UNCOVERING AT THE SEAMS

uncovering connections between quilting, traditional women's labor, feminist artistic practices and (shaping) community.

leading questions:
- how would you describe the word feminine and what does it mean to you?
- could you explain to me how you define the word feminism?
- how do you, as a woman, approach your practice which consists out of traditionally feminine techniques/processes through a feminist lens?
- who taught you how to ... (sew/quilt/cook/?) and why?
- in your surroundings/society/context, how is women's labor perceived?
- what feelings or thought processes arise when you are working on your practice?
- do you often collaborate with others? is it a communal practice?
- in what manner does the communal practice take shape?
- in what way does your being a woman change/influence the way you approach your work or practice?
- how do other women influence you, the initiatives you work on or your artistic practice?

curve quilt, marlee grace

chronos and kairos, shin-hee chin

hotel international, tracy emin, 1993

mad tracy from margate. everyones been there, tracy emin, 1997

what is quilting?
Quilting is a technique or method of stitching multiple layers of material together. The stitches are usually based on pattern or design.
The history of quilting can be traced back several millennia, with early examples discovered in Northern Africa, East Asia and Europe.

"The earliest known quilted garment is depicted on the carved ivory figure of a Pharaoh dating from the ancient Egyptian First Dynasty (c. 3400 BC). In 1924 archaeologists discovered a quilted floor covering in Mongolia, estimated to date between 100 BC and 200 AD." (wikipedia, Quilting)

The word 'quilt' – linked to the Latin word 'culcita', meaning a bolster or cushion – seems to have first been used in England in the 13th century.
(V&A, An introduction to Quilting and Patchwork)

first page of marlee grace's transcript:
"In this 22 min. mini episode of Friendship Village, I read from THE QUILTERS : women and domestic art, as well as share my own personal connections to quilt making, composition, personal histories, and more — recorded August 19, 2020"

radical teacher article "Quilts and Women's Culture" excerpt:
full pdf linked here ⌄

crazy windmill, 1945, Cooper and Buferd collection

-de Vlaamse Quiltersgilde-
a local organisation in Gent, meeting every month to quilt or patchwork together in the hopes of keeping those textile practices alive. soon I'll meet and have conversation with some of the members.
interview/meeting planned: 16/03/2023

> phone call interview reworked below <

Belonging: A Culture of Place, Bell Hooks, 1990
I adore the way bell hooks uses words, stringing them together in beautiful formations, telling stories close to her heart. her being inspires me and I was ecstatic when I found out she wrote about quilting, specifically her family's connection to the practice. I believe it vital to share black experiences and histories within my research since they are intrinsically linked and the work of black people has historically been erased and undervalued. (while acknowledging that this one story isn't necessarily a universal experience, no one is speaking for another!!)
here some passages out of the book that I wanted to share:

Inspired Eccentricity

Aesthetic Inheritances: History Worked by Hand

people as a sight of enquiry: interview based project for the first stage
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> discovering women's artistic practices and working with feminist approaches -> what does that look like for women working in the creative field(s) I'm interested in?
> learn about the practice of quilting and asking practitioners as well.

"Art Quilts of the Midwest" excerpt on Shin-Hee Chin

:Shin-Hee Chin:

"In my work, I attempt to carve out what I proudly call a feminine territory in which the voices of effaced and silenced women reverberate, and to translate the experiences of women in a way that people of different ethnic backgrounds and cultural experiences can understand. For that purpose, I utilize needle, thread, and fabric to call into question the deep-seated bias that women’s work is menial, marginal and undesirable. I convert the conventional “feminine” activity of needlework into a useful medium for the making of art. Each collage from fabric that was cut, ironed, pasted, and stitched. In addition to fabric and needlework, I use sumi ink, acrylic/oil paints, various papers, and calligraphic techniques.

The slow nature of my technique mimics the creative process of birthing. This recalls the gradual forming of the fetus through the intersection of capillary within the belly of the mother or the silkworm’s patient and continuous spinning leading to the creation of its cocoon. The techniques have an important meaning for me both as a compositional device and as an obsessive activity. In experimenting with a variety of “domestic” media such as clothes, threads, and paper, my hands participate in the process of the intricate linking of the irregular pattern of threads that form vein, skin, and scar. Thus, these pieces speak not so much of sorrow, anger, regrets, but rather, of healing, recovering, inner joy attained by/through converting the physical, oppressive condition into the stimulating and dynamic inner resources for creative life. Through the strategic use of media that have been traditionally associated with the feminine, I want to show that seemingly ‘trivial female work’ can be a source of pleasure and power for women."

-- Shin-Hee Chin writes about the shift that takes place within her work: from traditional materials, forms of labor and ideas to an activist and feminist state of mind/purpose and eventually visual language. She often creates quilts or other works with faces of marginalised people or communities, quite literally going against the erasure and invisibility which has historically taken place. --

"Vlaamse Quiltersgilde" board member Monique De Canne - interview over the phone.

It was quite difficult getting in contact with individual members of the Flemish Quiltguild (translation - sounds a bit odd but yeah). Only after multiple e-mails and Facebook messages, I finally got some contact info for Monique, one of the five board members of the guild. The members come together once a month, a date I had just missed before I found their Facebook group, so I was invited (multiple times) for their next gathering on the 16th of March. One I will still go to, where at that time they will learn a specific stitch and bring some of their works to show off their earlier creations, individual styles and glorious patterns, per my request.

