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WORLD WITHOUT HUNGER ART QUILT EXHIBIT
World Without Hunger Art Quilt Exhibit October 2014 Presented by the United States Mission to the United Nations Agencies Rome, Italy Ambassador David Lane USUN: Sharon Ketchum, Mark Bissonette, Ann Wise U.S. Embassy to Italy: Massimo Olivieri Exhibit Curator: Susan Fiorentino United States Mission to the United Nations Agencies Embassy of the Untied States ofAmerica Via Boncompagni, 2 00187 Roma Publication and Design Photography: Sharon Ketchum and Susan Fiorentino Design: Melissa Heredia Nieda This publication was made possible through the generosity of Luana Rubin, eQuilter.com and Alex Veronelli, Aurifil. Copyright © 2014 Melissa Heredia Nieda, All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without express written permission from Melissa Heredia Nieda. Printed in Italy.
Contents
A message from Ambassador David Lane 6 Quilts - America's Art 8 Curator's comments: Quilting - The Art of Community 10 Hunger Is Everywhere by Margaret "Peggy" Becker World Without Hunger: Generosity by Maria Billings Nourish Humanity by Amy Carroll
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Afghan Women Improve Family Nutrition with a Poultry Project by
Susan Fiorentino 22
Glorious Grains by MaryJo Fuhrer
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The Ages ofHunger by Pamela Holland
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In a World ofAbundance by Susan Malen and Ann McBeth Grain for Wings by Maria Poggi Cavalletti Lifting Hope by Mary Sawich Food for All by Elinor Sigler
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for future generations.
A message from Ambassador David Lane
This connection came alive in my first exposure to quilts as an art form. In 2004, the Corcoran Gallery ofArt in Washington D.C. hosted an exhibit The Quilts of Gee’s Bend, featuring twentiethcentury quilts produced by the women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. Gee’s Bend is an isolated, impoverished agricultural community, whose inhabitants are nearly all descendants of former slaves. For generations, the women plowed, planted and harvested the land, cooked, kept house, raised their children—and made quilts.
One in eight people goes to bed hungry each night. Population growth and climate change will only increase the challenges involved in providing enough nutritious food for everyone in the future. No single change, no single idea can solve this complex problem. The causes are many, and everyone -from farmers to government leaders, scientists to entrepreneurs, producers to consumers -- needs to be part of the solution. The connection between quilts and ending world hunger may not be immediately evident. Yet both reflect the human will to survive and thrive, and to create a better life
Their quilts reminded me of abstract paintings, with brilliant use of line and color. Unlike abstract painters, however, the Gee’s Bend women 6
created their quilts out of necessity. They used salvaged materials, discarded fabric, and old clothing to meet the basic need of keeping their families warm, which made the beauty of their quilts even more remarkable. Like poor rural people throughout the world, the women of Gee’s Bend combined the hard work of daily survival with innovation, a spirit of joy, and love of beauty.
materials, shapes and colors to form a product that is both practical and beautiful, we must bring together all the knowledge, experience and tools we have to design the programs that will end world hunger. David Lane U. S. Ambassador to the UN Agencies in Rome
The ten quilts you see in the World Without Hunger exhibit continue this tradition, using recycled materials to express the plight of people who do not have enough to eat, while also celebrating the innovation, creativity and hard work that will help us end hunger and malnutrition in our lifetimes. Just as quilters unite diverse 7
invented regionally and migrated with their makers to newly-settled territories. The story of quilting is bound up with the story ofAmerica.
Quilts - America's Art
Quilts are a truly American art form. While other cultures have traditions using those seen in American quilts, only in America did patchwork, appliqué, and quilting reach the heights of innovation and artistry that they did, and continue to do, in the United States. In a truly American spirit of invention and independence, traditional European designs were adapted, transformed, and abandoned. New patterns were 8
Colonial-era women had little time to create artistic quilts; bed coverings were mostly more utilitarian. Some “wholecloth” quilts, not patchwork but made of lengths of a single fabric stitched together and quilted in beautiful designs of feather vines and flower baskets, were made. A few women with money and leisure created
beautiful fabrics, and this democratization allowed quiltmaking to become a craft practiced by not just the upper class, but by everyone. Truly, quilting is a democratic art—and thus truly American.
pieced or appliqued quilts. But it was not until after we gained our independence that quiltmaking took off as a means for women to express their taste and skill. Initially, quilts were made from imported fabrics, as – despite patriotic efforts to shed dependence on Europe – our new nation had virtually no textile industry. Costly and colorful imported chintzes adorned many a quilt as testimony to their makers’ taste and needle skills. Quilts were cherished heirlooms that combined artistic beauty with functional use.
