OCTOBER 2013
Greetings LQP People!
It has been a long hiatus. I hope you all had a wonderful summer. Mine was full of many ups and downs. I apologize for the extended absence and appreciate the many emails I have received over the past 2.5 months of my absence inquiring if everything is okay. Many of these have arrived in the past 2-3 weeks. In this same time period I have run into no less than 5 people,which know the project but n ot me, and wanted to know where was the newsletter. So, I figured I had been gone long enough and this was the universe's way of saying its time to come back.
I am okay.
I just needed a break.
The break neck pace of everything that followed the exhibition of Her Name was Laura Nelson at the public library and the resulting overflow, backlash, etc. has definitely left me a little worn out. So, this summer I retreated to the garden and my biking for a much needed respite.
I'll be honest to say that I missed writing for you all, but is has in some ways been for a good cause. This pause has allowed me to reevaluate many things and get myself centered. If you've been a long this journey for the past decade, or even if you are new, then you know the whole race and lynching discussion is difficult and taxing even on a good day. So on occasion, we all must take a step back.
But don't worry; I am happily back in the saddle, and much reinvigorated.
The demands of a new job mean that the newsletter will morph just a little bit. Instead of including link after link of articles in the newsletter, we'll compile them on the Facebook Account for this project. This way you can always see them and have access to them. This approach will allow us to create the newsletter at a more efficient pace. The new Facebook Page is www.facebook.com/thelynchquiltsproject. I've already loaded it up with TONS of articles so make sure to "Like" the page.
But although I have been silent with my words, the LQP has still been marching on with a renewed focus to get the quilts completed. And boy, are we headed that direction.
Quilt II, RedRum Summer 1919, is now in the hands of master quilter Trish Williams and is being quilted as we speak. It is scheduled for completion by December 2013. We have all the blocks for Quilt IV,Rules, Declarations and Rights and are in the process of modifying some of the blocks. We've got a group of embroidery folks here working on fixing some of the tops with designs. Quilt V, The Making Quilt is being started by the Chicago-area quilters with master quilter Otis Grove taking the lead on this one.
The only quilt still on hiatus is Quilt III, which will come back to life towards the beginning of the year once the piecing of Quilt IV comes to a conclusion.
In other news, Quilt I, Her Name was Laura Nelson will be included in the upcoming book Quilts for Human Rights. I will also be speaking about LQP on October 22 at TEDx Indianapolis. The event will be streamed and the videos available on Youtube a few days following the event. My talk is entitled, Building Community One Stitch at a Time and will be presented 2:00-2:10 pm. Check out www.tedxindianapolis.org for updated information.
Taking what is typically a 45 minute discussion about LQP and reducing it down to 10 glorius minutes has been difficult to say the least. There is so much to talk about; so much to share. So many, many "BIG IDEAS" about what the quilt has meant this past decade to me and others. What lessons have been learned and revealed. It's like reducing a decade of work into 10 minutes, that's a year a minute.
I have a coach and boy has this been difficult, but we are hitting stride. Two weeks from now and we will rock this!
This past week, I participated on No Limits, a local NPR show, discussing the TEDx event with Jim Walker of Big CAr. Click here to listen to the episode at http://www.wfyi.org/programs/no-limits/radio/tedx-preview-october-3-2013
In addition, I was asked to be apart of local project by Mosaic City, which highlights the variety of artists living in the Indianapolis, IN area. Check out the website at http://www.ourmosaiccity.com/#!large-grid/c1vu1. I am honored to be inlcuded in both.
So, I've still been busy pushing the quilt and discussions about race forward. I know some of you have as well. Some have been inspired and started confronting this history and this topic in your own way and I am thankful.
As you know working on this history is difficult and sometimes one must take a break, and to quote my a recent lynching compatriot, when you start to come back, "You have to work yourself slowly back into the fold." So, here I am working my way back in for ACT II of The Lynch Quilts Project, which will focus on completing the final quilts and preparing to tour the exhibition.
Forever thankful and grateful for your continued support ahd the many, many notes of concern and support. They are all greatly appreciated and held dear to my heart.
With the utmost gratitude . . .
LaShawnda
Me with Laura Nelson at the Madame Walker Theatre.
Continue to shine your light in our communities.
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