Day: October 2, 2015

It was an extraordinary thing for me to see. I think in some ways love is about taking pleasure in the happiness of another, and it was amazing to see the connection between Maria and Delia Pettway Thibodeaux, a descent of Alabama slaves and a well-known Gee’s Bend quilter.

Maria – she once would have been too shy to do this – walked up to Delia and started talking, she told her about her own trip to Gee’s Bend to spend a week with Mary Ann Pettway last year, and Delia invited her to sit down and sew with her in the midst of a mob of people who had come to see the quilters.

The quilters there inspired Maria to be an artist, and their work helped shaped some of her ideas. She sat with Delia for awhile talking and sewing and working with some fabric. Maria looked as at home as I  have ever seen her.

Creativity is a funny thing, it is an internal thing, I think, it comes right out of the heart and the soul, from the inside, not the outside. Who really knows why one artist and their work touches something so deep inside of us? For Maria, the quilters of Gee’s Bend began her long and wondrous journey of liberation. True liberation, of course, is only partly about politics.

Creativity, I think, is about strength and safety, about  identity, about freeing the inner light in ourselves. Llighting the creative spark and letting it glow and burn. That is the connection between Maria and the Gee’s Bend quilters, they are profoundly self-made and self-directed. Because they lived outside the tyrannical system of control and subjugation, especially in the Corporate Nation, they are free in a way few artists are. Because they do not know what they are supposed to think, they are free to think.

I am far outside the circle of quilters and artists I saw last night, I’m not sure any man could really get in there at this time, but I identify with the Gee’s Bend quilters also. I never survived in any school, I never listened to anyone, then or now, tell me what to think or what to write. That’s why I dislike unwanted advice so much. That’s why I love writing so much.

Because I do not ever know what I am supposed to think, because I never let anyone tell me what to think, I can sometimes think. This is a joyous and fearsome thing, something Maria and I share, and that she celebrated last night with the Gee’s Bend quilters. There is a soul connection instantly visible between someone like Delia and someone like Maria, even thought they come from very different places and  live in different worlds. Their paths will almost never cross. It did last night, a very poignant thing to see.

Kristen Nichols, a thoughtful artist and blogger from Massachusetts,  e-mailed Maria Friday shortly after 2 p.m. to tell her that she had just discovered that some of the Gee’s Bend Quilters were going to be in Brattleboro, Vt. at 5:30 p.m as part of the city’s gallery and literary festival. We called Deb Foster and she happily agreed to come feed the animals in the afternoon and we took off for Vermont.

We got there, the streets were packed with people, we made it to crowded gallery and there were three of the quilters in the lobby working on fabrics for quilts.

Gee’s Bend is the inspiration for much of Maria’s life as an artist, she was so excited, I wanted very much to go along, I wasn’t sure we could get there in time. We did, we had a few minutes to spare, we got to Shin La and had Zucchini Scallion Pancakes, Shumai (shrimp dumplings) and Sushi.

Maria made a pilgrimage to Gee’s Bend in Alabama last year, Gee’s Bend is a kind of homecoming for her, the quilters their share her notion of creativity: they take discarded fabrics and make beautiful and original quilts with them, they do it the way you want to do it, not the way other people tell you it must be done.

The Gee’s Bend quilters are descended from slaves who lived and worked on a huge plantation, the Pettway Plantation. They made quilts out of necessity, mostly to keep warm in the wooden shacks they lived. The quilters remember picking cotton when they were fix and six, they had no money and often went hungry.  All their quilts were made of worn out clothes and towels and blankets. There was no cash to buy fabric.

Because they were invisible, working in a remote inlet in Alabama, no art professors or critics told them what to do, so they did what they wanted and made some amazing art.

There were three quilters from Alabama there in Brattleboro, one of them,  Maria Delia Pettway Thibodeaux, invited her to sit down and sew with her, and I nearly cried watching these two – sisters in art – work together for nearly a half an hour. Maria was radiant, she learned some new stitches, she said she felt totally star struck. We looked at the quilts, saw a half-hour film about the quilters, and then got some yogurt at a new place on Main Street.

We were home shortly after 9, tired and very happy. Maria was still beaming.  We couldn’t stay over there because I have a writing class Saturday morning at Pompanuck. Maria said she was grateful that I wanted to come, but this puzzled me, as  why wouldn’t I want to come? It was a very special night for the two of us, I’m grateful we made the dash.

I’d drive a lot farther to see the joy and meaning in her face, sitting there with Delia. I hope I see it many times more. (Maria’s conversation with Delia was recorded by a reporter for Vermont Public Radio, it will probably be aired in the next few days.)

I was leaving Dr. Nancy Burns office in Brattleboro, she is my chiropractor and in a few minutes, she magically altered my  back and the pain that has been plaguing me for days eased dramatically. As I was leaving my Iphone binged – a text message.

“We have to go to Brattleboro tonight,” was the message from my wife, “Gee’s Bend quilters and exhibit is there at 5:30..I’m very excited.”

In my universe, there are no more important words in the English language than the news that the Gee’s Bend quilters are in town. There was no question of not going, we were going. After a few minutes, she remembered to ask me how my back was, but this was an afterthought, I understood what the priorities were.

We can’t stay overnight, as I have to teach my short story class at Pompanuck Farm Saturday morning. Deb Foster, our friend and farm-sitter is always happy when we go away, she gets to hang out with Red and Fate and bring greats to the pony, donkeys and sheep.

So we have a lot of driving to do this afternoon and tonight. My life would be worth nothing if we were late, and we will do a quick turn-around and head home for tonight. I still haven’t figured out who made those charges to my Facebook account, and I still have not been able to communicate with Facebook directly.

But I did stop the payments. I guess it will take awhile to sort it out, assuming I ever do contact them. I have a new rule, no more business with any company that can’t be reached. Maria is, in fact, very excited about seeing some of the Gee’s Bend quilters. So am I. No pizza tonight at the Round House.

Maria said she was working on something new in her studio, I went over to take a look. So far, it is untitled and not yet for sale. I was touched by the snake and the tree. I’m guessing it will be on sale at the Columbus Day Weekend Open House. Weather looks good. We chased off the hurricane.

I was taking a photo of the black-eyed Susans in the garden and then I saw to hens – all of our chickens are moulting – resting in the shrubs. There is something soothing about the image.