Quilts tell historical story
By: Shelley Fullwood, Staff Writer
Issue date: 9/21/06 Section: Arts
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Heather Williams, a University history professor, will display some of her handmade quilts, which stitch together the complex pieces of black history and culture.
The Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History will showcase 21 of Williams' quilts, from Sept. 21 through Dec. 6.
The exhibit, "Inbetween Spaces: Textured Imaginings of African-American Lives," explores issues of domination and resistance throughout black history in the U.S.
Williams began working for the University two years ago, and during her first week of classes, the Stone Center opened.
She said UNC's "long battle for a black historical space" was one of the reasons she wanted to display her quilts here.
Since 1985 Williams has made about 150 quilts, which have been displayed in New York City and throughout the Northeast.
The quilts tell the story of our history, she said.
Williams compiled pictures and text for the quilts - as well as themes - as she went through documents for her historical research.
One of the quilts on display is the "History Quilt," which intertwines events and themes to visually convey the history of slavery.
Williams said the quilt is chronological as well as thematic.
"It starts out with a slave ship and ends with an ad for a lost family member," she said. "You could look at it and just get an impression, or you could read the photos and the text."
Williams said she taught herself how to quilt by reading books and magazines. But a lot of her skill was passed down.
"My mother taught me how to embroider, and that comes in sometimes, and I'll do embroidery for people's faces," she said.
Usually each quilt takes Williams about a month to complete, but Williams worked on the "History Quilt" for eight months.
Finding time to quilt can be difficult for Williams. She said she mostly works on them at night and when she travels.
"When I'm teaching I find it very hard to quilt because I'm working until 10 at night," she said. "But when I travel I almost always take something to work on.
"Usually I'll take something in progress with me on trips," she said. "I travel with my own light bulbs so that I can quilt in the hotel room."
She loves appliqué - stitching irregular shaped pieces on a back cloth - but her quilting is not limited by the barriers of style, she said.
"I don't follow patterns. I tend to kind of make up what I'm gonna do," she said. "There might be something in there that uses a particular style and then I vary it a bit."
But mostly, Williams concentrates on tailoring her work to the subject matter.
"I want people to realize that African Americans are not one-dimensional," she said. "The multiple textures and colors used in my work symbolize the intricacies of the African American."
Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
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