Somewhere in Between, or Quilts and Quilters of Illinois, by Rita Barrow Barber, published by the American Quilters Society in Paducah, Kentucky; and

Ohio Quilts: A Living Tradition, by M. J. Albacete, published by the Canton Art Institute in Ohio, are similar to the North Carolina book, all written by women who gathered old and new quilts from local quilters and put them in a show and a book. They are excellent documents of local history as well as art by the people!

Models in the Mind: African Prototypes in American Patchwork, by Eli Leon, was the catalogue for a show at the Diggs Gallery at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina in 1992. The catalogue has photographs and short biographies of the quilters, as well as references to African design influences. The Diggs Gallery is well-lighted, and when I walked into this show, the quilts stood out like large Abstract Expressionist paintings. The tag beside one quilt noted that the maker had removed it from the sofa in her family room for the show. This underlines the dual nature of almost all the quilts in these books, being made for warmth as well as beauty, and succeeding to a high degree in both purposes.

The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina has a well-documented collection of very early American quilts, all technically impressive, with a catalogue called Quilts, Coverlets and Counterpanes. They are located in Old Salem, which has a website, http://www.oldsalem.org

Hidden in Plain View: The Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad, by Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard, published by Doubleday, tells how common quilt patterns were used by runaway slaves in 19th century America as a secret code. They remain as visual cues for oral history, now being preserved in writing.

The Dinner Party: A Symbol of Our Heritage, by Judy Chicago, Anchor Books, 1979, first made me aware of the women left out of my university art history and other courses, and began to give me back my heritage.

Overlay: Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory, by Lucy R. Lippard, Pantheon Books, 1983, is a comparison of ancient and contemporary art and their common themes and symbols. The author is "looking back to times and places where art was inseparable from life." Quilters might say that is here and now.