QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-408

Who documented this quilt?

Michigan Quilt Project; Michigan State University Museum Collection; Black Diaspora Quilt History Project

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Michigan State University Museum

Michigan Quilt Project Number:

90.0055

If this quilt is owned by a museum, enter the accession number:

1996.109.1

Object label:

Roadkill
Lethonee Jones (b. 1938)
Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan
1986
Collection of the Michigan State University Museum, acc. #1996:109.1

Essay:

Roadkill is "an ecological statement about the waste of little animals...and I wanted to also try out some Seminole piecing techniques." Jones also worked into this quilt some of the soft sculpture techniques she has honed in her fifteen years of working as a volunteer in the costume department of the Kalamazoo Civic Theater.

Artist statement:
As a part of my job on the social work faculty at Western Michigan University I had to travel over a good portion of western Michigan and northern Indiana to visit the various social work agencies where our students were placed to see how their work was going. Dead animals were a familiar sightalong the roads. I usually just averted my eyes with a tongue click and a sigh. But in the spring of 1988 I had to go down US 131 to the Indiana Turkpike on the waay to South Bend. So many animals were killed that spring that my usual response just wasn't enough. Although there were some largeer older animals, so many were young ones. There were some pets, nice big dogs and some cats. The awful waste of life impressed me and I had to speak out in some way. I thought about how the animals were here first. The roads were laid out for human convenience with no regard fto the sources of food and water that the original residents depended on. I thought of the arrogance of human beings to put their concerns first. The young, the inexperienced, the unwary were all just smashed up by people in their rush from one place to another. Considering the problems my students were seeing, I wondered if this was a metaphor for the rest of us. