News Release

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Williams' colorful quilts tell stories
of black experience in United States

CHAPEL HILL - Colorful, textured quilts that chronicle the African-American experience will be displayed Sept. 21 through Dec. 6 at the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill center will showcase 21 quilts, all designed and handmade by Dr. Heather Williams, an assistant professor of history at UNC.

The exhibit, "Inbetween Spaces: Textured Imaginings of African-American Lives," renders imaginative and poignant representations of the black experience in the United States.

Among the quilts are the "History Quilt," offering a visual journey through the middle passage, slavery and the end of the Civil War, and "Romare's Garden," inspired by pre-eminent African-American artist Romare Bearden's "Maudell Sleet's Magic Garden."

Williams learned crocheting from her mother, which eventually lead her to undertake quilting as a young adult. She remembers fondly seeing an image of a quilt in a magazine, inspiring her to duplicate the piece.

Asked what she hopes visitors will take from her exhibit, Williams said, "I want people to realize that African-Americans are not one-dimensional. The multiple textures and colors used in my work symbolize the intricacies of the African-American."

Events related to the exhibit will be:

• Sept. 28, 7 p.m. A discussion, led by Williams and Crystal Feimster, a UNC history assistant professor, of an essay by Elsa Barkley Brown, "African-American Women Quilting: A Framework for Conceptualizing and Teaching African-American Women's History." The essay is available on the Stone Center Web site, http://www.unc.edu/depts/stonecenter.
  
  
• Nov. 1, 6-9 p.m. "The Cloth as Storyteller," a workshop on the art of quilting facilitated by Williams, as well as Candace Thomas and Karima Abdusamad of the African-American Quilt Circle in Durham. Participants will receive squares to piece together. Refreshments will be provided. Space is limited; call the center at (919) 962-9001 to register.
  
  
• Nov. 16, 7 p.m. A discussion of Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use," led by Williams and Danielle Elliott, a lecturer at Smith College in Northampton, Mass.

An opening reception will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 21 in the center's Robert and Sallie Brown Gallery and Museum. The reception and the exhibit will be free and open to the public. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays.

For more information about Williams, visit http://www.unc.edu/depts/history/faculty/williams.html; for more about the exhibit, call the center at (919) 962-9001 or visit http://www.unc.edu/depts/stonecenter.

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Image URL: For an image of the "History Quilt," visit http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/exhibit/historyquilt.jpg

Note: Williams can be reached at (919) 962-2381 or hawill@email.unc.edu

Stone Center contact: Olympia Friday, (919) 962-7265 or ofriday@email.unc.edu