"My Heart is Glad"

Each of the quilts on display at the Historical Society of Washington's Quilts for Obama exhibit was striking in its own right. Put them together and they filled up my heart. Looking at the combination of colors and textures in quilts is always engaging for MAD. This exhibit, curated by Roland L. Freeman, added the component of emotion. Judy, a quilter herself, had told me about the exhibit. Having her with me helped me notice and understand more of the work than I would have on my own. Thanks, Judy.

Freeman, a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and CulturalHeritage , created this exhibit in celebration of the election of Barack Obama. The HSW and Women of Color Quilters Network partnered with The Group for Cultural Documentation to get this exhibit ready in 7 weeks, instead of the typical 6 months. And think of how fast the quilters themselves were!

A call for quilts went out and responses came back from all over the US as well as Ghana, Liberia, two parts of South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. Each quilt responded to the election in a different way. Geraldine Nash, of Port Gibson, MS, calls her quilt "The hands that picked the cotton, now help pick presidents". Nash says "...how far we have come in my life time - from the cotton fields to the White House. It was dark when we came to the fields and dark when we came back home. With Obama as president, I see light ahead."

A quilter from South Africa called her quilt "My Heart is Glad". So is mine.