Harriet Powers Centenary

Illustration: Harriet Powers. Bible Quilt, 1886.

This is the centenary year of the death of Harriet Powers, probably one of the most prominent of Southern nineteenth century quilters. There are only two acknowledged Powers quilts popularly known to exist, though there could well be at least one more in existence, possibly even more, either not having been identified or privately and unknowingly part of a collection. Either way, the two that are known, the Bible and Pictorial quilt both shown in this article, are excellent examples of Southern quilting from the nineteenth century.

Powers was born a slave in Georgia in 1837 and so spent nearly the first three decades of her life as the sole property of an individual. It is perhaps difficult for us to comprehend the idea that a human can be both the legal property and possession of another. However, what is truly remarkable is the number of individuals such as Powers, who although born into forced indenture, were still able to carve an independent life for themselves after slavery had been abolished. It is this particular generation that had been born into slavery that is the most inspirational. Although generations of African American slaves were denied access to any creative outlet, the inbuilt human desire for creativity and the outward expression of the imagination can never be subsumed or denied entirely.

Illustration: Harriet Powers, 1897.

It is unknown how Powers early life truly affected her and how those years coloured the rest of her life. That they must have been incorporated within her creative work, is a point that should always be a consideration when viewing her work. The two quilts shown here are pictorial in essence and is a clear indication showing that at least a certain element of African inspired creativity had managed to both pass down the generations and indeed outlast slavery itself. Powers work is clear and concise in composition and the narrative is both powerful and spiritual in context. There would have been no ambiguity concerning the pictorial aspects of her quilts for the generation they were made for, although today some of the compositions are less clear to a modern audience.

Whether the imagery produced by Powers is understood fully or not, it cannot be denied that the artist produced a strong and forcefully effective spiritual and magical tone to her work. Powers work should never be seen as simple or folksy, these are images that are fundamental to human history whether in Africa or America. They tap into the inbuilt spirituality of humans from the earliest of times, and while we may not fully understand why we are drawn to the defined imagery of Powers creative work, we are drawn nonetheless.

Illustration: Harriet Powers. Pictorial Quilt, 1898.

There are a number of celebrations and exhibitions drawing attention to the work and life of Harriet Powers. One of the most comprehensive is that of Hands That Can Do: African American Quilters of Northeast Georgia. This exhibition which runs from 5 October 2010 until 19 January 2011 at the Lyndon House Arts Center in Athens, Georgia, has at its core a number of discussions that include the work of Powers, the quilt traditions of African Americans along with the textile traditions and connections with West Africa. A special guest will be the author Kyra Hicks who wrote the influential and fascinating, This I accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilt and Other Pieces. Links to the exhibition and Hicks books can be seen in the reference links section below.

That Powers was a strong, intelligent and intuitive creative artist who had the imagination, spiritual depth and understanding to both inform and expand our own imaginations, is in no doubt. That she has been honoured in this her centenary year, is her just deserve.

Reference links:
Hands That Can Do: African American Quilters of Northeast Georgia exhibition
This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilt and Other Pieces
1.6 Million African American Quilters: Survey, Sites, and a Half-Dozen Art Quilt Blocks
Black Threads: An African American Quilting Sourcebook
Martha Ann's Quilt for Queen Victoria
Crafted Lives: Stories and Studies of African American Quilters
Love of Liberty: The Liberian Flag Story and Quilt Pattern

Embroidered Tapestries of Dora Wheeler

The subject of what constitutes a tapestry can form a number of different parameters for different people. To some a tapestry can only ever be of the woven variety constructed on an upright loom, while others are happy to extend the parameters to include cross-stitch and other forms of needlework.

In our contemporary world, the definition of tapestry is now encouraged to embrace many aspects of textile art from both the two and three-dimensional forms. Whatever the argument of the use of the word, tapestry has been a flexible subject heading for the last century and a half.

The embroidered tapestries produced by Dora Wheeler, the daughter of the celebrated American artist, interior and textile designer, stretch some people's designation of what constitutes a true tapestry. However, the examples shown in this article, all produced in the 1880s, were known as either embroidered or needle-woven tapestries at the time of their construction, so it seems only fitting to call them as such.

Illustration: Dora Wheeler. Aphrodite needle-woven tapestry, 1883.

It is thought that Dora's mother Candace Wheeler first developed the idea of embroidered tapestries and this is born out by the fact that Wheeler took out a patent on the process in both the US and the UK. A number of artists did produce these specific patent protected embroidered tapestries, but they tended, as with Dora, to be employed by Candace Wheelers Associated Artists company.

The process itself entails using a heavy woven silk canvas as a base and then introducing different coloured and textured threads along the warp or weft of the base fabric with a needle. Silk and metal threads were used to much effect, giving a shimmering richly laden impact. Interestingly the original base fabric was never fully disguised or concealed by the process and therefore became part of the original work and the subsequent composition.

