QUILT INDEX RECORD

50-145-47

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Women of Color Quilters Network

Who documented this quilt?

Women of Color Quilters Network; Conscience of the Human Spirit: The Life of Nelson Mandela; Black Diaspora Quilt History Project

Women of Color Quilters Network Project Number:

CHSLM276

Description of quilt:

Bisa Butler
Free At Last
West Orange, New Jersey, USA | Cotton, chiffon, netting, acrylic paint; machine quilted and appliquéd

The debt we all owe Nelson Mandela as human beings cannot be quantified. He fought for the rights of all people, he fought for a free and democratic South Africa without apartheid. Mandela was and is the physical embodiment of the struggle and triumph of good against evil.

Mandela is literally and figuratively depicted here as one with his beloved country. As a man of the people, he is made of the very fabric of the South African flag — the green black and yellow of the African National Congress, and the previous red, white, and blue of the former South Africa. He brought all of South Africa together and focused on healing rather than hate.

I call my quilt “Free At Last” because not only did Mandela prove to the entire world that as long as your mind is free, so will you be, but also he is now soaring with our great ancestors like Malcolm X, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. Martin Luther King gave the phrase “free at last” worldwide recognition in a speech, and I found it perfectly fitting here.

Essay:

My earliest memories are of lazy summer days in my family’s ranch home in Plainfield New Jersey. My mother, Natalie Hammond stayed at home and would intermittently sell Alberto VO5, and Mary Kay. My father was a dean at Essex County College and worked late nights and early mornings. Me, My sister Souki, and our older brother Zachary would be home with my mother and like typical suburban kids would find things to get into. This was the 1970’s and our lives were not as scheduled as the kids of today. We had school, or we had camp, but we rarely had a whole host of kid centered activities planned. We would spend our days playing outside with the neighborhood kids, or inventing games at home. My mother was a baby boomer and was taught to sew by my grandmother. Sewing, fashion, cooking, and religion were integral parts of her life. Our kitchen was a health food chef’s paradise where you could find bakers chocolate, and even ground seaweed. My mothers sewing room was right in the heart of our home. It was the den that had been converted into her sewing room. My mother would be in there sewing for hours, also keeping an eye on us kids by giving us small sewing projects to do. The very first thing I ever sewed was a pair of wonky pants for my Ken doll. My mother wasn’t just repairing items in her sewing room; she was making high fashion outfits from Vogue patterns. I remember sitting on the floor looking through her pattern basket marveling at the beautiful clothes that could be made. Any new item that came out, no matter how expensive, my mother could make right on her sewing machine. Seeing my mother in an Oscar de Laurenta suit was a normal occurrence in my home. She was raised on French fashions during her childhood in Morocco as a diplomat’s daughter, so style and fashion were always a part of her life. My father was the pragmatic in our household. He grew up in Ghana, West Africa and had suffered family loss and tragedy early on. His father died when he was 12 years old, and his mother was unable to provide for him. It had been predicted before my father was born that he would be a special child, and that seemed to be true. Even though he faced hardships things seemed to miraculously or serendipitously come thru for him. He was granted an anonymous benefactor to put him through grade school, and earned a scholarship to come to school in the U.S. Needless to say my father is a true believer in the power of education to uplift a person’s circumstance in life. He instilled in me, my sister Souki, and my brother Zachary the desire to learn and excel, and to always do our best at any task. By the time I was 6 my father was inaugurated as the president of Essex County College. Then there was me. I always was the artist of our household. My mother allowed me to draw on the walls of my room because I drew my guardian angels who would watch over me at night (I explained). In preschool I was named artist of the month, and had my work displayed at the Plainfield sidewalk art completion. I was so proud. I cannot describe how important it is to have been acknowledged artistically at even 4 years of age. In school I remember one teacher’s aide calling another teacher into the room to look at a drawing I had made of rain. By a very early age I knew I wanted to be an artist and I was supported by my family. I went on to study art at Howard University, earning my BFA in painting. I was encouraged by my professor, Al Smith, to use fabric in my work. He would see me come to class in my funky outfits, but then paint traditional unexciting works. I started using more and more fabric instead of paint on boards. Al Smith said I “painted with fabric”.

