Section 2: Homeplace Dreams
Homeplace Dreams considers the role that quilts have played in Kim F. Hall’s life as a reflection of her Black feminist ethics of care. Some quilts in this section, including: Untitled crazy quilt (1992), Q is For Quandra (2013), and Liberated Year (2013) are on loan from the homes and collections of close friends, where they have served as reminders of enduring personal connections, acts of community care, accomplishments, and moments of healing and restoration.
Hall improvised her Untitled crazy quilt (1992) throughout college and graduate school, surrounding favorite textiles and artifacts with luxurious pink taffeta and burgundy velvet salvaged from her aunt’s wedding. A close look at the details reveals her love of Shakespeare (a patch with the text of “Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”), the names of her grandmothers embroidered onto scarves they made, the crest of her home state of Maryland, and labels from the fabric shops she frequented, and fabrics from different periods telling “her textile story.”
Balancing the stability of a heavy blanket with the playful surface of familiar textures and patterns, the crazy quilt’s presence conveys a sense of “homeplace,” a phenomenon bell hooks named in her seminal essay “Homeplace (A Site of Resistance)“ as a “safe space for nurturing Black autonomy, connection, wellness.” This quilt covered her apartment wall during Hall’s time as a young professor at Georgetown University, becoming known for bringing a rare Black feminist perspective to scholarship on Renaissance and Early Modern literature. The patchwork of autobiographical memories reflects her grounding in the intellectual and aesthetic traditions she inherited from her mother and grandmothers, as well as a network of “othermothers” including Baltimore textile legend, Ms. Catherine Wooten.
Catherine Wooten’s elegant Untitled (c.2019) quilt featuring striking appliquéd black formal dresses, shows off her skill as an award-winning fashion designer and master quilter, known for her innovations to the sharecropping quilt style. Wooten’s hands contributed to many of Kim F. Hall’s works, providing subtle and precise decorative stitches that finish her quilts. In Cora Musician (2010), Wooten elevates a center panel Hall collected in Ghana adding an elaborate strip quilt style border, and creating complexity by pairing differently patterned fabrics to draw out the colors of the central figure.
Two sampler quilts, Red and White Block Lotto (2019), and Liberated Year (2013), highlight the importance of quilt guilds and quilting circles as sources of inspiration and community for Hall. Participating in the quilt “lotto” and the “block of the month club,” adds an element of serendipity and discovery, and the benefit of receiving quilt squares from other artists from around the world.
Q is for Quandra celebrates Kim F. Hall’s beloved friend and colleague Professor Quandra J. Prettyman (1933-2021), who taught courses in Black Literature at Barnard for over 50 years.This blue and yellow themed quilt on loan from Professor Prettyman’s daughter, Johanna Stadler, was presented to her during the 15th anniversary celebration of Africana Studies. Kim recalls working on the quilt in English department meetings and on the subway, eager to finish it in time for Quandra’s students to sign it. As a collectively produced “friendship quilt” made to honor Prettyman in life, the piece now provides a poignant memorial to comfort those who spent time in the comfort of Quandra’s kitchen. Professor Prettyman’s treasured cookbook collection can now be found in the Barnard Library.