In keeping with its historical roots, quilting today continues to be used as an effective medium towards conveying messages both creatively and powerfully. Given how far quilting has come in terms of the large scope of materials and designs available, quilters have a wide range of resources to articulate ideas through the use of images, textures, symbols, and color.
By the mid-1800s, the United States had its own factories producing affordable fabrics rivaling the European imports. Now a broad spectrum ofAmericans could afford
Alden O’Brien, Curator ofCostume and Textiles, DAR Museum, Washington, DC 9
spirit. Luana Rubin of eQuilter in Boulder, Colorado has raised $1.2 million for charity and distributed over 10,000 donated quilts to impoverished and disaster-affected individuals since she began on 9/11, 2001.
Curator's comments: Quilting - The Art of Community
Quilting brings people together. From the 1700s in Colonial America right through the 21st century, no other art form has linked people together as quilting does.
Alex Veronelli ofAurifil in Milan produced 630,000 miles of cotton thread in the last 12 months, enough to circle the equator 25 times. Aurifil’s production is 100% Made in Italy, using prime "Mako" cotton from Egypt, which is twisted, dyed and rewound in Italy. Luana and Alex each travel over 150 days annually promoting quilting and meeting quilting friends from all over the world.
Modern technologies have helped quilting take on new wings. Blogs, websites, YouTube, exhibits and professional markets bring men and women together to share skills and techniques and to celebrate patterns, design and color. Quilters advocate for important causes, promote community spirit, contribute to disaster relief, and celebrate life, birth and even death.
According to Quilting in America™ 2010, the premier U.S. survey for
Our exhibit patrons exemplify this 10
the quilting industry, the number of quilters in the U.S. now exceeds 21.3 million, and the industry is worth $3.58 billion. The survey does not include quilters worldwide but they are everywhere. Groups join together to help each other learn to quilt, guilds are formed and friendships are made that last a lifetime.
Melissa Heredia Nieda’s beautiful catalog has brought the exhibit to life in print. Anna Maria Volpacchio, my volunteer colleague at the U.S. Embassy’s Tri-Mission Art Gallery, provided support and encouragement, while the professional advice ofAlden O’Brien, Curator of Costume and Textiles, Daughters of the American Revolution Museum, Washington, DC will be forever appreciated.
I want to thank the U.S. Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome for cosponsoring this important exhibit. I especially value Ambassador David Lane for having the foresight to encourage ten artists to interpret the theme World Without Hunger in art quilts, and the Public Affairs team, Sharon Ketchum, Mark Bissonnette and Ann Wise for all their work to make the exhibit a reality.
And finally, I wish to recognize the U.S. Mission to the UN Organizations in Geneva and the UN Cultural Service in Geneva for their collaboration in organizing the exhibit at the Palais des Nations, United Nations, Geneva, and The American University of Rome for hosting the exhibit on their campus. 11
Each quilt (one meter by one meter) in this exhibit is a work of art from the heart of the artist. I hope you will enjoy the exhibit and give thought as to how we can attain a World Without Hunger. Susan Fiorentino Exhibit Curator
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Hunger Is Everywhere
Generosity
Nourish Humanity
Afghan Women Improve Family Nutrition with a Poultry Project
Glorious Grains
The Ages of Hunger
World of Abundance
Grain for Wings
Lifting Hope
Food for All
Peggy stitched an Ohio Star quilt as the family traveled down the Ohio River to Illinois. Peggy remembers as a young girl, she learned to use her Grandma’s treadle sewing machine to piece blocks as well as hand piece them. They then put the quilt in a large standing quilt frame which seemed to stand permanently in the “Front Parlor” of her home.
Hunger Is Everywhere
by Margaret “Peggy” Becker Hunger Is Everywhere combines
Peggy Becker’s family heritage of farming and providing food for the nation and the rich history of quilting. The quotes on the quilt blocks are from famous people in history expressing the sentiment of everyone who is working to eradicate hunger around the world. When there is clean water and sufficient food for everyone in the world, Peggy believes there will be peace on earth. The challenge of making a quilt for an exhibit is something new for Peggy. She has followed family tradition and has made many quilts for herself and as family gifts. Great-great-grandma and her sister 16
for the expression of a World Without Hunger.
World Without Hunger: Generosity
by Maria Billings
Maria Billings completed her studies of textile art at the University of Cologne. In recent years, living in Italy, she focused on painting. Her new, bilingual book "Roman Horses, Cavalli Romani" is an art book of watercolors and drawings which accompany you on a historic stroll through Rome finding horses in unexpected places.
