Cheyney University News January 4, 2013 Wendell George Brown Exhibit and Quilting Workshops Planned at Cheyney University Cheyney University welcomes the “Tracing Stitches: Exploring a National Treasure” art exhibit featuring the work of renowned sculptor and fabric artist Wendell George Brown on Thursday, February 7 at 4 pm. Brown's story quilts will grace the walls of Biddle Hall Art Gallery on the historic campus through March 30. In addition to serving as Artist in Residence at Cheyney University, Brown will conduct two quilting workshops on Saturday, February 9, leading participants through a process involving quilting, printing and the use of historical text in the construction of two quilt panels. Each participant will keep one panel and the other panel will be incorporated into a commemorative quilt which will remain at Cheyney University in honor of the institution’s 175th anniversary. The cost of the workshop is $40. Currently, Brown is Assistant Professor of Art at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina. He credits his experience as an assistant to Faith Green Ringgold, a renowned costume designer who is also known for her storytelling quilts, as a major source of inspiration for his work. As a result of working with her, Brown says he’s still interested in fabric and costume design. “Once I began working with fabric, I had the idea of creating works and paintings that I could get inside. I can hold the hands in my pieces. I can climb into them and through them.” Brown’s quilts are non-traditional and often inspired by Negro spirituals and the quilts made by slaves. “Slaves sometimes took their blankets with them when they ran away,” he explains. “The quilts became their road maps--sometimes helped them hide, and gave them comfort. Sometimes they used them to build tabernacles and muffle their sounds. The quilts gave them protection, like the spirituals.” Brown says the stitches in the quilts he designs are often exposed and grouped around the figures on the quilt as a way to symbolically protect them. “Everything means something in my work,” he insists. “I find ways to incorporate the symbolism which is latent in African American culture.” Brown’s visit to CU is especially significant as the University wraps up its 175th anniversary. Interestingly, Brown’s ancestors moved near Cheyney in the 1800s. In fact, his great grandfather is buried near the University. “I really look forward to being there and connecting with my past,” he says. “When it comes to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Cheyney University holds the position of the ‘mother’ – it is the umbrella and everyone else is dangling off the edges,” Brown remarks. “By going to the first HBCU, I might as well have been to all of them.” Brown received his B.F.A. in Fibers / Crafts from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland and his M.F.A. in Painting / Sculpture from Howard University in Washington, D.C. His works have been exhibited at the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg, the American Folk Art Museum in New York, Wheelock College in Boston, and the International Quilt Show in Yokahama, Japan. The exhibit and workshops are sponsored by the 2013 Arts and Lectures Series at Cheyney University which features a variety of speakers, musicians, singers, actors and dancers from throughout the US and abroad. Biddle Art Gallery is open Monday through Friday. Reservations for the workshops or any Series events should be made in advance at www.cheyney.ticketleap.com<http://www.cheyney.ticketleap.com>. For more information call 610 399-2365. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org><mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/><http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-520-0593 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/><http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.