WEBVTT - Yvonne Wells: Quilting the Past, Teaching the Future 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:12.600 Welcome back to She Pivots. I'm Yvonn Wells. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.360 Welcome back to She Pivots, the podcast where we talk 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:20.000 with women who dare to pivot out of one career 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:24.720 and into something new and explore how their personal lives 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:34.240 impacts these decisions. I'm your host, Emily Tish Sussman. Today 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:38.199 I had the absolute pleasure of debuting the incredible story 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:42.200 of Ivonn Wells for the first time ever on a podcast. 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:46.000 Yvon is a folk artist who creates the most striking 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:49.280 quilts that depict stories from the civil rights movement and 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.680 the Bible. She's been making quilts since she was in 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:57.280 her forties, but now at eighty five, she's finally getting 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:01.000 her due. Her work has been featured in the Smithsonian, 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:05.120 the International Quilt Museum, and at the White House, but 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.920 this late in life renaissance was never an expected pivot 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:12.360 for her. Yvonne spent her career as a physical education 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:16.399 teacher in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where she dedicated her life to 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:19.760 teaching and to her community. She's of the civil rights 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:23.759 generation and experience the tension and the difficulties of the time. 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.360 You'll hear in her interview. Her first hand experience as 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:29.720 one of a few black teachers to integrate one of 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:33.399 the high schools. As a result, her quilts are an 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.640 expression of the tension she experienced during the Civil Rights 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:40.080 movement and offer relief and peace through her depictions of 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:43.240 the Bible. Although it took her years to accept the 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:46.600 title of artists, there is no question of the care 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:51.960 and artistry in every stitch. Yvonne's success post retirement is 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:56.040 proof that every path, no matter how nonlinear, can lead 0:01:56.080 --> 0:02:00.240 to something greater than you ever could have imagined. So 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.520 honored that she is here to share her story with 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:05.000 us today, and so excited for you to get to 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:06.600 know Vonn enjoy. 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.720 I am Yvonne Wells, and I make story quilts. 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:17.160 Okay, so we're gonna go. We're gonna go to LITTLELEVDD. 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:23.280 You are one of nine siblings, correct, which sounds like 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:27.639 a whole lot of fun, a whole lot of chaos. 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:29.880 And where do you chaos? 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:30.600 Mostly? 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:34.320 Where do you fall in the birth order? 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:39.560 I'm number eight. It was seven girls and two boys. 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:44.120 Seven of us were born in the thirties, two were not. 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:49.920 The oldest was born in twenties and the youngest was 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:53.000 born in forties. But the rest of us were born 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:56.840 in the thirties, So my mama had seven babies and 0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:57.840 ten years. 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:04.040 Oh my goodness is wild. So did you end up 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:07.160 being the youngest? Did you end up with a lot 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.280 of responsibility at home or did your siblings mostly take 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:12.280 care of you? Like, how did it work in your family? 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:16.679 Well, no, I'm the one who did mostly everything. They 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:20.800 did some however, as well. But if there was something 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.160 that needed to be fixed or needed to be done, 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:29.079 it was always Yvonne. So I was considered a tomboy 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:32.760 and I could do all of this stuff. If something 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:37.680 needed to be hammered, moved on, the yard needed mowing, 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:42.840 I'm Yvonne, the tomboy they knew. 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:45.880 Did you think about being a grown up? Like, did 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:47.560 you ever think about what you wanted to be when 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:48.120 you grew up? 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:52.120 I know I didn't think. I always thought I would 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:55.040 be a grown up, but I didn't know which direction 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:59.320 I would go in. However, it was placed in our 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:03.640 mind and our souls and our bodies that each of 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:06.840 you would go to college. So we all did go 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:11.160 to Stillman College, which was in walking distance from our home. 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:15.120 That's quite remarkable at the time. It's remarkable under any 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:18.840 circumstances for all nine siblings to go to college, but 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:23.640 certainly in the South at the time. Yes, And did 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:26.080 everyone live at home? And why was that important to her? 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:30.520 Well? She always said, in order to get a better 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:35.159 way of life, in order to do well in life, 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:38.919 you're going to have to have education so that you 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:43.679 will know what to do to have a prosperous life. 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:48.479 Education was the way out, she would say. So that's 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:52.400 why it was extremely important for us to go to college. 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.800 Each of my aunts in office all went to college. 0:04:55.920 --> 0:05:00.520 Doctor Hardy was the president of Stillman College moment tarily 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:05.839 and my mother's everybody taught school, but everybody went to college. 