By Sadef Ali Kully
A little girl in a dress with her knees turned in carries a bulky, bundle of books far too large for her, sewn in a square quilt with a red trim and tawny background.
The cotton square told a personal story along with the dozens of other quilts on display for the exhibit “Quilting Our Personal Expressions” at the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning in Jamaica.
The quilts on display were donated by the Quilt-N-Queens Quilting Guild, founded by Diane Pryor-Holland, one of several African-American women from southeast Queens who gather every month to sew quilts together for different events across the city.
“When I was little, I used to go to Gertz Department store, which used to be just down the block and they had a birthday club. If you registered with them on your birthday, they would give you a free book. And that was the most exciting thing for me,” said Christine Lilly, a member of the guild, who has lived in southeast Queens for most of her life.
The Quilt-N-Queens Quilting Guild has had its work displayed at the Elmont Library in Long Island and also at the Queens Borough President’s office under Helen Marshall.
Another larger quilt is displayed in the center of the main wall, entwined with hues of yellow, gold, and royal purple. This is the quilt that all the women in the quilting guild sewed together for the exhibit.
“We all come from so many different background, but when we come together, we become one person. This is more meaningful to me than anything I have done in the last three years,” Pryor-Holland, who founded the guild several years ago.
The “Quilting Our Personal Expressions” exhibit is on display to celebrate Black History Month along with African artifacts from the private collection of Hazel Louise Woods-Sanders at the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning.
“I used to teach quilting here at the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning many years ago and we started meeting here once a month for about three hours to quilt. It grew so I decided to create a guild. We sit and sew, we share ideas and techniques,” said Pryor-Holland.
The exhibit will be continue until the Feb. 21st at the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning in downtown Jamaica.
Reach Reporter Sadef Ali Kully by e-mail at skully@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4546.
