Friendship Quilt

Friendship Quilt

This image is of a quilt that was created by South Carolina women in 1857. Each square was created by a different woman who signed her name on her square, but yet the overall impression is of a cohesive piece of art. The squares consist of bucolic images, mostly flowers. The colors are mainly pink, green, and yellow. This quilt is an example of a “project” that Barbara Kishenbatt-Gimblett references in her work, “Objects of Memory: Material Culture as Life Review” . The main difference is that this quilt was created by twenty-five different women, not one individual. This allows for the notions of self-identification to be expanded into a group or community such as South Carolina women. As Kirshenblatt-Gimblett writes, this quilt does appear to be arranged not by any linear development, but rather “according to abstract principles of color and geometry and repetitive patterns” (334). The creation of this quilt likely created a bond between these women and at least a temporary unity and group identification by means of creating a project to reminisce about their past experiences.

Maddie Arnold-Scerbo

One woman made each square. The woman were from Edgefield and Laurens South Carolina.

University of South Carolina. McKissick Museum. http://digital.tcl.sc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/flc/id/251

South Carolina Digital Library

1857