Quilt Culture

Quilt Culture
Author: Cheryl B. Torsney
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 1994
Genre: Crafts & Hobbies
ISBN: 9780826209634

"As a blanket, a commemorative covering, and a work of art, the quilt is a nearly universal cultural artifact. In recent years it has been recognized as one of our most compelling symbols of cultural diversity and the power of women. In this collection, Cheryl B. Torsney and Judy Elsley bring together eleven provocative essays on the quilt as metaphor--in literature, history, politics, and philosophy. This interdisciplinary approach makes Quilt Culture an extraordinarily rich exploration of a cultural artifact whose meaning is far more complex than that of a simple bed covering."--Publishers website.

Cultural Fusion Quilts

Cultural Fusion Quilts
Author: Sujata Shah
Publisher: C&T Publishing Inc
Total Pages: 100
Release: 2014-11-01
Genre: Crafts & Hobbies
ISBN: 1607056747

For crafters “looking for patterns based on ethnic designs, modern quilters who love blocks with asymmetry and anyone who loves bright, exciting quilts!” (Sleeping Dog Quilts) Bold, vibrant, striking—and amazingly easy to make! This collection of 15 modern quilts draws on handmade crafts from India, the American South, and Africa to create a style that’s at once traditional and contemporary, artistic and practical. A simple stack, cut, shuffle, and stitch technique makes the sewing fun for quilters of any level, and also makes every quilt a one-of-a-kind creation. No two are ever alike! The author provides alternate settings, plus an inspiring photo gallery of the crafts that shaped her style. Use these projects to enrich your quilting by bringing in textures, patterns, and colors from around the world. “An inspired designer . . . The 15 free form block projects featured in this book are a celebration of this ‘melting pot,’ and brim with ideas. The book is accompanied, refreshingly, with photographs illustrating some of the inspirations and stories behind the projects, and it’s a pleasure to see how Sujata has translated them into works of quilted excellence.” —Popular Patchwork “A graphic designer and quilter, she finds inspiration all over the world—in the quilts from Gee’s Bend, the Indian godharis and the bold, colorful fabrics from Africa . . . A colorful and inspiring book. Highly recommended!” —Down Under Quilts Magazine “Sujata Shah takes a different look at traditional blocks and adds her interpretation with 15 simple and fun free-form block projects.” —McCall’s Quick Quilt

Willa Cather and Material Culture

Willa Cather and Material Culture
Author: Janis P. Stout
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2005-01-02
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0817314369

A compilation of essays focusing on the significance of material culture to Cather’s work and Cather scholarship. Willa Cather and Material Culture is a collection of 11 new essays that tap into a recent and resurgent interest among Cather scholars in addressing her work and her career through the lens of cultural studies. One of the volume's primary purposes is to demonstrate the extent to which Cather did participate in her culture and to correct the commonplace view of her as a literary connoisseur set apart from her times. The contributors explore both the objects among which Cather lived and the objects that appear in her writings, as well as the commercial constraints of the publishing industry in which her art was made and marketed. Essays address her relationship to quilts both personally and as symbols in her work; her contributions to domestic magazines such as Home Monthly and Woman's Home Companion; the problematic nature of Hollywood productions of her work; and her efforts and successes as a businesswoman. By establishing the centrality of material matters to her writing, these essays contribute to the reclaiming of Cather as a modernist and highlight the significance of material culture, in general, to the study of American literature.

The Handbook of Textile Culture

The Handbook of Textile Culture
Author: Janis Jefferies
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 915
Release: 2015-11-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1474275788

In recent years, the study of textiles and culture has become a dynamic field of scholarship, reflecting new global, material and technological possibilities. This is the first handbook of specially commissioned essays to provide a guide to the major strands of critical work around textiles past and present and to draw upon the work of artists and designers as well as researchers in textiles studies. The handbook offers an authoritative and wide-ranging guide to the topics, issues, and questions that are central to the study of textiles today: it examines how material practices reflect cross-cultural influences; it explores textiles' relationships to history, memory, place, and social and technological change; and considers their influence on fashion and design, sustainable production, craft, architecture, curation and contemporary textile art practice. This illustrated volume will be essential reading for students and scholars involved in research on textiles and related subjects such as dress, costume and fashion, feminism and gender, art and design, and cultural history. Cover image: Anne Wilson, To Cross (Walking New York), 2014. Site-specific performance and sculpture at The Drawing Center, NYC. Thread cross research. Photo: Christie Carlson/Anne Wilson Studio.

