Women of Color Quilters Network and Textile Center announce call for quilts to be part of We Are the Story, a multi-site initiative of quilt exhibits and community events in the Twin Cities later this summer, curated by Carolyn Mazloomi
Barbara Eady, “Black Lives Matter” – WCQN exhibit “We Who Believe in Freedom”
Exhibitions will build upon symbols of liberation, resistance and empowerment, offering a visually compelling account of the breadth of experiences and struggles that comprise Black history in an honest and critical way
June 9, 2020 — With Minneapolis at the epicenter of the nationwide protest movement against police brutality and racism in America following the death of George Floyd, the Women of Color Quilters Network (WCQN) and Textile Center announce plans to present a series of six quilt exhibitions and related community events in the Twin Cities later this summer.
The initiative titled We Are the Story is being created under the curatorial direction of Carolyn Mazloomi, WCQN founder and a member of Textile Center’s National Artist Advisory Council.
“George Floyd’s cry to his Mama for maternal help, mirrors a symbolic guttural cry for help from the belly of our nation,” Carolyn says. “Our citizens are crying out for protection, comfort, and education. In response to that cry, and to help educate the public on brutality, inequities, and racism in America, Textile Center and the Women of Color Quilters Network (WCQN) and Friends, together, are sponsoring a series of art quilt exhibitions. Collectively the exhibition quilts will tell the unsung stories that affect our understanding and inspire our resolve to end this unholy trinity of societal ills. The series will be organized around the following themes: remembering those lost to police brutality, history of civil rights, and racism in America.” 
Penny Mateer, “George Floyd”
On Tuesday, June 9, 2020, Carolyn Mazloomi announced the calls for submissions from quilters around the nation and the world for two juried shows open to all artists regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, race, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity:
- Gone but Never Forgotten: Remembering Those Lost to Police Brutality – a national juried exhibition that honors those whose lives were violently ended due to police negligence and brutality and critiques the targeting and criminalization of Black bodies throughout history.
- Racism: In the Face of Hate We Resist – An international juried exhibition builds on these narratives by sharing the stories of resistance and fortitude that have been integral to the survival of Black people in America.
Additional exhibitions (venues to be determined) will include: We Who Believe in Freedom (WCQN exhibit); Sacred Invocations (Quilts by Sylvia Hernandez, Brooklyn, NY); The Protest Series (Quilts by Penny Mateer, Pittsburgh, PA); and Freedom Rising: I Am the Story (Quilts by L’Merchie Frazier, Boston, MA).
Carolyn Mazloomi
“In recent years Carolyn Mazloomi has been a most valued advisor to Textile Center, a national center for fiber art that is based in Minneapolis,” says Executive Director Karl Reichert. “Following George Floyd’s death two weeks ago, she and I started discussing the role quilt exhibitions could play presented at Textile Center and throughout our community to address police brutality, racism, and inequity in our community. Carolyn and her vast network of artists and friends in the WQCN are mobilizing to present our hurting community with an extraordinary gift.”
“Throughout history, Black liberation movements have been deeply influenced by our cultural gifts and have often birthed new and beautiful forms of creative expression,” Carolyn says. “Artistic production, as seen throughout the Civil Rights, Black Arts, and Black Power movements, has operated as a vehicle for change and consciousness raising alongside the protests and organizing efforts employed by Black communities across the U.S.
We at WCQN feel compelled to follow the blueprint of our ancestors, using the work of our hands as tools for storytelling and social change,” adds Carolyn, who founded WCQN in 1985. “Quilting has long served as an act of self-determination and community support within African American history. The creativity and support manifested by enslaved women through quiltmaking directly informed the work of the quilting bees of the 60s and 70s whose work funneled social, financial and education resources into the fight for freedom and civil rights. As cultural stewards in today’s fight for justice, our mission is no different.”
(Header image: Sharon Kerry Harlan, “Power in Numbers” – WCQN exhibit “We Who Believe in Freedom”)
Carolyn Mazloomi announces a call for submissions from quilters around the nation and the world for two juried shows:
- Gone but Never Forgotten: Remembering Those Lost to Police Brutality – a national juried exhibition that honors those whose lives were violently ended due to police negligence and brutality and critiques the targeting and criminalization of Black bodies throughout history.
- Racism: In the Face of Hate We Resist – An international juried exhibition builds on these narratives by sharing the stories of resistance and fortitude that have been integral to the survival of Black people in America.
There is no fee for participating in the call for entries, and the deadline is July 31, 2020.
More info on this Call for Art: https://textilecentermn.org/wearethestory/?fbclid=IwAR0U5AIYhewe7v7cd8jlGzwvLvMA26cVOnkAGjdn4S-JWp9H54xdapxMzWc
More info on the Women of Color Quilters Network: https://wcqn.org/
