Interview with Valerie White

Karen Musgrave (KM): This is Karen Musgrave and I'm conducting a Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories interview with Valerie White. Valerie is in Louisville, Kentucky and I'm in Naperville, Illinois so we are conducting this interview over the telephone. Today's date is January 19, 2009. It is now 9:42 in the morning. Thank you Valerie so much for taking time out of your day to do this interview with me. Please tell me about your quilt "Great Expectations."

Valerie White (VW): "Great Expectations" was created for a special exhibit that took place, that is actually taking place at the Washington Historical Society and it was "Quilts for Obama: An Exhibit Celebration of our 44th President" [at the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. from January 11 to January 31, 2009.]. I spent a lot of time, Karen, thinking about what was I going to say and how was I going to say how deeply I felt about this whole election. For me I guess, it had a lot to do with what I ultimately chose as the image, I am a retired middle school guidance counselor and educator for 25 years so children have always been a big part of my life and so I decided having seen so many images during the campaign events of children, parents bringing their children and so many images of children on top of their, their dad's shoulders. This whole election was, was historical on so many, so many levels and so I just felt that I wanted to recognize the number of children that attended the events. In doing that, I chose to do the image of a little girl, and I wanted it to be a girl on her dad's shoulders. Because for me, the fact that Sarah Palin and Hillary [Clinton.] was ran for office said to little girls that they can do it and it also engaged them differently. I think children do well when they see themselves and that was the other big part of it. I have raised three children and I've always said to them you can be whatever you want to be, you have no limits but finally now I can point to President-Elect Obama and say, 'You see there you are.' I thought great expectations not only on the world expecting great things but this father, great expectations now for this daughter that sits atop his shoulders.

KM: What are your plans for the quilt?

VW: Well my plans, it is interesting that you ask that because I had initially thought that I would just sort of bring it back and hang it in the house, but now I'm thinking, I have had a few people ask in town, downtown Louisville about, 'What are you going to do with it?' February is Black History month and I would like to put it someplace. I don't know if I will ask the mayor if he would be interested and I'm sure he would because he has already been supportive of my work. I would like it to hang or I would like to take it around to several schools that I will be speaking at this February and maybe I will kind of slide it along with me and show them just what the piece actually looked like.

KM: Is this typical of your work?

VH: Actually yes it is typical of the work but I used a different technique this time. The backdrop is a laminated process that I used and what I did was to create a collage with all of the current news issues, which included the bailout, the weather, and fuel. What else did I have? There was some information about poisoning in plants and just all those things that we are just confronted with now, the economy. I laminated these newspaper articles onto a piece of sheer polyester and so that served as the backdrop. While it is there it doesn't become a focal point but you can see these things, this Americana these issues that surround this father and his young daughter. I haven't used that technique an awful lot in fact I'm still sort of making my way and learning how it is most effective in my work but I like it, I like it very much and in this piece I felt it very appropriate because they were surrounded by signs "Change we can believe in", they were also surrounded by all of these big, big things that we have to confront and try to solve. For me, it was a little different.

KM: I don't remember in my lifetime a president-elect causing people to create so much art. Tell me what your thoughts are on that.

VH: First of all I never expected this to happen in my lifetime, I never expected to see an African American president. I just, maybe thought I have grandchildren I thought maybe their children might see it but I just never thought that I would see it, nor my parents. My father is 81 and my mother is 78 and they just never in their life expected to see that so I think people are just so touched and just so overwhelmed by this experience and it feels like we are all part of it. For artists, we always have to register our feelings through our art, being it painting drawing sculpture we have to say something. I think that is just part of being an artist. I think it is heart and brains, left and right side engaged in the possibilities. As artists I think there are just so many images running through our heads.

KM: Tell me about your interest in quiltmaking.

VH: I tell you the fabric, I love it. For the last ten years especially I've been an empty nester and I've had a chance, not quite ten years but I've had the chance now to really focus in on my craft and I love, I love how art has integrated itself into, into the quiltmaking. Speaking of lamination, we are talking about dyeing; we are talking about stitching in metal and rusting fabric and using a variety of techniques, including mono printing. Whatever it is that you think you want to do with fabric can be created, we were once limited to paper. Most Fiber Artists feel, 'If I can do it on a sheet of paper I can do it with fabric.' As an art quilter I find that I have to be careful because there are so many techniques out there I've got to sort of say, 'Okay, alright Valerie, you don't need to do one more. This is enough. You don't need one more technique. I am excited about where quiltmaking is now. I'm very excited about it.

