Honoring Gran, Part 2

After my initial enthusiasm at being asked to create something to honor my grandmother, reality set in.  How was I going to capture my Gran in fabric?  Not only that, but this wasn't just about her being my grandmother, but about her commitment to the Links.

What to do?

My mother, two aunts, and one of my cousins served as an informal focus group as I bounced ideas around.  At one point I even had an idea in a dream that was so bad I had to share it with my mother, just for laughs. I don't remember what it was now, but it was hilariously bad.

I did not want to do a portrait of my grandmother, but I did want to represent her.  We all agreed that the finished piece had to contain the color red, which was Gran's favorite.  The Links use the white rose as their flower, so there had to be at least one white rose.  And this is Texas we're talking about, so a yellow rose, too. And maybe one of Gran's favorite quotes.

I thought I had decided on a red vase with white roses and one yellow rose, with perhaps a quote incorporated in the quilting.  Everyone agreed that this seemed like a winner.

Honoring Gran, take 1

Then I started working on it.

As frequently happens when I am creating, the piece started dictating what it wanted.  I didn't feel the friendship coming from what was essentially a still life, so I thought I would add a woman.  One woman alone does not convey friendship, so it had to be two women.  I made sky for the background -- they would be at an outdoor table.  Since this was Gran, one of the women would be wearing red.  The vase would be white.  The result is at right.

The white rose against that pale sky was going to need some rethinking, but otherwise I was pretty pleased with it.  Unfortunately, that red was an issue.  The Links use the colors green and white.  Red is associated with a different group, one that my grandmother did not belong to.  I had not considered that as I merrily traipsed down the artistic path.  Since I could not simply swap red clothes for green clothes (try it, it doesn't work) I started over.

This is the finished piece.

"Love Never Ends" Jacqueline Bryant Campbell, 2012

I quilted the names of the other Fort Worth charter members into the hair of one woman, with Gran's parents, husband, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren quilted into the other woman's hair and the background.

Name quilted into background fabric

My Gran was a very loving woman.  Some of her favorite readings were about love, particularly The Prophet and 1 Corinthians 13. Excerpts from those works are stitched into the lighter green dress.

The title of the piece, "Love Never Ends," is taken from 1 Cor 13:8.  Gran loved her family and led by example.  Just as she surrounded us in her love, now we do the same for others.  Love never ends, indeed.

Love never ends, quilted into "Love Never Ends"
Jacqueline Bryant Campbell, 2012

Honoring Gran, Part 1

My grandmother, Marie Norris Brooks -- Gran to her 10 grandbabies-- was a marvelous lady.  I think all of us granddaughters wanted to be like her when we grew up: beautiful, charming, elegant, insightful, and a fantastic cook.  Gran would let you lick the beaters when she made a cake, give you a taste of her fresh lemonade to make sure it was fit to serve, and could barbecue like nobody's business.

Gran had a life outside of her husband, children, and grandchildren that was filled with friends and service to others.  One way she combined those things was through her involvement with The Links, Inc.  The Links, Inc. is one of the nation's oldest and largest volunteer service organizations for African-American women.  Members are bonded by a chain of friendship.  Founded in 1946 in Philadelphia, there are now Links chapters all across the country.  In 1959, she and nine other women chartered the Fort Worth, Texas chapter.

Marie Norris Brooks, seated far left, with (in order) Zelma Bazy Woodard,  Ruby Williamson, Mutelle Flint, Ethelyn Maynard Burnett, Viola Borders, May Pearl Hollie Flint,  Sybil Munchus Byrd, Marie Scott Platte, and Hortense Burnett Chatman (first President of the chapter)
Picture courtesy of the Fort Worth Chapter of The Links, Inc.

She was committed to the Links and remained a faithful member until her death in 2009.  To honor her and the women who founded the Fort Worth chapter, my aunt, Link Jennifer Giddings Brooks (Fort Worth chapter) and my mother, Link Marian Brooks Bryant (Lansing, MI chapter) encouraged me to make a small piece to hang in the organization's headquarters building here in Washington, DC.

How we got from there to the finished piece will be coming next week (click here to go to that post), but here is a close-up of my second favorite part of this quilt: