eQuilter – 45% OFF Animal and Birds Fabric Clearance
| I am writing to you from Washington DC tonight, after spending a few days in Herndon Virginia for the Sacred Threads exhibit. Sophie Quinn is with me so I am letting her interests guide our museum time here. Monday we spent at the African American Museum, avoiding the sweltering heat, humidity and a monsoon squall later in the day. Today we spent at the National Art Gallery and the American Indian Museum. I have lots of photos from Sacred Threads and Wash DC that I’ll be sharing in the next couple weeks. My brother is a Washington DC architect and his firm has worked on several high profile projects. They were involved in some of the display fabrication at the NMAAHC, which makes it even more interesting to visit. It is the hot ticket in DC now. (The hot ticket used to be the Holocaust Museum.) You need to subscribe to their newsletter and/or be a member, to grab the timed tickets that are released a month in advance. It is a very somber journey, as you travel back in time to the 3rd basement level, to the beginning of the story of slavery from West Africa. This time, as last time, I witnessed a heartbreaking scene as a young boy asked about a brutal image and his father tried to explain to him what it meant. It is experiences such as this, and the visit to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, that strengthen my resolve to stand up and speak out against racism. When I attended the quilt festival in Nantes France (April 2019) I also visited the Musée d’histoire de Nantes located in the castle of the Dukes of Brittany, and housing displays about the history of slavery in Europe. As we ran out of time at the NMAAHC, we found ourselves alone in a gallery of contemporary art, and to my delight and surprise I found a large art quilt by Bisa Butler which was recently acquired by the museum. It is a colorful portrait of Harriet Tubman, based on the carte-de-visite photograph portrait of Tubman by Benjamin F. Powelson, made with imported West African printed cotton, silk and velvet. I was thrilled to finally see one of Bisa’s works in person! You can read more about her beautiful textile art here: “I Go to Prepare a Place for You”, 2021 by Bisa Butler My other priority while here is to visit with our non-profit partners and curator friends. Today I met with a staffer from the Ocean Conservancy (one of our 7 main charities) and we discovered a serendipitous connection. She mentioned she has a relative who is a quilter. Well that is not uncommon. But as we chatted I discovered it is the talented wildlife artist Sophie Standing, who is moving from Kenya to the UK soon. A further connection? Susan de Vanny – Australian artist who made the Gorilla portrait in my “For the Love of Gaia” exhibit – just finished a fiber art portrait of Sophie Standing’s two young sons. Sometimes it is just crazy how small our quilting world is, when we start comparing notes! Tomorrow I am meeting with Leda Huta, executive director of the Endangered Species Coalition. Then we fly home! Sharing your love of fabric, Luana and Paul ** The photo collage above includes a detail photo of Bisa Butler’s quilt in the Smithsonian, and similar African-design prints carried by eQuilter. See Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, watch our videos, or follow us on Facebook. Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or Twitter pages for Color and Design ideas. Quilt/Travel/Sponsor Calendar: August 4 – Long Beach Quilt Festival – Awards “Celebration of Color” Aug 17-20 – Festival of Quilts – Birmingham UK – Quilt Trends Lecture & SAQA Forced to Flee (Register for Luana’s trend lecture – Friday 10 am.) Sept 21-24 – SAQA Conference – San Diego CA October 2022 – Luana’s Polar Bear Tour – Churchill Manitoba Canada |
