Object Record
Images
Additional Images [4]
Metadata
Catalog Number |
2017.001.001 |
Object Name |
Quilt |
Description |
This is a patchwork style quilt that is overdyed green. The original 1960s quilt, made by Nervie Powers, has been reworked over time by Margaret Gregg, who added screen-printed images, symbols, and text throughout. Gregg recalls: "This work is about my years of doing and learning and remembering, especially in the Mountain communities of East Tennessee. The background is a quilt of Nervie Powers, 'my' mountain woman, who was a loving, wise, and playful friend and mentor. Nervie made the quilt in the late 1960s. I've treasured it since then. It is worn and I've patched it many times. The original fabrics were 'used' remnants from clothing, bedding, and feed sacks. Some pieces wore out quicker than others. I use it as a 'canvas' for all the pieces I've silk screened over the years. I dyed it to minimize awkward contrasts. The soft green speaks to the growth I've known from those pieces of life, wear and tear, rough edges, exposed parts (layers)." Special thanks to Emeline Sharpe for researching this banner as part of their coursework in Dr. Michael Fowler's Spring 2025 Art and Appalachia Course. Their research sources can be provided upon request. Portions of Emeline's interpretive essay are pasted below: "Margaret Gregg is an artist and activist currently living at working in Abingdon, Virginia as an artist in residence at the William King Museum of Art. Born in Chicago in 1940, she first traveled to Appalachia as a missionary with the Glenmary Sisters. Gregg studied art and earned her bachelor's degree at the College of Mt. Joseph in Cincinnati, Ohio through the Glenmary order. In 1967, the Glenmary order split as some wanted to remain in service to the church, while others felt they could better serve Appalachia outside of Catholic control. As a trained studio artist, Gregg found her place within the Federation of Communities in Service (FOCIS), a group formed from 44 former Glenmary nuns, creating posters and flyers for various social movements. She later earned her master's of fine arts degree from East Tennessee State University with a focus in textiles. The formation of FOCIS, in the late 1960s, came at a peak time of women's departure from the Catholic church. The controversy around Vatican II, coinciding with the popularity of consciousness raising groups in the Second Wave feminist movement, led women in the church to communicate about their shared inequalities under control of male religious leadership. The compelling story of the Glenmary Sisters, their split to expand and form FOCIS, and their legacy in the Appalachian region is explored thoroughly in Mountain Sisters: From Convent to Community in Appalachia, a book by Helen Lewis and Monica Appleby published in 2003. FOCIS retained its religious roots but shifted to an ecumenical framework. The group allowed women, men, and children, inviting friends and family of the original members to become involved in what became a web of community organizations across Kentucky, East Tennessee, and Southwest Virginia. Rooted in the culture of activism of the 1960s and early 70s, FOCIS aimed to become an intentional way of living in community that challenged social norms. They celebrated art, religion, nature, music, and community service. This radical model is especially interesting due to its growth out of a covenant structure. While several of these women may have chosen to become nuns to pursue a life outside of traditional gendered expectations of marriage, motherhood, and homemaking, the socially acceptable structure of the Catholic church did not allow them to reach the fulfillment they had been searching for. This textile work by Margaret Gregg is constructed of a collage of images and text printed onto fabric and collaged through an applique process to a quilt made by Nervie Powers and/or her daughter Esther Osborne. The quilt top consists of cotton and fabrics of assorted colors and patterns, including florals, stripes, solids, and flannels that have been pieced together in a checkered square pattern. The squares appear to be pieced together in a common strip method. Gregg recycled screens she had previously created to produce printed graphics and photographic imagery that make up her composition. It seems like some of the patches were saved from their original edition and added to this work. The images, explored in detail later, encompass Gregg's artistic contributions to FOCIS. Gregg's