These presentations were recorded as part of a virtual event held Jan. 27, 2021 in conjunction with the exhibition We Are the Story and is available as part of WAM On Demand via the Weisman’s YouTube channel. 

Listen in on presentations by We Are the Story exhibition curator Carolyn Mazloomi and artist Penny Mateer.

ABOUT WE ARE THE STORY

When Minneapolis became the epicenter of the nationwide protest movement against police brutality and racism in America following the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, TEXTILE CENTER and WOMEN OF COLOR QUILTERS NETWORK (WCQN) joined forces to create We Are the Story a multi-venue initiative in the Twin Cities that runs from September 10, 2020, through June 12, 2021.

Under the curatorial direction of CAROLYN MAZLOOMI, WCQN founder and member of Textile Center’s National Artist Advisory Council, We Are the Story explores themes of liberation, resistance and empowerment, offering a visually compelling account of the breadth of experiences and struggles that comprise Black history in an honest and critical way.

The Weisman currently has three works by artist PENNY MATEER on view as a participant site in We Are the Story through May 23, 2021.

 

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ABOUT CAROLYN MAZLOOMI

Artist, Writer, Independent Curator

Historian, curator, author, lecturer, artist, mentor, founder, and facilitator — the remarkable and tireless Carolyn Mazloomi has left her mark on many lives. Trained as an aerospace engineer, she turned her sites and tireless efforts in the 1980s to bring the many unrecognized contributions of African American quilt artists to the attention of the American people as well as the international art communities. From the founding of the African-American Quilt Guild of Los Angles in 1981 to the 1985 founding of the WCQN, Carolyn has been at the forefront of educating the public about the diversity of interpretation, styles and techniques among African American quilters as well as educating a younger generation of African Americans about their own history through the quilts the WCQN members create. A major force as an artist in her own right, Carolyn’s quilts can be found in private collections around the world as well in distinguished museum collections in the United States.

 

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ABOUT PENNY MATEER

Artist/Activist

Penny Mateer, artist/activist, works with textiles and recycled materials. Her art is rooted in quilting and embroidery, traditionally thought of as “women’s work.” Drawing from this rich history of creating functional objects intended to provide warmth and comfort, she chooses fabric as her primary material to establish connection through shared experience and spark discussion around current events. Her social practice centers on a community-made public art project to promote voting. Mateer lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.