Life Through Quilts: Works by the African American Quilt Circle

[Blue_Tires]

WHAT: "Life Through Quilts: Works by the African American Quilt Circle of Durham" Exhibit

WHEN: Through Oct. 3

WHERE: Durham Arts Council

Allenton and Semans Galleries

120 Morris St., Durham

www.durhamarts.org

SPECIAL EVENT: Artists' Reception

Dance with Chuck Davis and the African American Dance Ensemble and storytelling with Willa Brigham

WHEN: 5-7 p.m. Aug. 20

BY DAWN BAUMGARTNER VAUGHAN

[e-mail]; 419-6563

DURHAM -- Every artist put something of herself into her work. Sometimes you can see it, sometimes you can't. But there is always a thread of the artist's life running through her creation.

The new exhibit at the Durham Arts Council is "Life Through Quilts: Works by the African American Quilt Circle of Durham."

Here's a piece of Robin Pinchback's life, hanging on the wall of the second floor of the DAC downtown. Blues and yellows are pieced together, stitched with threads that form the shapes of musical notes. Its first incarnation was for a previous show about the blues at the Hayti Heritage Center, where the guild meets monthly.

Different shades of blue in "My Life, My Quilt, My Blues" represent day and night. Blue the feeling, rather than the color, is Pinchback's expression of the memory of a friend who died from cancer. Eagles represent Isaiah 40:31: "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Doves show that peace can be found day or night.

Pinchback made the quilt in about six weeks when she was recovering from surgery. It was like therapy, she said. As she talked about her quilt Thursday afternoon as the exhibit was being installed at DAC, she turned to fellow quilters Marjorie Freeman and Carol Beck and said she wanted to be like them.

Freeman said that the women -- and one man -- in the 42-member circle learn from and teach each other. Freeman has five quilts in the exhibit that she has created since 2002. Their subjects span her life experiences, like one of a Masai warrior she made after a trip to Tanzania and Durham's sister city, Arusha. Another quilt, "Leaves," was made with an applique process that she has since simplified thanks to fellow quilter Beck.


http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/9046080/article-LIFE-ON-DISPLAY--Works-by-the-African-American-Quilt-Circle?instance=main_article

[Fire1]

1. I wish I could see them. Sure would be nice if they had that

exhibit at our AA Museum!