Monique has been quilting for 34 years. I presumed that her mother taught her, though she assured me that wasn't the case. All those years ago she entered a bookshop where she found a book about quilting. Apparently it had struck a chord, so much so that she felt inspired to take on the challenge of learning this new technique all on her own. From there on, exploring the history and eventually the community surrounding quilting came naturally and she's been an active practitioner ever since. There is also a national (quilting) guild in Belgium, she tells me, and in more places such as the UK, the Netherlands and the US there are many ongoing communities and gatherings (Quilting Bee's, for example) but especially in the US. Quilting has always been a huge part of the more recent history of the US - especially mid 19th century onward - with the industrial revolution taking place and making quilting fabrics more widespread available. Monique doesn't seem to mention any non-Western influences. I decide not to push her in that direction, right now I want to hear about what inspires her. A lot of books, other quilters but also the stores where fabrics are bought. Apparently there are specific quilt (fabric) stores, some that reproduce old patterns and prints or some that just sell a variety of fabrics in different colours and materials like cotton or linen, most commonly used nowadays.
"Do you see your practice and/or the quilts you make as mostly a hobby or do you believe them to be art?"
I like the fact that she says "Both". It makes a lot of sense to me, even if it also doesn't either. Artistic practice, hobbies, passions, to her they overlap, are the same, quilting is all of those at once. Pretty sure she called it an addiction too. An expression of her creative wish, she enjoys making formations out of many colours, patterns and shapes. Together with others within multiple collectives, she has exhibited her work a few times here in the area.

The guild consists mostly out of women, Monique laughs when I ask the question - "I am constantly looking for men to join, though it hasn't been easy. We have a few that join in sometimes, I really enjoy it since they have another perspective on things, having been a member for 13 years." Women are the basis, they are the practice, are quilting. I ask what ages are usually around during the meetings, she admits the people that consistently show up are on the "older side." Perhaps youngsters are just simply less interested in needlework, it's very time consuming and these days everything needs to go fast. Busy lives with little time to spare. I joke that perhaps I could bring in some new life into the guild or quilting, she laughs and says that many have looked at her crazy and said "why would you cut up all this fabric only to sew it back together again??" Though usually they were speechless when gazing upon the result.
"For who do you make your quilts?"
That differs, right now I'm working on two quilts, one that's for a wedding anniversary and another as a gift for a friend. Quilting is a giving practice, in more ways than one. Giving time, energy, money but also giving the quilts. Back in the day, around 1800's, it was tradition that when a girl got married, the women in the town would collaborate on a 'wedding quilt' as a gift."
Energy is given, and it creates community because it's also received in a constant movement, back and forth.
"What are the most notable changes you've seen within your 34 years of quilting experience?"
Three things, Monique mentions, the first being that today most of the time a sewing machine is used as opposed to hand-sewing. "The guild does focus more on hand-sewing than other spaces, in the Netherlands almost everyone uses a machine for example, however at times the same can be said of the local Gent practitioners."
The second change she's noticed is in the usage of patterns and colours. They are louder, brighter, set themselves apart from their predecessors. A fun little fact about unsigned quilts from the past is that you can estimate the time period they're from, based on the pattern.

collecting women's personal stories surrounding quilting and other textile practices, weaving together different perspectives, pasts, presents, futures ...
circling back to
"..woman's needlework, as a form of activity that is universal."
circling back to
visual arts as a way to communicate when words weren't taught, don't suffice, aren't heard

The article is mainly focused on the US quilting history, women weaving their stories within the quilts through naming the patterns after their surroundings/life paths (every area had different names) and how opportunities for -political- discussion arose when women came together at quilting bee's. Quilting was an intricate art, one born of oppression, girls were required to learn how to sew.

The importance of quilts left behind, given to others, new homes, containing memories. Leaving a legacy, a gift. The importance of quilts on a smaller scale, personal, what does it mean to another to receive such a work?

BRIEF W.V.V.

I’ve been fascinated by fashion and textile for most of my life. A short while ago I found quilting, a textile practice that’s Millenia’s old and now I wish to uncover the beauty and community surrounding it. Because it’s practitioners are older and come together in secluded spaces (their homes, elderly community centres), quilting is separated from the younger generation, difficult to discover and get acquainted with. Through sharing my process, learning how to quilt and getting to know the (local) community, I'd like to introduce the grace and delicacy that quilting proposes and make my own perspective/stories known.

I’m planning on learning how to sew, and of course quilt, through practice, conversation and research (books, online, practical) - basically a continuation of my work so far but implementing more handwork from my end. Explore different stitches, patterns, styles and colour combinations to try and find my own visual language and identify my position within the practice. The process of creating a quilt takes time, and woven into the result are often stories, themes and inspiration that influenced the quilt-making. Hence, my quilt will be one consisting of the visualisation of feminist influences that have shaped who I am as a person and artist today.

Anticipated output will be my own needlework tests, the stories I’ve written/collected combined in a publication of some kind or in the journal filled with my steps/process and gathered research - probably a physical representation of my online hot glue site - and the quilt top that I'll be starting.

"Feminist research tries to capture the diversity of women’s experience, explore the gendered manifestation of power (both in the topic for research and the way in which the research is conducted), and interrogate the operation of gender norms."
-International Women's Development Agency

Samah Hijawi answers my questions about her artistic practice and talks about masculinity/femininity as energy, labor and learning about cooking/working in the kitchen:

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