images and text revolve broadly around themes of activism including feminism, religion, the environment, and community. This quilt also seems to serve as an autobiographical document of Gregg's life and work, and her place as an artist/activist in the region at the birth of Appalachian Studies. Original printings of these screens can be found in photographic records in the ETSU Archives of Appalachia FOCIS Records and Margaret Gregg Papers. The orientation of the screen-printed imagery indicates that the quilt is intended to be viewed vertically, which sets it apart from purely domestic quilts that often have an all-over pattern that can be viewed from any direction during domestic use. The back of the quilt features a pocket sewn in for display on a wall. Around the binding of the quilt, patches featuring the word "MEANING" are repeated eleven times on strips of fabric. These patches create a new scalloped border around most of the quilt, leaving some of the original binding exposed. "MEANING" is printed once more, in reverse, within the quilt. Along the border, the word is printed in reverse two times. At the top right, one of these patches is missing an M, and is met by the reverse-printed "MEANING." "ME" and "WE" are seen eight times along the border and across the body of the quilt. These patches appear to be cut from the screens that made the "MEANING" patches. In a 1967 newsletter announcing the formation of FOCIS, organization president Monica Kelly wrote, that members are experiencing "search and discovery, meaning and newness." The search for meaning was clearly central to the FOCIS mission. In this piece, Gregg is grappling with personal and collective meaning, her own identity and how that fits within her community. The body of the piece is covered with patches featuring imagery from various posters and banners produced by Margaret Gregg throughout her career. Much of the original quilt is visible around the patches. The themes explored in this work, primarily feminism, religion, the environment, community, and introspection, are communicated through the inclusion of and arrangement of these patches. A screen-print of a photographic image occupies the top left corner of the quilt. The photo is printed in black ink on a light fabric that has been overdyed light green with the rest of the quilt. Unless otherwise specified, all printed patches discussed are made up of black ink on light green fabric. The image features a large group of people sitting closely together on a series of benches of pews. The group of people consists primarily of older adults and just a couple of children. The group is dressed in formal comfortable clothing for warm weather. A dark green, irregularly shaped patch of fabric overlaps the bottom right corner of the print, featuring the text, "DANCING WITH OUR SEASONS: Rebirthing Women's Vision, 1997." This phrase is broken up around a square, linear graphic encompassing the text, "IN PRAISE OF MOUNTAIN WOMEN." This printed phrase can be found on t-shirts in photographs of a conference of the same name held at Hindman Settlement School. This women's conference featured notable figures in Appalachian Studies such as Helen Lewis. This graphic is also featured prominently on another one of Gregg's pieces in the Reece Museum collection. A light green patch with the words "bloom where you are planted" is attached under the top right corner of the larger, dark green fabric. The p in "planted" forms the stem of a flower. Further to the right of this patch is a larger square featuring a forest and mountain landscape silhouette design. The words "MAGIC MOUNTAIN MADNESS" are contained within the lines representing mountains in the distance. In the top right corner of this piece, a small overlapping rectangular piece reads "FAILURE IS IMPOSSIBLE. [heart icon] SUSAN B. ANTHONY." To the right of these patches is another larger black photographic print. This print depicts a group of two adults and three children in front of a small cabin. Attached directly alongside the former patch is another rectangular piece featuring the words "THIS IS TO BE JUBILEE YEAR, FOR YOU; EACH OF YOU WILL RETURN TO HIS ANCESTRAL HOME, EACH TO HIS OWN KIN. LEVITICUS 25:10." Above the words are the silhouettes of ten figures. Moving down the quilt, starting again on the left side, is a rectangular patch with the phrase "IF YOU LOVE SOMETHING SET IT FREE, IF IT COMES BACK TO YOU, IT IS YOURS, IF IT DOESN'T IT NEVER WAS." There are small icons of hearts, broken