BT Blog

Black watermen and their families are invited to bring photographs to the quilting sessions for possible inclusion on the quilt. Prior quilting and sewing experience are not required. All events are free of charge and open to all ages. The quilt will be part of a national tour of several of Dr. Gaither’s works beginning in December 2009.

The first two public quilting sessions will take place in Annapolis, Maryland. The first will be held at the Bates Legacy Center located at 1101 Smithville Street on Thursday, November 12, 2009 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and the second at the Banneker-Douglass Museum located at 84 Franklin Street on Saturday, November 14, 2009 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The third session will be offered in Grasonville, Maryland at Meredith’s Seafood locatd at 3227 Main Street and Carry Out on Friday, November 20, 2009 from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The final quilting session will be at the Captain Salem Avery Museum located at 1418 East West Shady Side Road in Shady Side, Maryland on Saturday, November 21, 2009 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Historians will be on hand at several quilting sessions to capture oral history interviews with program participants.

Earlier this year Gaither began Black Watermen of the Chesapeake, a story quilt documenting the lives and communities of black watermen throughout Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. Working with Vincent Leggett of the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation, Dr. Gaither has assembled a quilt which tells the stories of this unique Maryland community through images and text in the latest addition to her quilt series entitled “My American Series.” The quilt includes images and references to Maryland’s maritime history, several notable African American watermen, and the many African American men and women involved in Maryland’s maritime industry.

The work goes on a national tour beginning in Hartford, Connecticut in December 2009 with an exhibition stop scheduled in Maryland at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore in Spring 2010. 

Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither is a professor and former Chair of Undergraduate Art Education at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her work has been seen in several museums in Maryland including the Banneker-Douglass Museum, Maryland Historical Society, Walters Museum of Art, and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. Several of her quilts are currently on display in the exhibition Trails, Tracks, Tarmac at the Bates Legacy Center in Annapolis. 

Pre-registration to attend the quilting sessions is not required. For further information, please call the Banneker-Douglas Museum at 410-216-6186.