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A book, Hidden in Plain View - a Secret Story of Quilts
and the Underground Railroad by Jacqueline Tobin and
art historian Raymond Dobard tells about the slave quilts
and the secret symbols they contained. Tobin, a Denver writer
will be at the museum at 2 pm to talk about the book.
Quilts decorated with secret symbols were draped in plain
sight on fences. Since it was common to air bedding, no
one paid attention - except those desperate for freedom.
A quilt with a monkey wrench design would tell slaves to
gather tools they would need in the North, the authors write.
A wheel pattern would tell them to pack things in a wagon;
a pattern of tumbling boxes would signal it was time to
leave.
The autobiographical quilt emerged in the following years.
Denver artist Dawn Boyd will display a quilt she created
that was inspired by the work of New York quilting artist
Faith Ringgold.
The quilt's first scene shows the funeral of her 94-year-old
grandmother, Dovie Hill, who died in Atlanta in 2000. Using
cotton fabric, felt and beads, Boyd re-creates a group of
women and their husbands gathered in front of a flower-covered
coffin.
"Oh yes, they are distinct personalities," Boyd
says, pointing to her mother and aunts. "They are Atlanta
women, and they are very conscious of style."
lehndorffb@RockyMountainNews.com |
