Tracey & Rhi

This was a git for my mother for Christmas and we did it over her 58th birthday. My mom got into quilting about 5 years ago and I couldn't really understand her enthusiasm. For me most quilts I had seen looked like "old dead white lady quilts." I'd never seen a quilt done outside of the typical Eurocentric fashion, so she sent me an article about Gee's Bend (5 years ago!) and I was obsessed. It really changed the concept I had about who quilts in America. Last year I'd seen that you had an experience with the very same quilters who changed my perspective and decided to give the experience to my mom. Both of us have had a hard few years and felt zapped of our creative energy. It was our hope that a trip to Gee's Bend could fill our creative cups and get us back into having an enthusiasm for making again.

BEYOND. MEASURE. I haven't felt that I could use my brain to be creative in almost a year and a half and any creativity I could squeeze out of myself was used for my economic work. Spending a week in the country where it wasn't necessary to lock your doors, and everyone knew each other, while crafting looking out over the Alabama River was medicine. The freedom with which Loretta and Marlene approach their art gave us freedom to play, try new things, and experiment. It was like breaking outside of a box I'd been trapped in for years. THEN there was the whole history and civil rights side of what the quilters of Gee's Bend do. On all fronts I was inspired and feel recharged.