Quilts. Sure, they’re bedcovers to keep you cozy over these long Midwestern nights—but they’re also art. Narratives. Archives of our past.
Fitting all that into bits of fabric is Ohio-based Carolyn Mazloomi, whose middle name might as well be “Master Quilter.”
Forty years ago, she noticed a lack of community among artists like herself. So, she founded the Women of Color Quilters Network in 1985. The national organization has grown from just nine women to over 1,500 at its peak.
“I founded the organization because I felt that, at the time, there needed to be a guild or an organization that would support African-American quilt makers,” she says. “They were not members of regular quilt guilds, and it was because their work wasn’t so much accepted within the larger white quilt community.”
Mazloomi says she wanted to find a place—maybe the place—in American quilt history for Black makers.
CAROLYN MAZLOOMI, FOUNDER OF THE WOMEN OF COLOR QUILTERS NETWORK“This history has to be preserved. Even though it is difficult, they have to be preserved.”
“Quilts tell the stories of the struggles and the survival and the triumph of Black people, and they reflect the lived lives of their makers,” she says.
They serve as records of personal and collective history, Mazloomi says, from slavery to civil rights, race relations to simply day-to-day stories.
‘A Visual Voice’
Mazloomi says Black communities tend to utilize unique patterns: vibrant colors and improvisational styles.
Sometimes this caused friction and criticism, if it was even looked at in the first place. But more than anything, the style became a community. A home.
“That gives us a sense of identity and solidarity and pride in our quilt-making. So quilt-making has long been a visual voice for marginalized people,” she says.
“And this, to me, is wonderful. And it’s very inspiring for future generations of Black quilt makers.”
Women in Mazloomi’s network skew older; the average member age is somewhere between 75 and 103, she says. Some teach youth around the country in an effort to reach younger folks.
And quilting remains relevant in visible spaces (see a current exhibit featuring works by Mazloomi’s quilters network at Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Art Museum). But like the quilting process itself, shifting demographics take time.
“It’s coming along slowly,” says Mazloomi.
Stitching Stories
Less than half of Americans identify as book readers. Luckily for us, we can glean stories in art, too, not just through vocabulary.
“We are not a nation of readers. So I think it’s an easy fix to tell these visual stories because we’re basically visual learners,” Mazloomi says, adding dozens of states have limited African-American history in schools.
Enter story quilts, visible in Mazloomi’s work. They portray Black history—even (especially) the traumatic stuff.
“It’s a way to tell difficult stories visually in places that are safe, where you can have a safe conversation about these difficult topics and talk about them,” Mazloomi says.
“But these stories have to be preserved. This history has to be preserved. Even though it is difficult, they have to be preserved.”