Fabric artist, Valerie C. White, included in Obama exhibit

Louisville fabric artist, Valerie C. White, and a dear quilting friend, was chosen to make an original project for inclusion in "Quilts for Obama: An Exhibit Celebrating the Inauguration of our 44th president."

The exhibit was conceived by Roland Freeman, a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in Washington. Also, he is head of the nonprofit Group for Cultural Documentation that is sponsoring "Quilts for Obama" with the Women of Color Quilters Network.

The show, additionally, features older and historical quilts, including one by Carrie Nelson of Georgetown, S.C., the oldest living member of Michelle Robinson Obama's family, according to Freeman. The exhibit, 801 K St. NW, ends Jan. 31. (It will be closed Jan. 20, Inauguration Day.) For information, call (202) 882-7764 or visit www.tgcd.org.

Valerie is one of 44 artists chosen to contribute to this exhibit. You can see her creation in the photo above, taken by exhibit curator, Roland Freeman. For those hoping the exhibit will travel to their town, don't get too excited, it doesn't appear to be a traveling exhibit. But there is talk about it being made into a book.

Valerie said, "I had such a good time at the opening it was like old home week."

The Louisville newspaper, the Courier-Journal, wrote a well crafted article about Valerie, this project and her quilting life and history. Get to know Valerie and her art better at her website, too.

If you happen to visit the Quilters World Magazine online you can view and download a pdf of Valerie's Fabric Jazz. Or pick up the February 2008 issue (not a typo, yes it was last year) my interview with Valerie and photos of some of her work are featured. It was one of my favorite articles and most fun interviews.

And see Valerie in her workroom or creative central in her home in Louisville in the photo to the right, taken by Pamela Spaulding of the Courier-Journal.

Valerie's life is almost as spectacular as her art. Way to go Valerie. Give Barack a hug for us!

Mazloomi means love

A friend knows my love of quilts and all things fabric. She pointed out that Ohio Magazine, one of the first markets I sold writing to and a magazine from my home state, offers an article about quilts in its current issue. Of course I checked out the online copy and there it was: A Stitch in Time by Jennifer Haliburton. But better than any old article about quilting is one that features Dr. Carolyn L. Mazloomi and her legion of African American quilters.

Subversive stitchers indeed! Subversive, subverted, enslaved, impoverished, all part of the history. But also talented, creative, joyful, and Mazloomi has made it her life's work to collect the stories, document the history, and make sure we all understand the facts of not only being African American -- but also what it means to be a woman.

On Mazloomi's website she writes, "Quilts are metaphors for love and family...." I say Mazloomi and love are synonymous. She makes quilts and chooses quilts for her books, exhibits and collection that as she explains, "...are visual stories layered with historical, political and social conditions that call attention to the circumstances of people around the world, especially women. My intention is to invite the viewer into contemplation, raise awareness and feel the spirit of the cloth."

The article in Ohio Magazine came about to herald the exhibit “Quilting African-American Women’s History: Our Challenges, Creativity and Champions,” that will continue now through Nov. 8 at the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce, Ohio.

The work by one of my favorite quilters, regardless of race, gender, religion or politics, Valerie C. White is included in this exhibit and her quilt The Guardian is featured on the exhibit program.

For anyone not familiar with Mazloomi, please note that she answers to a variety of titles including: author, curator, artist and historian. Her work resides in numerous museums and corporate collections, such as the Wadsworth Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, American Museum of Design, Bell Telephone, the Cleveland Clinic, and Exxon. She has made the rounds of major television programs including the morning talk shows and she has been the subject of several documentaries.

Mazloomi's quilt "A Peacekeeper's Gift" is featured with this blog. She certainly knows how to tell a story in cloth.

Update on Valerie White

Has anyone seen the latest issue of Quilters World?

If so, you will see the article about Louisville, KY quilt artist Valerie C. White. It was a fun article to write and it is a privilege to have had the opportunity to talk with her and get acquainted. Her creations fill me with delight and always make me smile, then I have to look closer and examine the symbolism that she incorporates in each quilt.

I like the colors, the imagination, the art of course, but the purity with which she views our world. No one can create such totally fun projects and not have the heart of a kid still beating inside her somewhere. But these are not frivolous, there's a depth that keeps you returning to her images and seeing something more each time.

I'm not alone in these observations and her successes are building one atop the other. She's making waves in the quilting community. Surf's up!

In a recent email, Valerie updated what's happening with her and her art:

• The River City Fiber Artists, of which Valerie is a member, hung the Form not Function exhibit at the Carnegie Center for Art & History in New Albany IN. They chose 43 pieces to exhibit out of 300 submissions.
  
• Then onto the Shawnee Library to give a lecture about the Gee's Bends Quilts at the Speed Museum. The exhibit opened January 2, 2008.
• Quilt African American Women's History: Our Challenges Creativity and Champions will be published January, 2008. This is a traveling exhibition held in honor of the 20th anniversary of the National Afr0-American Museum and Cultural Center in historic Wilberforce University, home of the first African American institution of higher learning. The Ohio Historical Society sponsors the exhibit. The opening is January 5 and runs through May 31, 2008.
  

Valerie's piece: The Guardian, was chosen as the cover art for the Quilting African American Women's History exhibit. The Guardian is the first in a series of angels that Valerie will exhibit with famed fiber artist Penny Sisto. A date and location for that to be announced later.

Valerie's quilt based upon Bobby McFerrin will be included in the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum titled "Sisters In Cloth" The show runs from May - August.

Her work is getting out there! It is so creative, imaginative and unique -- check out her work featured on the Internet. Here's one reference from Smith Kramer: Museum Traveling Exhibitions.