World Without Hunger: Generosity
expresses the hope that a world without hunger is possible and will be brought forth through people’s generosity. Here people of all colors and ages are offering food around a globe that is emerging in the center of the composition. The quilting is entirely done by hand (first painted, then quilted), taking over a year to complete. The process is documented in a YouTube miniseries "How to Create an Art Quilt." The quilt stitches are partly used as a basis for a simple outline embroidery that emphasizes a graphic line quality. The amount of quilting itself is minimized to the essential, to what is actually needed, 18
more caring, thoughtful human race. Nourish the Body – Nourish the Mind – Nourish Humanity.
Nourish Humanity
by Amy Carroll Nourish Humanity was inspired by
Amy Carroll is a mixed media artist who experiments with creative expression, always drawn back to photography and painting. Her images are raw and capture the exact moment and feeling of a specific place in time. Amy’s photographs have been published, as well as exhibited in Los Angeles, New York City and Honolulu; with a solo exhibition in Rome at the U.S. Embassy’s Tri-Mission Art Gallery. Projects planned for 2014 include an exhibition taken solely with disposable cameras, as well as her 2014 Sketchbook, which will be exhibited at over 20 museums and galleries across the United States and Canada.
Amy’s recent travels through the beautiful countries of India, Nepal and Morocco. While traveling, she was most drawn to the people and their culture. The fabrics pieced together are all repurposed saris which were sourced on the streets and found in vintage shops throughout India. Most comfortable in the realm of painting, this is Amy’s first time using fabric and quilting for her artistic expression. She chose to depict an 1800s version of a world map, beading the words “Nourish Humanity.” She believes that nourishment is the basic building block, which will lead to nourishing the mind, which will then lead to a 20
taking the excess to market which increased their incomes. When the chickens thrived, so did the Afghan women, creating a community of Afghan women helping each other, all thanks to FAO.
Afghan Women Improve Family Nutrition with a Poultry Project
by Susan Fiorentino
This artwork was inspired by an actual United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) project in Afghanistan. Using photographs provided by Dr. Olaf Thieme, Susan depicted in rough edge appliqué, several chickens, and a chicken coop with blue decorations, which was built by Afghan women using specifications provided by FAO, set amid the dry conditions in which they live. The women received extensive training in improved poultry production techniques, which enabled them to increase their production of eggs and meat, thus improving the nutrition of their own family and
Susan Fiorentino, formerly of San Antonio, Texas, and two friends in 1998 started the first American quilt guild in Rome, with the idea of stitching quilts to create a community. Quilting eventually took over her life and lead to a volunteer curatorial position on the Art Curators Team in the U.S. Embassy’s Tri-Mission Art Gallery. She holds a BFA and an MA both in Painting & Drawing. The “World Without Hunger” exhibit marks the third quilt exhibit she has curated for the U.S. Embassy’s community. 22
Margaret “Peggy” Becker
and machine-quilting to create Glorious Grains.
Glorious Grains
by MaryJo Fuhrer
With the exception of a beginners’ quilt class, MaryJo Fuhrer is a selftaught sewer and quilter. A simple conversation she had with an officemate and quilt-enthusiast 15 years ago set her on an unexpected journey into the world of quiltmaking, design, and a love of textiles. It has been her hobby and passion ever since. She has been a Foreign Service office manager for 28 years and currently works at the U.S. Embassy in Rome. Raised in a Foreign Service family, she has lived in Korea, Laos, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, The Bahamas, Niger, Luxembourg, and Italy. From African mud cloth to Laotian silk brocade – there’s a huge textile world out there!
Glorious Grains – The important
role that grains have in the fight against world hunger is no secret. MaryJo’s quilt honors those “glorious grains.” A modern day rice sack is framed with hexagon flowers made from her personal collection of vintage feed sacks (also known as grain sacks). Originally made of heavy canvas, during the 1930s manufacturers began to use colorful printed bags to hold and sell their grains, prompting housewives to buy the most attractive grain sacks which they would then turn into clothing and bed linens. From the depression era to the present day, grains have always been essential. MaryJo used machine-piecing, hand-applique, 24
consider it a job, but a privilege. She’s a wife and mum to 15 children and now 23 grandchildren. She doesn’t see them as much as she would like since she travels 10 months of the year teaching quilting to like-minded people. Writing, illustrating and photographing as she travels has resulted in several books and there are more in the process. Author of The Amazing
The Ages of Hunger
by Pam Holland The Ages ofHunger – “Artists are
inventors, shaping the new from the already established. Some of my ideas come through the whisperings of ancestors and things unknown. Other inspiration comes from nature, photography, travel and the light in my expression as I see the world as a very special place. The Ages of Hunger was designed after traveling to Thailand, India and Mexico. Hunger is a universal problem and I tried to connect the information in my own way.”
