Arts

—Carole Lyles Shaw

It was the early 1990s, and Carole Lyles Shaw could barely sew on a button. “But there was an angel who sat on my shoulder and whispered in my ear that I should make some quilts for my young nieces and nephews,” says Shaw. “I went to the library for some books, bought an inexpensive sewing machine and some material, and taught myself how to quilt.”

And she hasn’t stopped since.

On a recent Saturday, Shaw and another 30 or so women who are members of the African American Quilters of Baltimore meet at a branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library.

President Janet Waters goes through the nuts-and-bolts portion of the meeting before turning to more creative endeavors. “The business part takes a bit longer than it used to, as we are trying to get our name out into the community,” says Waters.

“We have just begun a partnership with Port Discovery, which originally approached us to see if there was a way we could help make its Martin Luther King Jr. celebration a bit fuller for young visitors.”

The result was that the children drew images on squares of muslin that represented their interpretation of the theme, “Hope in the World as a Community.”

“We assembled the squares drawn by the children into quilts and added that the squares were made by [them] and turned into the final product by the African American Quilters of Baltimore,” says Waters.

Frequently, meetings will feature a mini demonstration of a different technique: On this particular Saturday, the demo focuses on how to make a floor mat from fabric without sewing.

“This is done by assembling various pieces of fabric on a background support that is then treated with polyurethane,” says Waters. “We also help each other out with our sewing projects. Beginning quilters will often bring in items that they are working on but having problems with. Those of us who have been doing this for a while are available to give suggestions.”

For those who think “traditional” when it comes to quilting, this group is anything but. “I quickly got very bored with the traditional patchwork approach, so I started inventing my own rules,” says Lyles Shaw. “I started to meet non-traditional quilters, and a whole new world opened up.”

Indeed.

Anyone who attends the African American Quilters of Baltimore’s every-other-year show will find an explosion of creativity. Quilts are apt to have titles along the lines of “Invitro Circularization,” “Ms. Vincent at Home,” “Eye on the Sparrow,” or “My Full Flowering.”

In addition to its support for members—Waters estimates that there are between 45 to 55 members and adds that the group is not limited to African Americans—the guild has made quilts for AIDS babies at various hospitals, as well as comfort pillows for women with breast cancer and men recovering from surgery. And when the highly regarded Gee’s Bend quilts were exhibited at the Walters Art Museum, these women were there, too, giving quilting demonstrations.

Waters believes that quilting has become more mainstream over the last couple of decades. “It got to be popular at the end of the 1980s, when the financial world was not doing well,” she says. “I think people are drawn to experiences that are artistic when the outside world gets chaotic.

“This work allows one to have some control and calm in her life.”

For more information on the African American Quilters of Baltimore, visit www.aaqb.org.