KM: Tell me about your creative process.

VW: It's changed Karen, it really has. I'm spending a lot more time in my sketchbook. I've got a show coming up at the Carnegie [Carnegie Center for Art and History, New Albany, Indiana.] opening in October of 2009 and this show is, I'm with two other artists, Pat DaRif and Joanne Weis and the title of the show is "Earth Works" and so we each have a, we each have a path that, or a statement that we want to say about the earth and what I would like to talk about is root systems. I like to talk about what you can't see with plants not always what you can see on top of the soil and how it's the beautiful root systems. What I've done is in my planning for the quilt, I have spent a lot of time in my sketchbook. I've taken to even doing watercolor images in my sketchbook. The right side is where I have the watercolor drawing and then on the left side I've made extensive notes that sometimes in my excitement in the creative process itself I forget. Now I'm being a little bit more organized in my thoughts in that I'm writing down the colors the process, how do I think this would work, what size would this better tell the story about this beet or this carrot, what do I want the audience to feel and look at. I'm actually recording these things and while it is time consuming it works out for me because when I get to the piece itself I think it better says what I like it to say. Then the other part of my creative process is I'm using the internet a lot and I did it with the "Great Expectations," the Obama piece in that I looked on the internet and all of the images, I mean there are thousands and thousands of photographs and it's the same thing with my root system. There are thousand of opportunities and studies done about roots of turnips or parsnips I think, we live in an age that we have unlimited visual resources, we don't have to run to the library and look it up, we can just press two or three buttons and it comes up on the computer and we are able to see. I think that has influenced my work a great deal, especially the resource part. If I have a connection to the work in research it seems to me that my imagery is stronger.

KM: Do you belong to any art quilt groups?

VH: Yes, I do. The group that I belong to here in Louisville is the River City Fiber Artists and we come together once a month to critique each other's work, there are six of us. Juanita Yeager, Pat DaRif, Joanne Weis, Kathleen Loomis and myself. Is that six I think that is six? I hope I didn't leave out anybody.

KM: You can always add them if you did.

VH: Great, and so at any rate we come together once a month and Tuesday/Wednesday night and we have a design wall that we use. Marti Plager that is the name I left out. We meet at Marti's house and put the work up and we talk about it, especially if you are having trouble with a piece. 'This is not working, what do you guys think?' 'Why isn't it working?' In fact, I took my Obama piece in just before I was ready to quilt it and I said something is not working here. At the time I had, several signs on the work I ended up with three signs. Joanne said, 'Okay Valerie, let's just take down this, this and this and let's take a peak at it,' I did and I said, 'That's it.' I didn't need all those signs. That group is really important to me and has been since I've been here in Louisville in terms of pushing me to examine the work differently and helping me to solve design problems, helps me understand and be prepared for similar problems as they come about in my work.

KM: Any other groups?

VH: I belong to the Kentucky Historical Society Art Group and they don't meet as often. Once a year they come together. I don't see them as often but they are a strong group and they are a good group.

KM: How many hours a week do you work?

VW: I beg your pardon.

KM: How many hours a week do you work?

VH: I try to work every day, even if it is a day that I have a lot on my plate in terms of other commitments. If I can put in thirty minutes, that's thirty minutes ahead. If I work a little bit every day I can see progress and often that will inspire me to complete the work. A lot of friends say, 'How do you get so much done, Valerie? How do you get so much done?' Because if I work a little bit every day then it just seems that it goes quicker. As I get closer to October and the work is due there will be more and more days where, start working around 9:00 in the evening and I will go as late as 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, the phone is not going to ring, no one is going to ask me to do anything.

KM: Describe your studio.

VH: My studio has been tweaked and tweaked and tweaked and tweaked and I'm liking where I am now with the space. My big cutting table is situated now so that I can walk around it and I like that. I had it so I couldn't walk around it before and it just limited the way I would approach the work. In fact now I have two studios. I have one that is upstairs and I do mostly dry work, I'm using my garage studio for wet work, for dyeing fabric and all of those slushy techniques that would just not work in an upstairs bedroom with carpeting. I really like working outside, especially when the weather is good. It's gotten too cold now even with a heater. I've got two tables out there, one that I have prepared to be able to pin work on to it and stretch. I can leave it out there, cover it with a piece of plastic to get the time and temperature all situated and usually get some good results especially in the spring and the summer. It has really been working for me. I've been lucky I've got two spaces. The upstairs studio is where I have my computer, the cutting table and my sewing machine and a big comfy chair. I like to be able to sit in my chair and sew on binding and sleeves. That for me is very relaxing.