hearts, birds, and teardrops between the lines of text. To the right is a larger patch featuring a broadcast film camcorder with the word "BROADSIDE" written across the side. The next patch to the side includes four figure silhouettes who are connected through their arms. Below the four figure silhouettes is a city skyline and ocean silhouette. "RADIO NET" is written above the figures. The names of different radio stations (KERA, NPR, WNYC, KUSC, KSJN, WABE) are written across the bodies of the connected figures. The next patch to the right is large and positioned centrally. The print depicts a figure on a bicycle. The background is made up of leaves and letters. The image is printed in purple ink on a fabric base featuring bold red stripes. Two smaller prints overlap the bottom right corner of the bicycle patch. The first is a rectangle that reads, "I SHALL NOT GROW CONSERVATIVE WITH AGE. ELIZABETH CADY STANTON." Under the quote patch, to the right, is a larger patch featuring the quote, "PRAY FOR THE DEAD, FIGHT LIKE HELL FOR THE LIVING. - MOTHER JONES." The words are composed around a stylized portrait of Mother Jones. This image is featured on a 1972 poster in the Archives of Appalachia, as well as on the May 6th, 1971, cover of Off Our Backs, a feminist magazine published out of Washington D.C. To the right, a rectangular patch with the word "open" is printed in large letters above the silhouette of a tree. Stitched on top of that piece, above the tree, is a smaller square patch featuring a red heart containing text "Route II." Also overlapping the "open" patch, is a print in yellow ink on a light purple square of fabric. The image in yellow is the same figure riding a bicycle as the large central print. A patch printed in red ink of a circular composition of ten figures hiking along a mountain silhouette starts the left side of the next descending row. The text "PAUL M. FINK ADVENTURE HIKE - JONESBORO, TENNESSEE" wraps around the image. There is an elongated rectangular-shaped patch made from red fabric to the top right of the hiking patch. The print on the long red piece contains a snake with a pointed tail and tongue. The body is decorated with fourteen stars. The words "fight or die" are printed along the snake's body. This banner can be found pictured in the FOCIS Records in the ETSU Archives of Appalachia at a protest against coal mining land abuse. To the right is another elongated rectangular patch featuring the phrase "STAY WITH US" above a scene of figures walking along a horizon line among trees, the sun, and a house. A square patch is attached to the bottom left corner of the quilt reading "FOR THE CHILDREN AND THE FLOWERS ARE MY SISTERS AND MY BROTHER. THEIR LAUGHTER AND THEIR LOVELINESS WOULD CLEAR A CLOUDY DAY. -JOHN DENVER." To the right, a panoramic photographic print features a large group of people standing outdoors, posing for a photo in front of some wooden structures. Fixed above, overlapping this piece, is another small patch with a quote that says ""LET US DISAPPOINT THE MEN WHO ARE RAISING THEMSELVES UPON THE RUIN OF THE COUNTRY" SAM ADAMS, 1776." The back of the quilt is sparsely decorated, featuring a large central print of an ear of corn in bright red ink. In the top left corner, there is a print in black ink of abstract, curvilinear lines. There are a few other faded photographic images printed onto the upper half of the back. Also, unlike most quilts made for domestic use, Gregg included a tag with her name alongside Esther Osborne as a maker's mark. In this work, Gregg has transformed a domestic, functional quilt into a vehicle to document and share a history of activism in the region. This is engaged with the role of art in women's lives in rural Appalachian families in comparison to the lives of college educated artists like Margaret Gregg. I believe Gregg is acutely aware of this concept and shows a deep respect for the work of Nervie and Ester. In her reworking and display of the quilt, Gregg defines it as art, a luxury not afforded to women who made quilts in rural domestic settings. The arrangement of patches on the quilt also deals directly with the history of the Women's Movement in the United States. Gregg quotes prominent American suffragettes Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "I will not grow conservative with age," and Susan B. Anthony, "Failure is impossible." Between these quotes, large and central to the composition is the graphic of a figure riding a bicycle. The bicycle was a major symbol of the