In 1995, the movie 'How to Make an American Quilt' came out. Of course, anything to do with quilting is high on my list. I had to see the film as soon as I heard about it. It starred Maya Angelou. I love her poems. Her role in the film was great too.
In real life, Maya had been raped at the age of seven. It traumatized her so much that she didn't speak for 5 years. She was encouraged to write to get her feelings out. As a result she wrote many poems. Several dealt with her frustrations around systemic racism. In the poem, 'Caged Bird', (one of my favourites) she describes the freedom of the birds in the sky. Their thoughts only of the wind and having all their needs met. She continues her poem with a caged bird, who's wings are clipped and feet are tied. A captive bird who can only sing of freedom. Much like slaves who sang of freedom and who's owners thought they were happy because they were singing. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey Maya expresses her own experiences and frustrations and likens herself to the caged bird. I found the interview very moving.
In the American Quilt film she is the leader of a quilting group who are making a quilt for a girl who is getting married. She encourages the others to continue and finish the quilt. She plays the role of Anna Neale, the mother of another young quilter, Marianna Neale, who is pregnant. This role is played by Alfre Woodard.
Marianne is very depressed because of her condition and works on a dark and brooding quilt of her own. I don't think it is shown more than once or twice in the film, but I fell in love with it. It looked like a wonderful quilt that I would love to make. I was fairly new to quilting at that time, but I bought the book that was based on the film and made the quilt. My fabric stash was limited, but I think it still came out okay. I gave it to my DD to hang in her quest room.
This morning I asked her to take a photo of it so I could show it to you.. She did and here it is.
Thanks for listening and letting me share.
It is a long time since I saw that movie, so I have forgotten the details of it. I vaguely remembered the album style quilt, but not the animal one. Your animals look great!
ReplyDeleteI love that quilt! It look like the animals might be paper pieced. I like the color you used in it.
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