Native Americans piece their stories through art of quilting

TACOMA - Quilting began as a functional tradition for Europeans. But when Native Americans adopted the technique from the colonists, they made it their own - by using the quilts to tell their stories.

Those stories are on display at the Washington State History Museum, which is offering "To Honor and Comfort: Native Quilting Traditions." The exhibit features 45 quilts created between 1920 and 1996 by Native textile artists and quilting groups throughout North America and Hawaii.

"It showcases Native-American contributions in a way that doesn't cast them only as a people of the past but as a people of the present," said Marsha MacDowell, who curated the exhibit at Michigan State University. "The exhibit enlarges our understanding of the variety of arts Native Americans have been involved in."

With cultures as diverse as Hopi, Sioux, Lakota, Navajo, Odawa, Yup'ik, Eskimo and Hawaiian represented, the collection offers a view of 20th-century Native life.

"It was learned from the outside, but Native Americans made it their own," said Maria Pascualy, the local exhibit curator. "Today, quilters no longer feel they're borrowing from someone else."

Quilting is set apart from other art forms in several ways. For one, it is one of the only art forms worked on by several people at a time.

The act of quilting is itself a tradition. Quilters share sewing techniques and community traditions. Most often quilters come together in a quilting circle, which often includes several generations and allows for the sharing of cultural traditions.

"It's one of the few truly feminine exhibits there is, but it's about storytelling and traditions, so it's a subject that everyone can relate to," said Kathryn Harper, director of marketing for the museum, which attracts about 115,000 visitors annually.

Tribal history and traditional motifs provide the designs and inspire the colors and materials used for the quilts. Quilts are a personal reflection of an individual's idea or vision and may provide a pictorial record of a person or an event.

For example, one featured quilt, the Baseball Star Quilt, honors outstanding athletes and teams. Made in 1996 by the Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, it features a baseball surrounded by a red and orange star. Another quilt, done in 1992 by Hana Kangas, a Yup'ik Inuit Indian, features 20 mothers and daughters in her family.

A quilt "is a visual demonstration of the Native American tradition," Pascualy said.

Donna Larson, 58, a quilter from Eatonville, praised the exhibit.

"I've learned a lot about Native American culture and spirituality that I didn't know before," she said.

While the Native-American quilts are characterized by their imagery and design, the Hawaiian-made quilts highlight expert stitching and technique.

"If you're interested in art, you can appreciate quilting as an art form," said Betty Bomberger, 75, of Olympia.

Many of the quilts are presented in the settings in which they were created, used, displayed or given away. Quilts have been used as bed covers, drapes, robes in rite-of-passage ceremonies such as baby namings, as decoration and to recognize heroic acts or sacrifice.

The average quilt is king-sized and if sold probably would retail for about $3,500. But because quilts are often made for commemorative purposes, they are rarely sold.

The history museum is the fifth of seven stops for the quilt display, which has been to museums in Hawaii, Massachusetts, Montana and Ohio. It will also visit New Mexico and Arizona after it leaves Aug. 27. The exhibit was developed by the National Museum of the American Indian and Michigan State University and made possible by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.