first wave of feminism. It represented the ability to move through space independent of male authority figures. The increase in women bike riders also led to changes in style, since they would need to wear pants. Both Stanton and Anthony, quoted by Gregg, have also made famous remarks about bicycles and their role in the liberation of women. This bicycle image is seen again to the right. Other than "meaning" this is the only repeated image on the front of the quilt. The central image is obscured partially by red stripes next to these blue fabric pieces, evoking a broken American flag. Interestingly, Mother Jones, who is depicted in a printed patch overlapping the bicycle and under the Stanton quote, was an advocate for workers' rights who believed that Women's Suffrage was a distraction from more pressing material concerns. I interpret her inclusion here as Marget Gregg's understanding of the importance of labor rights as a feminist issue, specifically in the context of her Appalachian activism. In her oral history interview through UNC Chapel Hill, Gregg describes her involvement with activists throughout her life but maintains a certain distance from identification with the Feminist Movement. She instead emphasizes the importance of activism with the emergence of Appalachian studies. Religion and spirituality were at the core of Gregg's life even through the departure from the Glenmary sisters. A shift towards inclusive, liberatory religious practice grounded FOCIS's activist goals. As described in the book Mountain Sisters, "They are a diverse group: mostly women, from a variety of lifestyles- single, engaged, married, divorced, celibate, heterosexual, lesbian- along with some men, husbands, sons, and friends, and their children...There are also other ex-Sisters, non-Catholics, friends and colleagues, and current priests and religious from various orders." Art was also central to the religious ceremonies in FOCIS. This is clear in the photographs of the FOCIS 25th Anniversary celebration. Gregg's posters and a quilter banner featuring the "MEANING" patches are included at the podium and on the stage of the ecumenical religious celebration, forming an altar to the spiritual power of community and activism. Overall, the imagery evokes a sense of community and interconnectedness. Many of the patches feature groups of people together, whether in photographic images or abstracted silhouettes. While the photographic images seem to reference church gatherings, Gregg's illustrations also reference secular instances of community, like group hikes and public radio. The groups of people depicted in her patches are often positioned in nature, evoking the importance of the Appalachian environment both in Gregg's community and activist concerns. To understand this work of art you must wrestle with the complex polarities of fine art and craft, Appalachian insiders and outsiders, functional and decorative objects. Gregg defines her textile work as banners. At what point does a quilt become a banner? How does a piece of textile art function differently when held in a protest compared to being used on a bed? Gregg's patchwork banner encapsulates much of the discussion around the evolving definitions of Appalachian Art." |
Date |
c. 1960s - 2010s |
Artist |
Margaret Gregg |
Artist 2 |
Nervie Powers |
Artist 3 |
Ester Osborne |
Dimensions |
W-75 L-64 inches |
Collection |
Historic Textile Collection |
Title |
Summary |
Place of Origin |
USA/Virginia/Abingdon |
Material |
cotton, linen, ink |
Subjects |
Activism Appalachia Appalachian Art Appalachian Studies Broadside Television Community Craft Elizabeth Cady Stanton Environmentalism Federation of Communities in Service (FOCIS) Feminism Feminist Art Fine Art Glenmary Sisters John Denver Jonesborough, Tennessee Jubilee Center KERA KSJN KUSC Labor Margaret Gregg Mother Jones NPR Picasso Printmaking Quilting Religion Religious Studies Sam Adams Susan B. Anthony Textile Art WABE WNYC Women's Suffrage |
Other Name |
Patchwork Banner |
Made |
Nervie Powers and Margaret Gregg |
Search Terms |
Activism Appalachia Appalachian Art Appalachian Studies Broadside Television Community Craft Elizabeth Cady Stanton Environmentalism Federation of Communities in Service (FOCIS) Feminism Feminist Art Fine Art Glenmary Sisters John Denver Jonesborough, Tennessee Jubilee Center KERA KSJN KUSC Labor Margaret Gregg Mother Jones NPR Picasso Printmaking Quilting Religion Religious Studies Sam Adams Susan B. Anthony Textile Art WABE WNYC Women's Suffrage |