My husband was at Howard with me and was the local DJ. Music was as much a part of his life, as art was of mine. I would often get inspired by looking at his album cover art. I became pregnant while I was in school and the smell of the oils and solvents used in paints were no longer tolerable for me. I started focusing on my sewing and began designing maternity clothes, and started a small line of clothing with a girlfriend. I enjoyed this but I still didn’t feel satisfied with what I was creating. A few years later I was the mother of 2 little girls, and studying for my masters when I took a fiber arts class. In that class we had an assignment to make a landscape quilt out of fabric. That was my light bulb moment where all of my skills as an artist, painter, and fashinista came together. I realized I could create all of the images I saw in my head out of the fabrics left to me from my mother and grandmother. My grandmother being a child of the depression era saved every little bit of fabric after she had cut her patterns. Everything she used was carefully stowed in a trunk, wrapped up, being saved for a rainy day. I finally realized that that day had come. All of those small pieces could be used to create quilts. I realized that I was a quilt maker all along.

Quilting gave art back to me. After I lost my passion for painting I though I was through with art, but quilt making gave me artistic purpose again. My grandmothers thriftiness, my mothers sewing and fashion sense, my fathers ambition and dedication, my husbands love for music, all these things stitched together contributed to the quilt artist that I am today.

From the moment I embraced quilting my life changed. I found myself creating more work than I ever had, and everything I made , made sense to me. I created a portrait of my fathers father who I had never met, and died in Africa all those years ago. Everyone who saw the portrait said there was a power behind it. I used my fathers own fabric from clothing, I quilted my grandfather as I imagined he would look. I have my brother to thank for pushing me into exhibiting my work. It is one thing to make art in your studio, but another thing entirely to open yourself up to the judgment of others. One day Zachary came over and saw what I was working on and was like “Bisa! Let me take this down town and sell it!” “I and my man can get $100 for it easily”. I was so outraged because I wanted to exhibit in museum s and galleries, but he was like what’s your point when you aren’t doing any of that??. We ended up arguing/debating as was often done with my brother Zachary. He was a Leo with a larger than life personality ( the exact opposite of me). I was determined to prove him wrong, and I asked my husband if he would help me. He introduced me to the Redcross family at October Gallery where they lat me first professionally exhibit. My father’s friends at Essex County College through the most fantastic opening exhibit I could ever imagine. To this date my exhibit at Essex was one of the best moments of my life.

This is a:

Finished quilt

Quilt's title:

Free At Last

Subject of the quilt:

Nelson Mandela

How wide is the quilt?

30"

How long is the quilt?

29"

Shape of edge:

Straight

What color is the quilt?

Black; Blue; Green; Red; Yellow

Describe the quilt's layout:

Nontraditional or art

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Describe the fibers or fabrics in the quilt top:

Chiffon, netting, acrylic paint

Applique techniques used to make the quilt top:

Machine Applique

Embellishment techniques used to make the quilt top:

Painting

How are the layers held together?

Machine quilting

What is inscribed on the quilt?

Painted on the front of the quilt: Mandela is Arrested 46664 Redd At Alst! February 11th, 1990 Machine embroidered in lower left corner of the front: Bisa Butler "During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

Quilt's condition:

Excellent/like new

When was the quilt finished?

3/2014

Time period:

2000-2025

Quilt is presently used as:

Artwork/wall hanging

Where the quilt was made, city:

West Orange

Where the quilt was made, state:

New Jersey (NJ)

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

Consceince of the Human Spirit: The Life of Nelson Mandela; International Quilt Conference Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa, July 2014; The Kentucky Museum, Bowling Green, KY, September 8, 2015-January 31, 2015; National Afro American Museum and Cultural Center, Wilberforce, OH, April 7-October 7, 2016; LookOut! Gallery, Snyder Phillips Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, May 7-September 15, 2017; Wilbur Steele Hall Gallery, Bennet College, Greensboro and Delta Arts Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, November 2, 2017-February 24, 2018; Mariposa Museum and World Cultural Center, Peterborough, New Hampshire, April 15-July 5, 2018.

Related items such as diaries, obituaries, wills, household inventories, or pictures of the quiltmaker:

MacDowell, Marsha; Mazloomi, Carolyn. Conscience of the Human Spirit: The Life of Nelson Mandela. Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, 2014; page 37.

Quilt top made by:

Butler, Bisa

Quilted by:

Butler, Bisa

Quiltmaker's city:

West Orange

Quiltmaker's state:

New Jersey (NJ)

Quiltmaker's country:

United States

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's birth date:

1975

Quiltmaker's ethnic background/tribal affiliation:

African American

Quiltmaker's occupation:

Artist and art teacher

Does/did the quiltmaker belong to a group? Name of the group?

Women of Color Quilters Network (WCQN) member

Quilt owner's name:

Bisa Butle

Person filling out this form is:

Quiltmaker

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's city:

West Orange

Quilt owner's state:

New Jersey (NJ)

Quilt owner's country:

United States

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

The copyright belongs to the owner/artist.

When was the form filled out?

2014

Who photographed this quilt?

Pearl Yee Wong