Yvonne Wells: Quilted Messages

Yvonne Wells taught physical education in public schools for most of her adult life. But, in 1979, while her Tuscaloosa, Alabama, home was undergoing major renovations, she had to sit near the fireplace to keep warm. She decided to make her first quilt to warm her legs until the heating system was restored. With knowledge of how her mother, many years before, made utility quilts—the kind that were “made in the morning and used [th]at night”—Wells made her simple pieced quilt. She liked her quilt and the experience inspired her to make story and picture quilts to express the messages in her heart. Wells stated in a recent interview, “What my head sees, my heart feels, my hand creates.” Wells is African American, but does not use African American quiltmaker as her primary identity.

For her, the term glosses over the individual vision expressed in her work. Instead, Wells calls herself an artist who makes folk art and her medium is quilts. Wells’ quilts remind us that individual makers must be carefully studied so their work is understood first as an individual expression before establishing their place among the broader scope of African American and American quiltmaking

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Meet the Artist

Yvonne Wells’s first quilt, made from necessity in 1979, was the initial step on a path of discovery. Her story and picture quilts express her spirituality, humor, and life experiences. Her self-taught approach to quilt construction and her work in isolation from others has solidified her own voice. She makes her quilts for herself, to satisfy the compulsion to create, to express something she wants to say.

Her work as an artist has encompassed seeing her quilts exhibited in galleries, included in museum collections, and acquired by folk art collectors. In 1998 she also earned the prestigious Alabama Arts Award and the Visual Craftsmanship Award from the Alabama Arts Council.

“I taught myself and have had no formal training in quiltmaking. I consider myself a quilt artist and take pride in making big, bold, primitive and unusual quilts."

Works in the Exhibition

Yesterday: Civil Rights in the South
Yvonne Wells, 1989
International Quilt Study Center, 2000.004.0142,
Robert & Helen Cargo Collection of African American Quilts

The Civil Rights era had a lasting impact on Yvonne Wells. Since she lived through the period and remembers many of the events of that time, she feels it is important to leave a record by making quilts like this one. Yesterday: Civil Rights in the South is a story quilt designed to commemorate some of the key events from the era, as well as memorialize some of the people who lost their lives during the long struggle.

Noah’s Ark
Yvonne Wells, 1988
International Quilt Study Center, 2000.004.0140,
Robert & Helen Cargo Collection of African American Quilts

The story of Noah and the ark comes from the ancient Hebrew book of Genesis, Chapter 6. In the narrative, God told Noah that he was sending a great ood and commissioned Noah to build an ark (boat) and gather into it his own family and two of every animal. Wells explains that in her story quilt, “Noah’s already got his wife into the ark and she’s beckoning for the other animals to come in. And the last animals to come in are the slow turtles, but they’re coming!”

Moses Receiving the Ten Commandments
Yvonne Wells, 1987
International Quilt Study Center, 2000.004.0141,
Robert & Helen Cargo Collection of African American Quilts

Yvonne Wells’s Christian faith is re ected repeatedly in her quilts through crosses , triangles representing the triune God, and the color purple, which she uses to represent Jesus Christ. She also translates Biblical stories to her quilt surfaces. Moses Receiving the Ten Commandments is based on the Hebrew book of Exodus, Chapters 31 and 32, in which God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. When Moses returned to the Israelites at the base of the mountain, he found them worshiping a golden calf, breaking the commandment against idolatry.

Crucifixion
Yvonne Wells, 1986
International Quilt Study Center, 2000.004.0139,
Robert & Helen Cargo Collection of African American Quilts

This quilt is a visual expression of a Biblical story. Wells represents the New Testament account of the Crucifixion with Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus, kneeling in the foreground of the quilt. In the background, she also illustrates the darkening of the sun by a solar eclipse during the execution.

Raggedy Andy
Yvonne Wells, 1982-1983
International Quilt Study Center, 2000.004.0128,
Robert & Helen Cargo Collection of African American Quilts

Yvonne Wells made Raggedy Andy early in her folk art career. It is neither a story nor a picture quilt, but a re ection of her values. Wells was trying to use all of the scraps on the oor leftover from other quilts, as she did not want to throw anything away. She combined piecing and appliqué techniques in a quilt that also serves as an echo of the quilts that came before it.

Going Home
Yvonne Wells, 1987
International Quilt Study Center, 2000.004.0146,
Robert & Helen Cargo Collection of African American Quilts

Going Home is a story quilt about choosing to do the right thing. When asked about the meaning of this quilt, Wells explains, “Lots of times when kids or other people group together they get into stuff that they shouldn’t. Now, all four of these birds were all flying in one direction and one turned, because the other three were not doing right. So he decided to turn and go back home. And, as he turned to go back home, the arms of God [were] waiting for him.” Sometimes Wells’s message in a quilt is meant to teach. She explains, “The teachable moment is that you don’t have to follow the crowd always. When things are going wrong, use your own mind, turn around, and do the right thing.”

The Gossip Quilt
Yvonne Wells, 1987
International Quilt Study Center, 2000.004.0147,
Robert & Helen Cargo Collection of African American Quilts

Yvonne Wells captures the emotions related to gossip in this story quilt. Two people (tulips) outside in the early morning stand by a fence. The third hears the other two talking and accuses them of gossiping about him/her. Wells remarked, “People think you’re gossiping about them when really you’re not.”

The Red Quilt
Yvonne Wells, c. 1990
International Quilt Study Center, 2000.004.0137,
Robert & Helen Cargo Collection of African American Quilts

The triangles in this piece represent Wells’s friends, the Trinity—“God the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Ghost.” She explained that they are “peeking out from underneath the covers.” Wells often has used triangles to represent the Trinity in her work.

Not everything in Wells’s quilts has a specific meaning; she places something into a piece because she “feels it should be there.”

Lovers with a Broken Heart
Yvonne Wells, 1987
International Quilt Study Center, 2000.004.0144,
Robert & Helen Cargo Collection of African American Quilts

The birds in this story quilt represent two lovers who have fought and broken each other’s hearts. One bird has brought chocolate to the other bird in order to mend things between them.

Roll Call
Yvonne Wells, 1987
International Quilt Study Center, 2000.004.0145,
Robert & Helen Cargo Collection of African American Quilts

Yvonne Wells drew from her experience as a school teacher for this quilt’s story. She explained, “So I’m calling roll, and I called and one man kept his head down, which is the head down in the sand. The other one, when I call his name he looks up very quickly, letting me know he was there. And the other one I called, he wasn’t even there yet. So he was the tardy one. It’s really three but you only see two.”

Ugly Faces
Yvonne Wells, 1990
International Quilt Study Center, 2000.004.0143,
Robert & Helen Cargo Collection of African American Quilts

For Wells, a cut or torn piece of fabric can spark an idea that develops into a picture in her mind. Ugly Faces is a picture quilt, as there is no story or meaning behind the images. “And why I did them ...?” Wells asked herself. “Because I could. And I could because I have a little bit of a funny bone in me, and it gives a person a chance to laugh.” She emphasized that the faces were not intended to look like anyone in particular; she just felt she wanted to make them.

Works in the Exhibition

Gallery Photos

This exhibition was made possible through funding from the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment. The Nebraska Arts Council, a state agency, has supported this exhibition through its matching grants program funded by the Nebraska Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment. Visit www.artscouncil.nebraska.gov for more information.

Past

Event Date

Friday, October 7, 2011 to Sunday, February 26, 2012