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.760 So that was I didn't see any way out. And 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:12.240 as a matter of fact, I didn't want to see 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:16.040 any other way out because it is I who would 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:19.400 always try to carry on what my mother was. Her 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:24.000 wishes were. I remember upon her die in bed and 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.960 I'm holding her hands. She said, Yvonne, take care of 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.760 your brother. Yvonne, do this, Yvonne, do that. 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:36.320 Yvonne did as her mother wished and attended Stillman College, 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:39.080 and it wasn't long before she met her husband. 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:44.480 Sure we were in school at Stilmam together and I 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:49.000 was one year ahead of him in nineteen fifty eight. 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:51.159 I think he came in nineteen fifty eight and I 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:55.400 graduated in nineteen fifty seven. I was already there when 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:58.640 he came in. And when he came in, I saw him. 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:02.560 I said, well, there's nice looking guy. But I was 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:08.400 told that he was already consumed by other women. I said, okay, 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:10.720 I just leave it alone. But as time went on, 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:12.400 that finally changed. 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:15.760 Was it always clear that you were going to go 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:17.800 into teaching and to education. 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:23.039 Not always clear. It wasn't always clear because at one 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:25.360 time I thought I wasn't going to go at all. 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:30.359 But somehow we were able to manage to get enough resources. 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:35.160 And my husband was the caregiver of the financial giver 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:38.680 at that time, so he finished up my years on 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:42.920 my final years of college. Oh, he had to stop 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:49.480 college because his finances were unable to continue his educational goal. 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:53.960 He joined the Marines, and that's how we got the 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:56.600 assistant that I needed to continue. 0:06:57.160 --> 0:07:01.960 So when you started as a teacher, you worked as 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:05.760 a teacher during the height of school integration in Alabama. 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:06.680 I did. 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:09.840 You were one of the first teachers to integrate Tuscalousa 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:12.880 High School. What did you see during those years? 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:16.800 What was your role? Well, when I was informed that 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:21.160 I was going to be transferred to Tuscaloosa High School, 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:25.200 I went to the principal's office and told him, no, 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:29.960 I can't go there because I'm a little strict on 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:33.880 students as far as doing what I asked you to do. 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:36.520 But I love them all and I would buy them 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:38.600 anything and hug them and all that kind of thing. 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:43.600 But I felt that I was not the right person 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:48.880 at the right time to do this job. And he said, well, 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:51.840 let me call the superintendent. So he called and said, 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:54.640 she's not going, and they said, yes, you are going. 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.760 So I went on and when I got there, it 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:04.320 was quite different because two different schools, one black, one white, 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:09.440 and the integration was nil at that time. But I 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:12.800 did go and tried to make an impact on the 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:18.800 students as far as being cooperative getting along, but it 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:20.360 didn't work all the time. 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:25.600 The tensions of that time were immense. Yvonne described it 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:29.520 as quote the most tense time that I've ever experienced 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:33.040 between the races. You could almost cut it so much 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:37.720 so that tension turned to violence. During her classes, this. 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:40.800 Is one of the places I saw the most blood 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.280 that I had seen in my life come from a 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:48.480 live person. It appeared to me that they came to 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:50.880 the gym because that was a big area, you know, 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:55.640 lots of space fights with two by fours and whatever 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:59.120 thing they could pick up. And they were fighting, and 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:01.120 I'm trying to break them up from a district and 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:03.079 I knew not to get in between them because that 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:06.680 was dangerous, but we had to always call police in. 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:10.559 I said, well, my goodness, this is not education. This 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:14.320 is something that has got to be done. But I 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:17.200 did see a lot of a lot of that. But 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:23.440 pretty soon things started to get a little better. A 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:26.120 lot of the students moved out of the zone and 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:32.000 went to another school, and soon it basically became all 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:36.920 one color again black. But they did move to another 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:39.200 school where they had thought that they could get a 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:43.400 better education or better peace. There's nothing like having peace 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:46.120 when you're there trying to learn and then parents coming 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:50.240 up to the school all the time because of some disruption. 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:52.120 It's difficult. 