And Still We Rise

And Still We Rise
Author: Carolyn Mazloomi
Publisher: Schiffer Craft
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: Crafts & Hobbies
ISBN: 9780764349287

Contemporary quilt artists trace the path of Black history in the United States with 97 original works exploring important events, places, people, and ideas over 400 years. Arranged in chronological order, quilt themes include the first enslaved people brought to the US by Dutch traders in 1619, the brave souls marching for civil rights, the ascendant influence of African American culture on the American cultural landscape, and the election of the first African American president. Other quilts commemorate and celebrate cultural milestones and memories, such as the first African American teacher, the Buffalo Soldiers, the first black man to play Othello on Broadway, Muhammed Ali, and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The 69 artists who contributed works for this curated collection provide narrative explaining the important stories and histories behind the quilts.

Pop Culture

Pop Culture
Author: Shirley Fedorak
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2009-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781442601246

"This text is important for any introductory anthropology course, particularly in conveying to students the relevance of anthropology by engaging with the very aspects of popular culture that are significant in their everyday lives." - Kristin L. Dowell, University of Oklahoma

Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture [4 volumes]

Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture [4 volumes]
Author: Jessie Smith
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 1916
Release: 2010-12-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0313357978

This four-volume encyclopedia contains compelling and comprehensive information on African American popular culture that will be valuable to high school students and undergraduates, college instructors, researchers, and general readers. From the Apollo Theater to the Harlem Renaissance, from barber shop and beauty shop culture to African American holidays, family reunions, and festivals, and from the days of black baseball to the era of a black president, the culture of African Americans is truly unique and diverse. This diversity is the result of intricate customs forged in tightly woven communities—not only in the United States, but in many cases also stemming from the traditions of another continent. Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture presents information in a traditional A–Z organization, capturing the essence of the customs of African Americans and presenting this rich cultural heritage through the lens of popular culture. Each entry includes historical and current information to provide a meaningful background for the topic and the perspective to appreciate its significance in a modern context. This encyclopedia is a valuable research tool that provides easy access to a wealth of information on the African American experience.

Making the Heartland Quilt

Making the Heartland Quilt
Author: Douglas K. Meyer
Publisher: SIU Press
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2000-06-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780809322893

"Basing his research on the 1850 United States manuscript schedules, Meyer dissects the geographical configurations of twenty-three native and ten foreign-born adult male immigrant groups who peopled Illinois."--BOOK JACKET.

Remembering the AIDS Quilt

Remembering the AIDS Quilt
Author: Charles E. Morris III
Publisher: MSU Press
Total Pages: 481
Release: 2011-06-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1628951575

A collaborative creation unlike any other, the Names Project Foundation’s AIDS Memorial Quilt has played an invaluable role in shattering the silence and stigma that surrounded the epidemic in the first years of its existence. Designed by Cleve Jones, the AIDS Quilt is the largest ongoing community arts project in the world. Since its conception in 1987, the Quilt has transformed the cultural and political responses to AIDS in the U.S. Representative of both marginalized and mainstream peoples, the Quilt contains crucial material and symbolic implications for mourning the dead, and the treatment and prevention of AIDS. However, the project has raised numerous questions concerning memory, activism, identity, ownership, and nationalism, as well as issues of sexuality, race, class, and gender. As thought-provoking as the Quilt itself, this diverse collection of essays by ten prominent rhetorical scholars provides a rich experience of the AIDS Quilt, incorporating a variety of perspectives, critiques, and interpretations.

Amish Quilts

Amish Quilts
Author: Janneken Smucker
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2013-11-15
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1421410532

By thoroughly examining all of these aspects, Amish Quilts is an essential resource for anyone interested in the history of these beautiful works.--Roderick Kiracofe, author of The American Quilt: A History of Cloth and Comfort, 1750-1950 "Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies"