/ff erry Silber
Mrs. Silber told her daugh-
fine design) are "the only Amer-
Quilts began reflecting women's
flowers, birds and so forth...Each
sees a sym-
ter: "People have got to see
ican original art forms."
lives: their roles as homemak-
night, Grandma would work by
phony when-
these." Soon after, she began or-
No one knows exactly when
ers and their changing status in
the
light of the lamp...Gradual-
ever she looks
ganizing her first show.
quilt-making began, but the ear-
larger society. Quilts showed
ly she got better...Grandma got
at a quilt.
That first exhibit, in Galerie
liest recorded quilt in U.S. his-
themes as well as serving a
hold of her life again and fin-
`The canvas
de Boicourt in Birmingham, in
tory is contained in a 1685
practical, often painful, purpose.
ished the quilt and folded it up
of the quilt is
1970, had so many participants
inventory of the home of Capt.
Women pioneers, who rode with
and
put it away... When we'd ask
such a beauti-
and visitors "it spilled into the
George Corwin of Salem, Mass.
their families across the prairie
ful space," she says. "The pat-
to
see
the quilt, she'd get it out,
parking lot," Mrs. Silber recalls.
The quilt is described as "calico,
in search of better lives, used
terns are absolutely music and
but
she
never used it because the
"We had to call the police be-
colored and flowered."
their quilts to wrap goods and
the drama, well, what more
memory
in each scrap would tell
cause of all the crowds that
Quilting in America saw its
to bury loved ones who died
her
about
her baby daughter.
could you possibly ask for?"
came."
first wave of popularity at the
along the harsh journey.
The early 20th century saw
She holds up a quilt of vivid
The next year, she began
end of the 18th century. Unlike
Ms. Jenkins includes in her
yet another addition to quilts:
blues, deep blue greens, sharp
serving as curator of the annu-
their predecessors, the colonial
book this account by Dorothy
marketing. Commercial pat-
reds and cool whites. Lovingly,
al quilt shows at the Somerset
settlers, women of the 18th cen-
Boettner of Nebraska, whose
terns and quilt kits became
she runs her hands over
the fabric. "Just look at
available, and literally hun-
this," she says. "It's beau-
dreds of newspapers, in-
tiful."
cluding the Detroit News,
Mrs. Silber, of Franklin,
began running quilt
is in the midst of planning
columns. Advice offered in
Michigan's first exhibit of
the column included this bit
of insight:
quilts by Jewish artists, or
with Jewish themes. Her
Nothing could be better
adapted to help along the
dining room table is filled
chitchat and gossip of a
with slides of quilts, sent
by artists from as near as
neighborhood party than a
quilting. In many ways it
Ann Arbor and as far as
Washington state. The
surpasses bridge, since it has
a worthwhile aim and re-
problem is not finding ma-
quires less concentration.
terial, as Mrs. Silber had
Quilts fell out of popular-
feared when she first had
the idea for the show. The
ity during the 1940s, when
women left full-time do-
problem is picking which
mestic responsibilities to
of the hundreds of quilts to
include.
join the work force. Then, in
1971, New York's Whitney
"I think I've just about
Museum of American Art
finished; I've picked 60,"
launched the first major
she says. "I just don't know
where to stop."
quilt exhibition, 'The Pieced
Quilt," renewing interest in
"The Artist and the
Quilt" will run Nov. 11
the art. Today, virtually
every major museum in the
through Dec. 31 at the Jan-
world has a quilt collection.
ice Charach Epstein Mu-
seum-Gallery at the
erry Silber
Jewish Community Cen-
knew the Janice
ter. The display, which will
Charach Ep-
be open to the public at no
stein Museum
charge, will include lec-
Gallery would be the perfect
tures by author Julie Sil-
place
for a quilt exhibit. The
ber and several of the
question simply was, where
artists whose works will be
to get the quilts?
exhibited.
"It's just not possible,"
Though her passion for
was her first thought. "Jew-
quilts is relatively new,
ish people haven't been in-
Mrs. Silber has long been
volved in quilts."
involved with the arts. She
So she forgot about the
is a sculptor and for many
project, then happened to
years worked as stage
mention it to a friend, who
manager for a local opera
in
turn called the gallery di-
company.
rector, who encouraged Mrs.
Then one day, while vis-
Silber to at least give it a try.
iting her daughter, she be Among the quilts to be included in the display are "Babel" by Robin Schwalbo, top left; "Dark Matter" by Marilyn Henrion, bottom left; and "Kalei-
It took no time at all to
doscopic
VII:
The
Natural
Order
of
Chaos"
by
Paula
Nadelstern.
gan admiring the quilts on
find exactly what she want-
the walls of Julie's San
ed. Mrs. Silber spoke to the
Francisco home. "I'd brought
Mall. It was a job she held for 11
tury had plenty of leisure time
several Jewish quilt makers
grandmother's
baby
girl
died
in
some prints, but when I saw the
years.
and easy access to imported ma-
she knew, who gave her the
the 19th century:
quilts I was absolutely as-
terials.
Susan
Jenkins,
author
names
of a few more. Then —
Grandmother
was
so
laid
out
ho would have thought
tounded. Everything I had paled
of The American Quilt Story,
those women called other Jew- ,-
by
the
death
that
she
was
unable
those
little
fragments
next to the baby blocks quilt on
notes that "Young Ladies'
ish quilt makers, who called still —
to go on with her life. And so
of lace and cotton and
the wall.
Schools" of the day began em-
others, and soon Mrs. Silber had Lt
Grandpa
ran
or
took
a
horse
torn
bits
of
muslin
"So I asked Julie, 'Where did
phasizing
the
importance
of
hundreds
of possibilities for her cc,
over
to
the
neighboring
cou-
from a worn-out dress would
you get all this?' It turned out
C D
show.
needlework as "a testimony to
ple...(who)
gathered
up
scraps
of
have
anything
in
common
with
she and her roommate had been
good breeding."
Among those to be included: C F 7 )
velvet
and
silk
and
old
linsey-
Bessie
Smith?
to flea markets, where they paid
In the 19th century, the art
an 8'x 6' quilt of the Kotel, made °
wool and strands of thread and
Jazz, Mrs. Silber explains,
between $4 and $15 for quilts
of
good-breeding
evolved
into
a
by
a Christian woman from
showed
Grandma
how
to
fash-
and patchwork quilting (the
that were worth hundreds."
new mode of self-expression.
ion pieces and then embroider
piecing together of scraps into
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