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:01.760 But still a Vanstine true to her nature and became 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:05.760 a beloved teacher to countless students. Eventually they would find 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:07.200 her and thank her. 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:11.559 They have found me because I'm not in the community 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:15.120 all the time doing stuff, and they would come up 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:19.400 and say, aren't you miss Wells. I said yes. She 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:22.120 said you taught me in school, and you taught me 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.679 well That touched my heart. She said, you taught me 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:31.040 how to live and how to talk, how to my 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:34.400 parents and all of that. And I did. And I'm 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:37.400 so glad to know that I had made some impact. 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:39.680 But I hear that quite often, and it makes me 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:43.480 feel really good that my teaching was not in vain. 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:48.640 And despite your long career as a teacher, you pursued 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:53.360 many interests over the years. You became a certified notary, 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:59.400 a licensed funeral director, a certified emergency medical technician, and 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:01.640 you had to kids. Oh. 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:05.160 I think the more I did, the better I felt, 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:09.520 because each of those that you have mentioned always had 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:14.319 the intention of helping someone, helping someone who needed help. 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:20.160 I a licensed paramedic. I was a license paramedic for years, 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:24.199 and I got that because as a physical education teacher, 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:28.199 you are not always in the building. You're far away 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:31.320 from your class. Because when I would take them outside 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:35.080 to play ball, the field was way way way away 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:39.120 from a classroom. So I said, gosh, what would happened 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:44.720 if one of my kids got injured? So I said, okay, Van, 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:47.440 I'm going to take that. So it took me two 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:51.400 years to go to paramedic school and be licensed, but 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:56.280 I didn't keep it because other people, I mean, it 0:11:56.320 --> 0:12:00.000 came in where that as a paramedic, I wasn't allowed 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:02.600 to do some of the things that I'm thinking that 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:07.000 my kids needed at the time. So as paramedics now, 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:11.160 you cannot do all the things that we could do 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:15.480 a long time ago. And that's why I think we 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:19.000 have paramedics now in the city, not because of me, 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:25.200 but because of the necessity to act quickly in a 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:31.280 scene that is either the last draw or someone is dying, 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.800 or someone is injured. But my reason was to help 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:39.920 my kids if needed. And fortunately I don't think I 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.280 have to use it at all there. I haven't had 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:44.880 to use it at anything as a matter of fact. 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:49.720 But you never forget some of those skills that were 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:50.320 taught to you. 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:57.439 Yeah, and what about a notary and a licensed funeral director. Yes, 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:01.240 a notary. I still am a notary. When I got 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:06.600 the notary and I did volunteer work at a community's 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:13.120 service organization. It's called temporary emergency service where we give 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:16.760 stuff to people who need it. And a lot of 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:19.600 times the students people would come in who were trying 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:22.040 to get their kids in school or trying to get 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:26.800 water turned on something, but they had to be notarized, 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:30.800 and I was there to assist them. However, I'm just 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.760 doing that, still doing that now here at home. But 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:36.959 that was the time you got a chance to see 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:42.520 the real community and some of the obstacles that they 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:46.880 go through, and you look around and say how fortunate 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.760 you are. And I was always the one who wanted 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:54.120 to help that person who needed my help if I 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:58.880 could give it to them, Yeah, that's beautiful. And I 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:00.760 just have to ask about the few director. 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:08.559 Yes, it was very rewarding because at funerals it's a 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:13.680 time you at your most vulnerable time. You don't know 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:15.880 how to be sad and you don't know how to 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:20.680 be happy. So I was always there to talk to 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:24.120 the family and go get the family, give them whatever 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:27.480 they want, take them, go with them to the to 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:31.280 the grave site, and just be there as a as 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:37.520 a help, but be there for consolation or for somebody's 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:40.040 head to lie down on. I just lost my sister 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:43.360 about three weeks three months ago, and I know the 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:48.640 need for a funeral director. However, I didn't only work 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.920 with the families. I work in the back as well, 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:55.600 with the bodies as well, but didn't do that very 0:14:55.680 --> 0:15:00.160 long because I was not a trained mar tissue or 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:02.560 a trained person to work in the back. But that 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:04.800 then stopped me from doing what I needed to do 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:06.200 with the families. 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:10.560 I'm sure you were such a comfort to them. 