KM: Do you have TV or music in there?

VH: Yep, I have, my husband bought me a really fancy CD player last year for Christmas, Karen, I like a lot of different music and depending on my mood I might have Santana. I might have Barbara Streisand. I might have Duke Ellington. I might have Kurt Franklin with gospel. It just depends on what I feel like. Here lately I've been playing I think it is called salsa, the Spanish kind of music. I don't know if that is the proper term for it but I've been playing that. Oh boy if you were a fly on the wall in there when I'm working, cause sometimes I feel like I want to dance and that is my space, there is no one in there so I might dance around for a few minutes. [laughs.] Especially if it is a song from, the seventies, early seventies and of course that was my hay day, but I know the words and I remember what I used to do when that song came on I will get up and this old body will try to do it. [laughs.] It is fun. I enjoy the music in my studio. I don't work with the television on, I do work with music.

KM: Whose works are you drawn to and why?

VW: I am really drawn, I am really drawn, one of the new contemporary artists that I find myself really liking is Carolyn Crump. I think her name is really Caroline Crump that is the way it is written but I really like her work.

KM: Why do you like her work?

VH: I like her work because she was first a painter. I like the way she expresses her figures even though it is representational work I just think she has a lot to say and I like the way she says it. I'm also, and I have always been since late sixties having come through Howard at a very important time of African American history, I've been greatly influenced by the Afro Cobra group that is still, some of them have passed on but some of them are still alive and well that was a big influence on me. Contemporary quilts, I really like the work of Carolyn Crump a lot. I like the work of Sonja Hunt as well. I think she is an interesting young woman who is doing her own thing I'm drawn to quilt artists who are painterly in their approach to their compositions. I like mono prints. I like to see the spontaneity of picking that print off and maybe getting something similar but never getting anything quite the same again. I like that a lot.

KM: Tell me about "Form, Not Function."

VH: "Form, Not Function" is a show that was organized I think this is our fifth or sixth year. It is held at the Carnegie and Juanita Yeager had an idea of putting together a show of contemporary art quilts. The Carnegie was very willing to host that show because they were trying to project an image of strong textile support. In fact the first year, I was here I didn't participate. I was very new in the group, but Juanita and Kathleen and Joanne Weis and Pat DaRif and Marti were the first to really to get that up and going. Now I think it has become an important national show. We get a hundreds of art quilters to submit work and it is very hard to narrow down the final selection. We had well over 260 pieces submitted this year and to narrow that down to 39 was a challenge. We are all very different in the group and that is the great thing about it. It is a diverse group of women and I think we all respect what we do. We are very different, our approach to art quilts is very different so when we sit down to look at all the submissions for "Form, Not Function," we bring to the table our own set of experiences and expectations of art quilts. It makes for what I think is an interesting show. I might be more drawn to things that might be more pictorial, Kathleen may be drawn to things that are more or less representational, but I think what we all have in common is the respect and appreciation of good craftsmanship. I think that is very high on all of our lists and it may come, from that traditional quiltmaking background. Even though it is an art quilt, Karen, I don't think that is an excuse for poor craftsmanship and I have a problem sometimes when I see these pieces, you know there is a big discussion now, especially among the River City Fiber Artists, there is a big discussion about craftsmanship versus the aesthetics of the piece and we are not so sure that we are not colored by our initial experiences of being traditional quilters and having those expectations of what is expected for prize winning quilts. We have very high standards, and it's funny when we are still trying to decide whether we are going to accept piece A or piece B then it gets down to which one appears to have the best craftsmanship and usually that is the piece that wins out.

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KM: What are your favorite techniques and materials?

VH: My favorite technique is working with thicken dyes to create mono prints.

KM: You would say that advances in technology has really influenced your work.

VW: Absolutely, but at the same time some of these advancements are techniques that I used as a print maker. I remember being involved with mono printing when I did graphic arts. Now the exception is that I don't have press upstairs in my studio where I could roll something out and really get a good image but the mono printing is really my favorite, it's a new approach with an using an old technique. These techniques are not new but our application is.

KM: Do you think of yourself as an artist or a quiltmaker or do you even make the distinction?

VH: I really think of myself as an artist. I really do. I think of myself as an artist that uses fabric to make a statement.

KM: How do you want to be remembered?

VH: I like to be remembered as an artist that used fabric, to make positive declarations about life.

