We Are the Story: Carolyn Mazloomi & Penny Mateer

When Minneapolis became the epicenter of the nationwide protest movement against police brutality and racism in America following the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, Textile Center and Women of Color Quilters Network (WCQN) joined forces to create We Are the Story, a multi-venue series of exhibitions throughout the Twin Cities, on view through June 12, 2021.
 

Join the Weisman Art Museum January 27 for a virtual conversation about the exhibition between curator Carolyn Mazloomi and artist Penny Mateer, whose work is currently installed at WAM and will be on view through March 14, 2021. Stay tuned in the coming days for news about WAM's reopening plans.
 

This event is free and open to the public but pre-registration is required. 

About Carolyn Mazloomi
Historian, curator, author, lecturer, artist, mentor, founder, and facilitator — the remarkable and tireless Carolyn Mazloomi has left her mark on many lives. Trained as an aerospace engineer, she turned her sites and tireless efforts in the 1980s to bring the many unrecognized contributions of African American quilt artists to the attention of the American people as well as the international art communities. From the founding of the African-American Quilt Guild of Los Angles in 1981 to the 1985 founding of the WCQN, Carolyn has been at the forefront of educating the public about the diversity of interpretation, styles and techniques among African American quilters as well as educating a younger generation of African Americans about their own history through the quilts the WCQN members create. A major force as an artist in her own right, Carolyn’s quilts can be found in private collections around the world as well in distinguished museum collections in the United States.

About Penny Mateer
Penny Mateer, artist/activist, works with textiles and recycled materials. Her art is rooted in quilting and embroidery, traditionally thought of as “women’s work.” Drawing from this rich history of creating functional objects intended to provide warmth and comfort, she chooses fabric as her primary material to establish connection through shared experience and spark discussion around current events. Her social practice centers on a community-made public art project to promote voting. Mateer lives in Pittsburgh, PA.

Related:

• Article: Stories to Tell: Carolyn Mazloomi and the Women of Color Quilters Network Smithsonian, Jan 15, 2021