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:13.360 I love it today and I've always loved it. 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:18.480 Yeah, so let's start talking about your quilting. You're a 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:22.680 self taught quilter. How did you first learn to sew? 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:27.960 I don't know if I was consider it sewing, but 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:30.880 I remember my mother would tell us to patch to 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:33.400 sew your socks up because they had holes in it. 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:35.640 I guess it was a manden. So I will put 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:40.640 two bitch stitches in it, and I call that sewing. However, 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:44.640 when it came down to making a quilt, I just 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:48.000 didn't know what to do. That was not in my 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.240 way of thinking. Who would have thought Yvonne would be 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:56.320 making quilt making quilts because I'm busy. I'm busy all 0:15:56.840 --> 0:16:01.920 the time, as far as in this concern. It became 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:07.480 my first love. After I made my first quilt, I 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:11.480 would quilt all the time. And the reason why I 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:14.880 think it also felt so good it all we was 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.720 always because there was always something there in the house 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.400 that I could get to make a quilt. And let 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:25.280 me tell you, when I started making quilt, I never 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.240 thought I would sell. I never wanted to sell a quilt. 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:32.000 I was making it because of the love and to 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:37.200 see my creation down on the floor completed. It was. 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:43.120 It was my boxley. So that's how I started. Because 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:47.720 when we added on to our home, when we had fireplaces, 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:51.080 my husband went down in a county that a home 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:53.560 was given to us by my aunt, and he brought 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:56.440 all the lumber back. I think it was an Annabelle 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:59.200 home that was writing down there. But we usually would 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:05.400 is in our house right now. But the fireplaces were 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:09.480 not They were not putting out enough heat. So I said, shoot, 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.600 I'm going to make me something to keep my little 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:16.359 legs warm. So I looked around the curtains on the wall. 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:20.200 So I just grabbed that and reaching in the closet 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:23.000 and pulls on my husband's clothes and my clothes. The 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:27.880 children's stuff. It was there, sheets were on the bed, 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:31.040 there were all kinds of stuff that I just reached 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.400 up and got and made quilts. And it was the 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:38.359 best feeling that I had had in many years. 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:42.360 Yvonne let the joy of the craft guide her creating 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.480 quilts in a bit of an unconventional way, a way 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:47.320 that she calls my way. 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:52.720 I had seen quilts that were made by other people 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:56.240 and I thought they were extremely beautiful, and I still do. 0:17:56.960 --> 0:18:00.600 And I actually tried to make a piece well, and 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:04.800 I did, but it was made my way, not like 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.919 it was like there were patterns or anything, but it 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:11.800 was made my way and I enjoyed that and I 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:15.320 liked it. Look, I wasn't told how to do it. 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:18.480 I didn't know if it worked. 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:22.200 That's her beloved dog, you hear in the back. He'll 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:24.760 make himself known in the background every now and then 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:26.080 throughout the episode. 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:31.960 I didn't know if it worked. I just didn't. But 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:35.720 I did continue to say I did it in my 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:40.359 way because it was me. Nobody told me anything. When 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:42.520 I did it and it got through, I said, oh gosh, 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:46.240 this looks good. And I said, okay, well I'll continue. 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:49.280 And that's how I get started. You know, I was 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:53.920 making them as fast as I could think and as 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:58.159 fast as I could stitched them, which was very fast 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:01.560 at the time. Enjoyed every minute of it. 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:06.280 For years, she just created and created, reveling in the 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:09.920 pleasure of the moment. But the quilting community wasn't as 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:12.240 open to her nonconformist designs. 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:16.840 When I first started going to Kentuck the festival, I 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:19.280 would go up, my son would put up this huge, 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:23.520 this huge tent, and there are people will come by 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.919 because I had at least eight quilt showing at one time, 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:29.760 and they go up and look at it, and it 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:33.400 was so it was to me really heartbreaking. They walk 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:35.919 up and say, oh, gosh, this is John. Look at 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:40.439 these big stitches. No. I didn't have an answer for 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:44.280 that because I didn't know anything else. My stitches are large, 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:48.720 but that was who I am. Oh this is nothing 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:51.199 but John. Why would you have all of these colors? 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:55.480 They don't match. Oh it matches to me. I tell 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:58.480 them I'm a personal color in more ways than one. 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:02.760 And they would say that all the time you need 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:06.280 to go to school is you can't show this to anybody. 