Clare olfe left an eresa ralette eees h
curators of the O eht at the a
sonorgan Cultural Center scuss the works of
a rake urng the oenng receton n ay
Photo by Andrea Gable
SUMMER 2022 | LAKE OCONEE LIVING 53
she had heard about. One panel illustrates the “dark day” of
May 19, 1780 (now identied as dense smoke over North
American caused by Canadian wildres) and November
13, 1833, as the “night of falling stars” that convinced many
Americans that Judgement Day had come, but was later
identied as the Leonid meteor storm.
In 1897 Powers’ husband had left her and the farm; she
had to gure out how to survive. is was when she went
to 115 Broad Street in Athens to have her photograph made
by Charles F. McDannell. Powers purchased a carte de visité
image of herself. ese were the calling cards of the day.
She ordered multiple copies with the idea that buyers of her
quilts would know who she was. e address and photographer
were listed on the back of her photograph and was
in Lorene Diver’s collection, as recorded by Hicks. Powers
began to see herself as a textile artist.
In a student essay, Crickett Harmer at Vanderbilt, sums up
why she thought Powers made the quilts.
e fact that Harriet Powers created this quilt at the age of
58 in order to show it at the State Fair for a possible premium,
rules out the creation of the quilt out of necessity as bed
covering. Neither were Powers’ quilts used as didactic tools
for her own children as all would have been grown at the
time she made them. e ‘Bible Quilt’ was all about Harriet,
her life, what she knew best, what she did best, loved the
most and, actually, had control over: quilting and her faith.
By the time Grace Cavalieri wrote the play about Powers
in 2002, “Quilting the Sun: Journey of a Play,” much had
been gathered about Powers and her two quilts. Cavalieri
interpreted the occasion of Powers selling the quilt to Smith
by having the actress say: “I didn’t lose anything. I can begin
again.”
In saying this, Cavalieri felt Powers knew about loss. However,
as an artist, Powers also knew the creative process.
Powers had learned how to make more quilts. She may have
been taught how to sew from her enslavers, but she became
an artist by herself.
And though the real quilt is displayed in the Smithsonian
in Washington, D.C., a replica of her Bible Quilt is housed
in the Heritage Room at the Athens Clarke County Regional
Library made by the Quilting Society of Athens in 1984.
FORGING THE PATH
Museums today are working to be more community-informed,
but are working within the heavy frameworks of
their past, according to Artworks Archives. Historically,
museums have reinforced inequality in their structure and
tradition of exclusivity, in objectifying other cultures, and
with unjustly collected artworks. However, there are many
museums that are working to overcome this past.Many
institutions are working to repatriate, create self-aware
programming, and to re-interpret and re-contextualize their
collections, in “Why We Need Art in the Time of Crisis” at
artworkarchive.com.
Highlighting Black artists who learned how to take what
they have been taught functionally and turn it into art, is a
goal of many new art programs. In this museum reevaluation
of how to portray Black artists, the following question
is asked: What place do the Black artists of yesteryear have
in the conversation about the place of labor and craft in
America today? How are pots and quilts able to contribute
to the dialogue?
is is where easter Gates Jr. comes in. He is a Chicago
based artist who has been able to do exactly this with
Drakes’ work. His exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum
in 2010, examined Drakes’ pots and reinterpreted his work
to make it pertinent to a broader set of concerns about
the place of labor and craft in present-day America. e
description is oered on the Museum’s website.
e exhibition’s provocative installation, titled‘To Speculate
Darkly: easter Gates and Dave the Potter,’ features a
gospel choir that engages the enigmatic, emotional works
of poetry found on Drake’s pots. Gates created the captivating
sound piece with musicians from both Milwaukee and
Chicago. Gates further collaborated with local tradespeople
to develop original ceramic works for the show. us, the
project, as intended, has brought together two very dierent
groups of people in partnership, and promises to create
lasting relationships across the city. Potter, musician, and
performance artist, easter Gates Jr. has earned national
acclaim for his intelligent commentaries on race, the city,
and the museum….
If Gates could do all of that with just pots, what could be
done with pots and quilts within a community? And who
should do it? Check the attic.
/artworkarchive.com