... Book is available from Gwen at her link to books.
The site is a great reference. Exhibat Hall, Mary Schafer Quilts
Mary Schafer becomes the 37th Honoree to be inducted into
The Quilters Hall of Fame
It was indeed my pleasure to attend the years celebration honoring Mary Schafer. The event was held in Marion Indiana, the home of Marie Webster, author of the first quilt book Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them, 1915.
On Friday, July 20th, I was the keynote speaker at the luncheon, speaking about Mary's life and contributions to quiltmaking. Since many of you are fans of Mary's I am sharing my notes with you. For those who don't know about Mary, my notes will summary of her accomplishments. You can read all about it in Mary Schafer, American Quilt Maker. Marston, The University of Michigan Press, 2004.
Here are my notes:
Thank you for coming
We are here to celebrate Mary Schafer as this years inductee into the Quilters Hall of Fame.
Mary was guided by three objectives very close to her quiltmaking heart.
-to raise the esteem of quiltmaking and to past quilters
-to heighten peoples interest in quilt history
-to share her quilts with others.
I wonder where Mary got this idea?
Let's turn to the last paragraph of the introduction in Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them, Marie Webster 1915
"To raise in popular esteem these most worthy products of home industry, to add to the appreciation of their history and traditions, to present a few of the old masterpieces to the quilters of today; such is the purpose of this book of quilts. March 18, 1915 "
Mary was a fabulous quiltmaker and I want to begin by talking about her quilts.
- Mary made beautiful quilts. Cuesta Benberry called Mary a Master Quiltmaker, and she was.
With the first pieced quilt (the Linden Mill made in '56) she formed ideas that would characterize her work henceforth.
1956 Linden Mill kept looking for pattern name and got hooked.
-Her interest in pattern collecting and searching for all pertinent historical information about blocks.
-The idea of honoring unknown quiltmakers. (One way she did this was to reproduce old quilts, worn quilts).
-The idea of preserving old quilts by reproducing them (always with her own twist).
-The idea of making historically significant quilts:(quilt patterns from the Robert E. Lee home, from Mt. Vernon. Old unusual patterns like the Lobster. (Florence Peto wrote to Mary "Do you know I have never seen another 'Lobster' quilt since the one pictured in Historic Quilts. I am happy to know you are keeping the design alive."
-The idea of designing original borders.
-The idea of designing original quilting patterns.
-The idea that quilts should fit the bed.
-The very idea of how a quilt should be made: she worked out her piecing and her applique techniques, she made quilts by hand, she was a scrap quilter, marking.
-Mary went on to win many blue ribbons:
-Entered
area shows, national shows. (encouraged others to enter, found out what
category they were entering so she could enter a different category.
-The first National Quilting Association (NQA) exhibit, September 1970. Won two blue ribbons, for Best Pieced and Viewer's Choice for her CLAMSHELL quilt.
-Many exhibits, the first one person exhibit at the AQS museum.
Cuesta, writing in the Quilter's Journal, 1984, said "If people don't make quilts we (scholars) don't have anything to write about so in order of importance, quiltmaking is the most important thing." So I would say that Mary's quiltmaking accomplishments alone win her a place in the Quilters Hall of Fame.
But Mary did more than make quilts.
-She built a fine collection of antique quilts, consciously selecting quilts that reflected the broadest style of American quilts, fine museum quality quilts, and everyday utility quilts.
-She participated in the on-going quilt scholarship of her time
Harriman , met through Barbara Bannister, # of quilts. She was part of a group of women who collected, documented and shared information pertaining to quilt history.
Part of this study concerned collecting and documenting the names of quilts which was done by identifying blocks.
Knowing the names and sub-names of quilt very important: Monkey Wrench, also known as Shoo Fly, Hole in the Barn Door, Puss-in-the-Corner, Lincoln's Platform and Sherman's March
-Round Robins
-And for Mary, this study included building her own block collection as a tangible record. She also made blocks for friends who were lecturers/authors. Often she made one for herself, one for Cuesta, one for Joyce Gross and one for me. She thought we might need them to support our work and that we might be too busy to stitch them ourselves. Cuesta had about 100 blocks...which she has generously donated to the Marie Webster home.
-She carried on an incredibly wide correspondence with other like-minded enthusiasts. It must have been a very exciting time in the quilt world and we owe these women a lot. Here were a bunch of women just "going for it" and doing it for no personal gain....it was all about the quilts.
As Joyce Gross and Cuesta Benberry noted in the catalog for their exhibit "20th Century Quilts, 1900-1970: Women Who Make Their Mark. at the AQS Museum in1997, "Today's world of quiltmaking did not just spring from the head of Zeus after 1970."
-She did everything she could to encourage others. By 1977, Mary had created a notable body of work. While pleased with people's admiration for her complicated and exquisitely executed quilts, she detected something else that bothered her. She was dismayed to notice that her quilts often intimidated new quilters. Concerned that she might discourage them, she decided to stop making elaborate quilts and return to simple pieced patterns that would be more accessible.
-And Mary did something else that was, I believe to be unique in the world of quiltmaking. The Betty Harriman story (died in 1971)
Mary eventually finished 20 of Betty's "starts" as she called them, and 3 of Betty's antique tops.
Why? "Because she was my friend."
Mary's accomplishments has been recognized by her home state of Michigan.
-State of Michigan proclamation honoring Mary for her contribution to quiltmaking: Senate Resolution No. 605, September 9, 1986.
-Michigan Women's Foundation award for outstanding contributions to the arts. May 25, 1988.
-Permanent Mary Schafer Collection now housed at Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, Michigan.
As this years inductee, Mary joins those whom she admired from a previous generation, William Dunton, Ruth Finley, Averil Colby, Carrie Hall, Rose Kretsinger, Marie Webster, Grace Snyder and "the Superb Mrs. Stenge," as Cuesta referred to her in an early Nimble Needles magazine article.
She also joins contemporaries: Lenice Bacon, Cuesta Benberry, Florence Peto, Mary Barton, Sally Garoutte and Joyce Gross.
And so it has come full circle. In her dedication to bringing esteem to the art of quiltmaking and to quilters from the past, Mary has earned that esteem for herself.