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:09.560 But I was bound in the termine, and today here 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:12.240 I am. 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:16.760 And then at what point did you shift from simply 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:19.960 creating to selling your quilts? 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:23.840 Like I said before, I never thought I would sell them, 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:28.080 but the number of quilts that I was producing led 0:20:28.119 --> 0:20:30.040 me to believe, now, I don't have enough room in 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:34.840 the house to put these. So years passed by and 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:38.320 I met a man who had a gallery downtown and 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:44.000 who was interested in quilts, and especially the black person's quilts. 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:48.520 I said, oh, well, okay, so he came over. He 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:50.399 and his wife came over and looked at what I 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:54.159 was seeing, and he just fell in love with what 0:20:54.200 --> 0:20:57.199 I was doing and told me to show it to 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:00.200 the public and you may get something. I said, no, 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:03.360 I will not do that because I don't want anybody 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:06.640 to see this junk. And that's what it was called 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:11.359 for several years, junk, but usually it was I was 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:13.679 told to go to school to learn how to quilt, 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:17.359 and I wouldn't show this stuff to anything to anybody. 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:21.080 So all those kinds of things, it's made me to 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.040 want to make and to work harder at what I 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:28.520 was doing. But I never changed my way and my 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:30.480 vision of a quilt. 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:34.119 When you say your way and your vision. Are you 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:38.960 talking about how they're very they're pictorial, they depict scenes. 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:43.800 Was having them be visual and pictorial always part of 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:45.520 the vision for you of the quilt, Like, did they 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:47.159 ever evolve in that sense? 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:52.480 Well, there was an evolution early on after I made 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:57.120 a quilt called a Mothership. It was from a pattern 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:00.760 and I showed it to Robert Caringo. I've heard the 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:04.120 name before, and he said, he thinks this is a story. 0:22:04.359 --> 0:22:06.760 I said, well, how do you think it's a story? 0:22:06.880 --> 0:22:09.120 He said, wellther yoused to call it mother ship has 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:11.680 the babies and dad's a mother and she's calling them on. 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:15.680 I said, oh, I didn't know that. So after being 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:18.480 told that, I said, shoot, I think I can make 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:22.679 a story because I see so much. I see and 0:22:22.760 --> 0:22:26.760 I feel so much. And then I created my first 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:31.080 story quilt after doing all the patterns, was a crucifixion. 0:22:31.720 --> 0:22:34.880 And because I worked on the floor, there was several 0:22:35.359 --> 0:22:37.600 quilts on the floor at one time. At one time, 0:22:37.640 --> 0:22:41.160 I was doing five at a time because I would 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:45.159 stay up all night because it felt good. It felt good, 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:48.400 and I wanted to I didn't want to stop, even 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:50.320 though it's three o'clock in the morning. I don't want 0:22:50.359 --> 0:22:54.640 to stop because I may miss something, and I don't 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:57.600 want to miss anything. But I made the Crucifixion, and 0:22:57.680 --> 0:23:02.040 after making that, making that, I said, well, I think 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:06.480 I could do them more. And from there I proceeded 0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:09.399 to where I am now stories. 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:11.399 Out of them basically, and I think that was probably 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:15.439 the thing that attracted me most about her work is 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:18.000 the storytelling or the narratives that are in each. 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:20.480 Of the quilt. So I'm here at the International Quilt 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:23.520 Museum back in the archives today. There are over ten 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:28.040 thousand quilts, textiles, and quilted objects here in the collection, 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:30.359 and I'm standing in front of my one of my 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:34.080 very favorite quilts. This is a gorgeous quilt made by 0:23:34.280 --> 0:23:38.840 Yvonne Wells in nineteen eighty seven, and it's called Going Home. 0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:43.679 So when you're creating your quilts and coming up with 0:23:43.760 --> 0:23:47.720 the story, which comes first? Do you see the fabrics 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:51.560 and are you inspired? Does the story become inspired by 0:23:51.560 --> 0:23:53.639 the fabric or do you think of the story that 0:23:53.680 --> 0:23:55.200 you want to tell and you go out and find 0:23:55.200 --> 0:23:56.320 the materials. 0:23:56.720 --> 0:24:00.159 I think I do all of that first, however, or 0:24:00.200 --> 0:24:02.879 I must see it. I got to see it first 0:24:02.880 --> 0:24:05.560 in my mind. Then I have to think about it. 0:24:06.280 --> 0:24:09.120 Then I have to feel it in my heart if 0:24:09.119 --> 0:24:11.200 this is the way that I want to go with 0:24:11.240 --> 0:24:14.399 the story, or am I to look at something else. 0:24:15.200 --> 0:24:18.320 Let me say this, I don't jump right into the 0:24:18.400 --> 0:24:23.240 story making the quilt until I have almost completely finished 0:24:23.240 --> 0:24:28.199 the quilts itself, because as I make the quilts sometimes 0:24:28.240 --> 0:24:29.320 the story change. 0:24:32.000 --> 0:24:35.000 If you have a lot of religious themes and civil 0:24:35.080 --> 0:24:39.800 rights themes, I do. Are there particular stories you're trying 0:24:39.840 --> 0:24:44.560 to tell through the civil rights stories? Are you recreating 0:24:44.600 --> 0:24:47.160 things that you've seen or more things that you envision? 0:24:48.200 --> 0:24:50.959 It could be both. I could be all of those. 0:24:51.960 --> 0:24:56.000 It was my intention and it is still today that 0:24:56.200 --> 0:25:02.439 I would put down in a quilt history. Because I 0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:05.480 was during this of rights era, that's my era, and 0:25:05.680 --> 0:25:09.199 so much was going on. I said, gosh, let me 0:25:09.320 --> 0:25:11.280 just see if I could put some of this down 0:25:12.119 --> 0:25:16.960 in my way. But like I said, as a teacher, 0:25:17.400 --> 0:25:21.520 I always wanted to have something that a child or 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:25.000