KM: Very nice. What does your family think of your quiltmaking?

VH: They are excited. They are really excited. There was a time that I would always complain, I don't have enough time to work because I'm doing everybody else's stuff, but now I've gotten so much outside acclamation or affirmation is better, affirmation about the work. I hear my children say, 'My mom is an artist.' 'Yeah my mom, she is an artist.' They say it with such pride that it makes me feel good, it really does. My husband, my children and my parents as well, my brother and sister and my whole family is very excited about it, very excited. They are supportive and encourage me to just keep on going.

KM: What is your first memory of a quilt?

VW: I think my first memory of a quilt is of the quilts that my grandmothers created. They made quilts to keep you warm. They weren't concerned that this was aesthetically pleasing. They were sort of like the Gee's Bend approach to quilting. Some of those quilts you look at them from a distance and they look like wonderful, wonderful art kind of jazz compositions but with my grandmothers, they just cut up some fabric and sewed it up and that was it. Those were my first, and they were heavy. If you were under one of those quilts you had to take a minute to get from underneath it because it was a heavy quilt. Those are my first memories of quilts. When I got older I saw a lot of white work and I liked that. I liked that white work. I liked the stitching. I have always liked the stitching and that kind of was interesting to me that someone would sit and make a design just with thread.

KM: Tell me about your quilting.

VH: I, initially I started out just doing hand quilting, that's all I was going to do and I just thought about maybe I might want to do more than one or two in my lifetime so ended up with a fancy Bernina a that time, it was a top of the line and I thought, oh no I've got to learn how to do a little bit more so I started doing some machine quilting and after that I was able to. I like Libby Libman's work that was the first thread painting I attempted to do. I took a few of her classes and I really, really, really liked what Libby was doing. I worked in a quilt shop in Greensboro, North Carolina. Randy's Quilt Shop and he is a prolific quilter. He was a master quilter and I would sit there during break and watch him. He would allow me to just sit and watch. I learned a lot by watching him quilt but yes, I have embraced the machine quilting. You know, Karen, even having said all of that I still include hand stitches in my work. I think there is still nothing that adds the kind of depth and texture that hand stitches add. I go back to those days of embroidery with seed stitches and French knots. I might put some, oh I can't think of, buttonhole stitch kind of thing in some of the pieces. I go back to some of those hand stitches even though I'm primarily a machine quilter.

KM: What advice would you offer somebody starting out?

VH: I say this to people when I teach machine quilting, you won't get better unless you practice. I also suggest keeping a sketchbook, a record or journal of your ideas, jot it down if you have an idea for a quilt. Jot it down, if you see it done and completed with color. Write that down because sometimes it comes to you quite easily and quite quickly. If you make a journal and keep a sketchbook then you can go back and look at your ideas and then add more to them, not try to stretch yourself to try to remember your first impressions of the piece.

KM: What do you think is the biggest challenge confronting quiltmakers today?

VH: That is a good question. I think the challenge confronting us today may be the over use of devices used without benefit of the artist hand machines are doing so much, I just hope we don't get too far away from the artist hand. You've got the stitch regulators which assist in keeping the stitches even. However, I like the artist hand in the work. Even though I know the stitch regulator helps to keep the stitch straight, I want you to perfect your technique enough that you don't really need that. Maybe I shouldn't say that, people get mad [laughs.].

KM: I don't think so.

VW: I like the artist's hand in the work and some of these advancements with the machines worrying me because was it done on a home machine, was it programmed to do that, just don't know how much of the artist was part of the final composition. That kind of bothers me a little bit that anything goes attitude bothers me too. I hate to see mess just up on the wall, you just tack this stuff up and say this is my artistic statement. I don't know. I don't like that. I want careful, thoughtful execution of the work and not to say that isn't I guess it sounds like I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth but I like to see work that is just good work. We have for ever been challenged as quiltmakers. Oh that is not fine art that is craft. Well I think good fine art is good crafted work. You wouldn't expect to see a painting with half of the frame attached or poorly attached, you wouldn't buy that. I have the same expectations for fiber art. I expect that art to look and feel the same kind of craftsmanship that any artist would do. I think the bridge is getting shorter about the fine arts versus crafts. Quilts don't get the same kind of respect that many of the other art forms do. To me it shouldn't be that way. Karen, it is just, I'm using fabric, your using canvas and if my craftsmanship is as good as the way you stretched your canvas. I am a big component of good craftsmanship. I don't like these thrown together quilts, I don't like it, I don't respect that, I don't. I know people will say well that is self-expression and all of that, but I don't buy into that. I think people do that because they don't know how to do it better. Oh I shouldn't say all of this.

