. Contact Information – to reach a member, please find
contact information in the GMQG Directory and/or use our guild email greenvillemqg@gmail.com for inquiries.
. Thanks again to the Modern Quilt Guild
(themodernquiltguild.com) for the use of their Zoom account. If any member
would like a recording of today's meeting, please email Brooke Stambersky or
Dana Blasi within 14 days of the meeting date and she will send it to you.
. Our next meeting
will be hybrid, meaning in person &/or via Zoom, and held on Saturday, June
5, 2021, from 1 to 3 p.m. after a morning workshop with Karen Eckmeier (see
below). Log on between 12:50 and 1:00
p.m. for a short visit prior to the start of the meeting. Members will receive an email notice
containing the Zoom meeting link and passcode prior to the meeting.
MEMBERSHIP:
We welcomed 29 members to our May
Zoom meeting.
2021 MEMBER DIRECTORY:
The 2021 Member Directory has been
updated and will
be published on Monday, May 3rd. We’re excited to now
include the sewing machines we own as a means of support to one another whether
we’re in need of help troubleshooting or to get personal reviews when shopping
for a new machine.
TREASURER’S
REPORT:
A.
Taxes: Cindy has completed the
IRS Charity 990 for the year.
B. Reminder – print out your MQG membership card
on the MQG website to present at Bernina’s to get your monthly discount there.
ST. GILES - FELLOWSHIP HALL UPDATE / HYBRID
MEETINGS:
The poll on meeting types
indicates the majority of members are interested in hybrid meetings, which
would allow for both in-person and virtual attendance. The Board is running an equipment test at
Fellowship Hall, St. Giles, this month and aims to have the system up and
running for the June 5 meeting.
SEW-INS/SEW-ALONGS:
Sandy Helsel will be checking with Bernina as
to re-initiating our 3rd Friday, every-other- month, in-person, Sew-ins. See Show & Share below regarding the forthcoming
survey concerning virtual sew-ins/sew-alongs.
SHOW AND SHARE / QUILT
QUARK GALLERY:
Today’s Show and Share consisted of many versions of making
stripes based on the Maria Shell workshop.
Attendees met virtually after the workshop and had a Maria Shell Sew-in
via Zoom. Everyone enjoyed this method
of “sewing in,” and subsequently, we are planning to do more Zoom
sew-ins/sew-alongs. One of the
advantages of this type of sew-along is not having to pack and transport machines
and equipment back and forth to another location - you are in your own sewing
area with everything you need. A survey
is forthcoming to gauge member preferences for rotating between weekends vs.
evenings during the week for those who are working.
Share your quilts with us
by emailing photos either to Susan Rink or to Dana Blasi
prior to the next meeting.
WILDACRES
RETREAT:
Sandy Helsel reported the results of interest in attending
Wildacres in the Fall has been great. We
have 14 definitely interested and a few more depending on dates and
restrictions. Faye Jones is awaiting a
response on our request for rooms in the months of Oct. or Nov. We must keep in mind that it may be a while
before we know the availability for our group. Sandy will get information out to those
interested as soon as we know.
MEETINGS & PROGRAMS
MAY 1: GEE’S
BEND PANEL – QUILTS, PRAYER, & COMMUNITY - FAYE JONES, RITA SASSONE &
ANNE LARKIN with cameo by JOHNNIE MCKENZIE
The May program was dedicated to a
glimpse into the lives of the Quilters of Gee’s Bend. These talented quilters
are descendants of slaves from the once isolated Pettway Plantation in rural
Alabama. Without much exposure to the
outside world and no art education, many generations of these women created
stunning bed quilts using scraps of fabric from work clothes, torn dresses, Sears
corduroy, and stained aprons. They first came to national attention
with the Freedom Quilting Bee, a cooperative arising from the Civil Rights
movement in the 1960s and were sold in New York City at Bloomingdale’s and Saks,
providing income for the women. Little
did they know these blankets born of necessity would one day cause an international
sensation in the art and quilting world when they were randomly rediscovered by
art collector Bill Arnet forty years later in 2001. By 2002, the art world was abuzz when Michael
Kemmelman would state in his New York Times’ Art Review, ‘Jazzy Geometry, Cool
Quilters,’ “The best of these designs,
unusually minimalist and spare, are so eye-poppingly gorgeous that it’s hard to
know how to begin to account for them. But then, good art can never be fully
accounted for, just described…”
The
people of Gee’s Bend were physically separated from the outside world by the topography
of the land carved out by the waters of the Alabama River virtually shaping
their community into an island, access to which was accomplished only by ferry. One can observe the naturally occurring echoes
of African art found in their creations, having survived without such corrupting
outside influences as the wax and wane of historical European- and Asian-, to
popular American art. From the limitations
of isolation and poverty came extraordinary works of original abstract and
improvisational art, which would find their way into the foremost museums of
the world.
Found fabric was (and continues to be) shared
within the community, along with the activity of hand quilting among the women
of Gee’s Bend whose guiding force was ensuring family and friends were administered
to and cared for. There’s was a ministry
that continues today through China and Mary Ann Pettway who begin each day with
the Quilters’ Prayer* and whose retreats are punctuated throughout by the
spontaneous singing of hymns. It is hard
to look at the works of these artisans whether it be the dominating concentric squares
of Housetops, the random cohesion of Stripes and Strings, the irregular strips
of color comprising Lazy Gals, or the Courthouse Steps variation known as Brick
Layer without acknowledging that surely their ancestors and the ensuing generations
of Gee’s Bend quilters who adhered to their own particular brand of tradition were
the originators of what is known today as modern “improv.” And if you’re looking for one more bit of
insight into the ethos of the Gee’s Bend quilter, remember what the Pettways
say, “If you don’t like it, wack it!”
*Click on Gee’s Bend
Quilter’s Prayer on our blog to see the prayer. For more information on the Gee’s Bend Quilt
Retreat, go to geesbendquiltingretreats.com.
Registration is open for 2022 Spring and Fall Retreats. Go online for a number of books on- and
videos about Gee’s Bend.
JUNE 5: 9:00
a.m.-12:00 p.m. - KAREN ECKMEIER via Zoom - WORKSHOP: COLORS, TWISTS AND LEAVES; and
1:00
– 3:00 p.m. - MEETING PROGRAM LECTURE, WIGGLES & WAVES, Membership in person or
via Zoom
JULY 10: Katie Lewis in person – Certified
TeachER OF Shannon Brinkley’s Scrappy AppliquÉ Method – Lecture &
Trunk Show; Membership in person or via Zoom.
CLASSIFIED ADS SUBCOMMITTEE:
Johnnie McKenzie is
spearheading the Classified Ads Subcommittee.
Classified ads on our blog will allow us to post quilting goods and services,
etc., for and by our members. An
amendment to the Bylaws to include advertising on the blog is being drafted on
which we will vote. More details to
come.
OTHER NEWS:
. Gee’s
Bend Retreats opened up registration in April for its 2022 Spring and Fall
Retreats. For more information, contact
past attendees Faye Jones or Rita Sassone and/or go to geesbendquiltingretreats
dot com. We are told it fills up fast.
. Check out GMQG’s private Facebook account, Greenville
Modern Quilt Guild Members Only Group or its Public page,
Greenville Modern Quilt Guild, and the GMQG
Instagram account at @greenvillemqg (#greenvillemqg).
. If members come across a link or other
information they would like to share, they may forward it to President Brooke
Stambersky to be shared at the next meeting.
See you
next month!