The process allowed a much greater degree of detail and accuracy, producing very fine compositions that were perfectly suited to the aesthetic qualities admired by so many within an interior context in the 1880s. It can be no coincidence that Candace Wheeler was one of the premier interior designers of the period. On a practical interior level, because silk and metal threads were used within the design process of the embroidered tapestries, damage by moths was drastically reduced and was seen as a particular selling point for the process.

Illustration: Dora Wheeler. The Winged Moon needle-woven tapestry, 1883.

It is the use of both the techniques and the raw materials that made these embroidered tapestries so eloquent and spectacularly accomplished for a textile medium. Although three of the examples are unfortunately only available in black and white and so therefore cannot possibly convey the subtleties of the woven thread, the Penelope Unravelling her Work at Night example surely makes up for this. It is a great example of what can be achieved with embroidery when twinned with another medium. The fragile, almost antique quality of the piece, along with the iridescent effect produced by the introduced threads, must have given the impression of the tapestry as being a literal textile gem.

All of the examples shown and others besides tended towards the figurative. Figurative work has always been a particularly problematic aspect of woven tapestry work. Many figures within traditional tapestry work as well as those found in other needlework genres, tend to appear as anatomically lumpy, with extremities such as hands, feet and facial features appearing extremely limited. However, this particular form of embroidered tapestry even allowed for images and figures to be conceivably drawn from life. Most of the artists who used this textile technique produced compositions from sketches, photographs or original observation. However, a number that were produced from both experience and imagination. This could be said to be a potentially fruitful medium for a creative exploration of composition, but perhaps more importantly for that of a textile technique, is the more exciting possibility of a full creative exploration of colour and texture.

Illustration: Dora Wheeler. Minnehaha needle-woven tapestry, 1884.

Both Dora and Candace Wheeler were aware, as were a number of critics and artists of the period that this delicate and visual technique of embroidered tapestry work could very easily become both heavy and gaudy. There was a tendency to produce work that had rather more gold thread than was needed for the composition. This was usually at the behest of the buyer who was sometimes more concerned with the idea of quantity over quality. This heavy handedness with materials quickly cancelled out any of the forms of subtlety that had been built up by the process. Embroidered tapestries became for some a means of advancing the illusion of immense wealth and taste. Two words that often do not sit well together in the same company.

Further reading links:
Content in a Garden
Prize painting book : good times
Candace Wheeler
Principles of Home Decoration With Practical Examples
Principles Of Home Decoration With Practical Examples - Candace Wheeler
The Development of Embroidery in America
Yesterdays in a Busy Life

Rug Designer Helen R Albee

Illustration: Helen R Albee. Hooked rug design in two tones of chocolate and brown, with sketchy motifs  in apple green, 1906.

Helen Albee was by no means the inventor of hooked rugs, but she was able to take an indigenous rural craft medium found in New England, and turn it into a highly successful design orientated venture that proved to be one of the most popular of the American rug making schemes seen at the beginning of the twentieth century.

These Abanakee rugs as they became known were derived from work that had traditionally been produced by the farming communities of New Hampshire. Odd scraps of fabric from worn out clothing were cut into strips and then drawn through rough canvas with hooks, hence the name hooked rugs. Many were produced in rural communities through necessity. They were often crude and were strictly produced for domestic consumption. It was Albee who had the foresight to notice that if the rugs were produced with an element of design and with a careful choice of both fabric and colour, an extra income could conceivably be procured for local farm women who were the original producers of the hooked rugs. These were often women with no outlet for financial betterment and were from families and communities that often struggled to make ends meet.

Illustration: Helen R Albee. Hooked rug design in green, red, orange, brown and black, 1906.

Albee reorganised and to a large extent, reinvented the hooked rug. She no longer used redundant second hand fabrics, but dyed her own, producing large amounts of subtly graduated tones using a number of colours, all of which were used in order to both blend and harmonise the finished rugs to both their compositions and their larger interior surroundings.

The rugs went through a series of decorative incarnations, but eventually Albee settled on forms that followed some of the geometrical elements of oriental and Native American formats. However, she was always careful not to follow these recognisably decorative formats too closely as she felt that indigenous originality was much more important than the copying of successful international styles that obviously belonged to other cultures and regions. 

Illustration: Helen R Albee. Hooked rug design in apple green, 1906.

Albee and her endeavour proved to be extremely successful both creatively and financially. Her locally produced craft rugs fitted comfortably into the framework provided by the American Arts & Crafts movement, with Albee and her rugs featuring more than once in Gustav Stickley's The Craftsman magazine. Unfortunately, the illustrations shown in this article, although actually from one of The Craftsman features, were originally produced in black and white, therefore none of the subtleties of the rugs colour tones can be seen. However, the compositional design work is impressive and shows that Albee clearly understood both the medium and some relatively progressive ideas concerning the effect that could be achieved with particular attention to colour gradation and minimal pattern intrusion. I have included a description of the colours that were originally intended for each of the designed rugs. These descriptions can be seen under each illustration shown in this article.

Illustration: Helen R Albee. Hooked rug design in red and blue, 1906.