KM: I do, I agree with you though. I really do, I do, I do agree with you.

VH: You just don't know how to do it, so don't tell me that this is my self-expression. It is mess, it is that mess on the wall. [both laugh.] I mean, it really makes be cringe. It really does. It is an ongoing issue and it's getting more controversial. In fact, well I will let it go at that because I know I will say too much.

KM: [laughs.] Let's go back to the exhibition.

VH: Okay.

KM: Were you able to go to the opening?

VW: I did. I went to the opening and it was fabulous. Oh my gosh, I can't tell you how excited everyone was. The artists that were able to come, they were on Cloud 9 as well as the audience. Everyone was excited about the quilts. There were close to 500 people there and it is not a big gallery space and really to be honest you couldn't see the quilts as well as you might like to have viewed them. There were too many people. For me it was like old home week, I think they put that in the paper. I went back and saw colleagues and fellow quilters, some of which I started out with way back almost 15, 20 years ago and one group in particular had a special secret bee for me. What we used to call a secret bee, but a special quilting bee party celebration Saturday night. All of those women came together at a good friend's home and some of them I hadn't seen for a while and we got together. Karen, when I first started quilting I wasn't even piecing. I would go to JoAnn Fabric and get a cheater's quilt. You know something pre-made and I would stack that together and I guess I called myself machine quilting. It certainly wasn't free motion. I don't know what I was doing but I would put together this little hodge podgy thing and they brought that up. Oh they thought that was funny. All of them. That was Saturday night so all of them spent the night so we would be close. One was from Baltimore and the others were local. We got up the next morning and we went on to the exhibit and they said, 'Can you believe that our Valerie is doing this now? We remember when.' It was just funny. The one thing that my girlfriends, my quilt buddies, brought up was that it seemed to them that I had this art person that I had pushed aside and there was no connection with the art person and the quilt person but now the art person has come forward. The quilt person has to listen to the art person now. The art person is now in charge again.

The exhibit and seeing old friends and just being with all of the people, oh Karen, it was so exciting. The hum in the air with the inaugural event, [Washington.] D.C. was just an exciting place to be. It really, really, really was and I'm so glad that I went. For a minute there I said, 'I wasn't going.' Oh I just don't know. You know the inauguration, it is going hard to get there,' but it was fun. I got in on Friday, Saturday all the quilt ladies came over, we stayed up until 4:00 in the morning by the way, and then Sunday we went on to the exhibit. It was wonderful. Sunday night I was home by maybe 12:00 but back home here in Louisville. It was wonderful.

KM: Tell me about the quilts in the exhibit.

VH: Oh my gosh, well of course my hero Carolyn Crump's quilt was off the chart. My God this woman is phenomenal. I just loved her work. She did some little small paintings of a lot of African American greats, sort of acted as the backdrop. Obama was sitting on the steps and behind him was the Capitol and in his hand was the flag. If I had to judge that show that was Best of Show second to none. There were several other quilts that struck me. Denise Campbell, I liked her journey that she showed on her piece. Myra Green I liked hers. She had a tree. I liked her work and I liked Dr. Mazloomi's piece too. What was it? I don't want to say the title because I don't remember the title.

KM: That is okay.

VH: I don't remember the title. Then of course Michelle Obama's aunt had a quilt. It was a tied. Little strings tied quilt and I just think that it was just the fact that it was done by her aunt. That was there. It was just a little tied quilt. In fact they had it enclosed in glass, I thought it was a nice token to say, 'You know we recognize your aunt was a quilter too.' I thought that was very nice.

KM: Do you think Obama will see the exhibit?

VH: I hope so. You know with the kind of people they seem to be, yes I think that they will make their way around. I also like Jim Smoots' work too. I've always liked his stuff. Yeah, he had a nice piece.

KM: Believe it or not we have almost talked for 45 minutes. Is there anything that you would like to share that we haven't touched upon before we close?

VW: The one thing I would like to say is that it was an honor for me to participate and I will never forget the experience and I appreciate being included in this interview process. My spirit is happy and well with the idea of this being in the Library of Congress for my children's, children's, children's to say, 'That was my great grandmother and she was a quilter and she tried to do good, good work.'

KM: I want to thank you so much for taking time out of your day and talk to me.

VH: You are welcome.

KM: We are going to conclude our interview and it is now 10:27.