Teresa Barkley doesn't just make quilts, she tells stories with them. "Quilting allows me to combine materials of all colors, textures, and origins to create a whole that is far more than the sum of its parts," Barkley said. The Center for the Arts Gallery will host "Teresa Barkley: A Life in Quilts" from Friday, Sept. 8 to Saturday, Oct. 7. Barkley's exhibit features approximately 18 quilts. Each quilt describes a different subject, story or idea, conveying such varied themes as the healing aspects of tea, the rise of television in modern-day life and the patriotism that united Americans after 9/11, among many other themes. Barkley's quilts are not designed to lie on a bed or to be forgotten about in an attic. In fact, only one quilt in the exhibit is actually bed-sized. According to Susan Isaacs, art history professor and curator of the exhibit, the quilts are designed to be hung on a wall as a work of art. "These works are not only visually stunning, but they also address important and interesting social and historical subjects that will be of interest to many on campus," Isaacs said. "They should generate discussion ranging from issues on the environment, to stamp collecting, to the value of labor." Many of the quilts resemble the design of a postage stamp. Postage stamps merge art and function in the same way quilts do, and both are used to honor and commemorate events and individuals, according to Barkley. "We decorate our stamps with people we want to honor, events we want to commemorate, and public service messages," Barkley said. "In a similar way, quilts have been made to honor individuals and rites of passage, such as births and weddings. Political statements have been made with quilt designs." Barkley first made the connection between stamps and quilts when the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp with a quilt on it in 1978. A friend gave her an entire sheet of the stamp. "This sheet of 48 stamps with a basket design suggested to me a traditional quilt with a pieced or appliquéd block repeated 48 times," Barkley said. "This started me thinking about the correlations between stamps and quilts." Barkley's works often incorporate historical fabrics and found objects, such as bits of old lace, a tablecloth or even a feedbag, to further convey the narrative quality of her quilts. For example, her "How to Get a Husband Stamp" quilt features a vintage 1950s tea towel embroidered with a message for women to be good cooks. Another quilt, "The Dawn of Television," has pages from an antique linen book sewn into it. Her "Mother's Day" quilt even has a sonogram of her son in the womb incorporated into the piece. "The use of recycled materials is fundamental to my work," Barkley said. "I often combine new fabric with 'found object' materials…things that were not designed primarily to be used in a quilt." Barkley has been sewing since she was five years old, and she finished her first quilt at the age of 15. The quilt won a blue ribbon at the Delaware State Fair that year. Since then, Barkley has sewn more than 100 quilts. Barkley also won the Quilts Art Japan prize in 1997, leading to a speaking tour of the country the following year. Her quilts have been exhibited on five of the seven continents. In November, the exhibit will travel to the Stamford Museum of Art and Nature in Connecticut. Isaacs is the guest curator for that exhibit as well. "I believe that anyone interested in the arts or in history or in women's studies or in sociology or even religion will find this exhibition fascinating," Isaacs said. Barkley herself hopes that the exhibit will inspire people to "think about ordinary materials in new ways." "I think that our future depends on our ability to find more imaginative ways to use what we already have," she said. "Rather than on acquiring more of what we have." The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday every week through Oct. 7. A reception for the exhibit will be held on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 9 p.m., where visitors may meet the artist. Admission is free.
Holy Quilt! Exhibit showcasing Barkley's work begins
Published: Wednesday, September 6, 2006
Updated: Sunday, February 22, 2009
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