Alphabet and 1776, Heartache, Heritage and Happiness, she has
won numerous awards, and was nominated for ICAP 2014 Professional Teacher of the Year. She’s been working on the recreation of the Bayeux Tapestry for the past seven years -- a wonderful way to spend middle age.
Pam Holland is a quilter; quilt, pattern, and fabric designer; photographer; illustrator; film maker; judge; and author. A quilter for more than 25 years, she doesn’t 26
Pole, Alaska, USA for 35 years with her husband and two sons. She’s been quilting for 25 years. Working with different fabrics and colors to make something beautiful is her favorite aspect of quilting. Ann McBeth began sewing as a child and made her first quilt in the mid1980s. She continues to sew clothing and enjoys making wearable art and quilts. Ann lives in Fairbanks, Alaska USA with her husband and two teenaged children.
World of Abundance
by Susan Malen and Ann McBeth
In a World ofAbundance… represents the abundance of the earth, starting from the ocean at the bottom, progressing upwards towards the sky. Each layer calls forth the colors of the various means by which we feed and sustain ourselves - blue for water, brown for the soil to grow grasses on which animals graze, gold for wheat and grain, green for vegetables and reds for trees and fruits. The silhouette of the mother and child, though surrounded by abundance, is empty, representing all of mankind suffering from hunger. Susan Malen and Ann McBeth collaborated together on this quilt. Susan Malen has lived in North 28
moda (Vanity: Dialog Between Art and Fashion). The field demands patience, as well as skill in a variety of mediums. It requires working with many techniques, watercolor, tempera, oil, earth colors, removing, adding, gluing. Intrigued by “time…the signs of time…decadence…Naples…ruins,” as a restorer she peels back the ravages of time to reveal her subject as it was originally recorded. She now works also as a portrait painter. In her art, Maria seeks to convey an impression of a fleeting moment in time, to preserve it for posterity. Mostly done on commission, her portraits are full-size figures in motion rendered in oil.
Grain for Wings
by Maria Poggi Cavalletti Grain for Wings - “There is no
dignity if man is not freed from hunger. Hunger is a flame that consumes and burns everything, cancels everything, annuls all thoughts, keeping a person enslaved.” Maria Poggi Cavalletti’s work interprets her desire for mental, but first of all physical, freedom. Maria was born in Bologna, Italy, and has lived in Paris and New York. After years as a freelance designer in the world of fashion, Maria turned her attention to restoring paintings and interior décor, receiving her first degree in painting restoration with a thesis entitled Vanity: dialogo tra arte e 30
Mary Sawich is from Michigan, USA, and currently lives in Merida, Mexico. She is a long-time artist utilizing multiple mediums. She is noted for her chalk pastels which were mentored with Russ Russell; needle felting soft sculptures from mohair; and large scale works painted backdrops for plays and operas. While posted in Rome, Italy, Mary exhibited her works in the U.S. Embassy and mentored with the world-famous sculptor, Peter Rockwell. She is inspired by ancient sculptures and exhibited resin sculptures in 2013 – miniature fountains and fabric frescoes - at Rome’s Saint Paul’s within the Walls.
Lifting Hope
by Mary Sawich Lifting Hope was inspired by a
photograph taken in Nepal for the World Food Programme (WFP). This quilt is the culmination of all Mary’s skills in fine arts and textiles. As a painter, she began by first painting the portrait of the woman, added color washes for the background, developed the figure and lastly hand-sewed the fabric to create dimension with quilt stitches. The food bag on the woman’s head incorporated tea staining along with distressing the fabric to recreate an actual WFP bag. Mary added rice kernels inside the bag to add weight and authenticity. This is Mary’s first art quilt, plus her first time to exhibit in an art quilt exhibit. 32
came slowly. At forty, she got a sudden urge to learn to sew. Luckily, her mother was an expert seamstress. She moved to France in 1965, where she eventually married a French citizen, and worked professionally in higher education. She started making traditional quilts in 1995 and art quilts in 2005. Since then, she has been increasingly involved in fiber art, particularly in an art textile group founded in Paris, “Exploration pour l’Art Textile” of which she is the vice president.
Food for All
by Elinor Sigler Food for All depicts a dream world
in which everyone has enough to eat. Elinor is drawn to bright colors and scenes from the natural world. Her textile art can be either figurative or abstract, but it is essential for her to make something that has personal emotional resonance. Painting and dyeing fabric constitute an important part of her art and she likes to combine a variety of techniques in her quilts. Elinor usually quilts by machine and not hand, because she appreciates the freedom and rapidity that it ensures. Raised in Utah, USA, surrounded by women who quilted, sewed and knitted, her own interest in quilting 34
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ― Margaret Mead