Albee, through her own strength of character and belief in the merit of the medium of hooked rugs, or at least her belief in what she thought was conceivably possible to achieve, produced an independent and wholly unique example of American homegrown craft. It was individuals of the calibre of Albee that helped to structure the uniqueness that was such an important element of the American Arts & Crafts movement. A movement that may well have had its origins in that of British Arts & Crafts, but was to produce a whole range of indigenous craft mediums that were rooted deep in the American experience and, as in Albee's decorative rugs, helped to give character and focus to the movement.

Illustration: Helen R Albee. Hooked rug design, 1904.

Helen Albee's popular book Abnakee Rugs was produced at the height of her success and gives some interesting insights into her abilities and her judgements as far as American homegrown crafts are concerned.

Further reading links:
Abnakee Rugs
Rug Hooking in Maine 1838-1940
The Rug Hooker's Bible: The Best from 30 Years of Jane Olson's Rugger's Roundtable [With Pattern]
Pictorial Hooked Rugs
The Complete Book of Rug Hooking
Rags to Rugs: Hooked and Handsewn Rugs of Pennsylvania
Hooked Rugs: An American Folk Art
Creating an Antique Look in Hand-hooked Rugs (Framework)
Hooked Rugs: History and the Continuing Tradition
Geometric Hooked Rugs: Color and Design (Framework)
Hooked on Wool: Rugs, Quilts, And More
American Hooked and Sewn Rugs: Folk Art Underfoot
The Rug Hook Book: Techniques, Projects And Patterns For This Easy, Traditional Craft
The lore and lure of hooked rugs,
Celebration of Hand-hooked Rugs (Rug Hooking)
Rug Art - Rescued From Oblivion: A Hooked Rug Museum of North America Research project
The Complete Guide to Collecting Hooked Rugs: Unrolling the Secrets
The Secrets of Color in Hand-Hooked Rugs: Your Complete Guide to Selecting and Choosing Color
American Hooked Rug Patterns (International Design Library)
The Americana Collection: Hooked Rugs (That Patchwork Place)

Gustav Stickley's Craftsman Magazine

Illustration: The Craftsman magazine cover, January 1904.

The first issue of Gustav Stickley's The Craftsman magazine was produced in 1901. From its inception it was meant to be seen as a vehicle to promote the philosophy of the English Arts & Crafts movement across North America. This can be seen quite clearly with its first issue, which was dedicated entirely to the recently deceased William Morris, while the second issue was dedicated to the also recently deceased John Ruskin.

However, as the magazine matured it gradually took on a more native, home-grown element, promoting the by now burgeoning American Arts & Crafts movement. The magazine took the basic ideas behind the English Arts & Crafts philosophy and moulded them to suit an American environment.

The magazine promoted an all-encompassing simple life philosophy, which included in its remit, architecture, interior design and decoration, gardening and lifestyle. This largely home-grown idyll had elements of colonial reminiscences, so while the English movement tried to foster links with the English and European medieval period, the American tried to forge links with its own historical infancy. Of course, it must be admitted that most of the Arts & Crafts linkage with past eras was based largely on a fictitious nostalgia, but in the end that really is not that important. What is important is that the American Arts & Crafts movement which was a fairly broad grouping of elements from a number of disciplines including architecture, furniture, metal, ceramic and textile design, was making the first steps towards a recognition of American cultural uniqueness.

The gradual independence of the American Arts & Crafts movement from the European and particularly English movements, helped to foster the idea of America as a separate entity in its own right.

The Craftsman magazine by highlighting and encouraging the home-grown elements of the Arts & Crafts philosophy, helped to embolden the differences rather than the similarities between the two continents. Although the international aspect of the Arts & Crafts movement was tangible and many of the different national groups around the world did share a similar philosophy, the great strength of the Arts & Crafts movement was that it was adaptable to any number of native customs and cultures. It did much to bolster a reconnection that those cultures had with their own native history and traditions, which were then transmitted into contemporary architecture, design and craft. 

The Craftsman magazine ceased publication in 1916. The impending threat of American involvement in the First World War and the general disruption of markets and finances caused by that war put an end to the magazine. However, during its fifteen years of publication it had become the most read magazine of its type across North America and had helped to foster a dynamism within American mediums like architecture, interior decoration, furniture, metalwork and ceramics, which was to long outlive its short publication run.

Further reading links:
Gustav Stickley: Craftsman Home
Stickley's Craftsman Homes
Gustav Stickley's Craftsman Homes and Bungalows
Craftsman Bungalows: 59 Homes from "The Craftsman"
More Craftsman Homes
Making Authentic Craftsman Furniture: Instructions and Plans for 62 Projects (Dover books on woodworking & carving)
Gustav Stickley's Craftsman Farms: A Pictorial History
Gustav Stickley, the Craftsman
Craftsman Houses: The 1913 Catalog
Craftsman Furnishings For The Home
Stickley Style: Arts and Crafts Homes in the Craftsman Tradition
Gustav Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement (Dallas Museum of Art Publications)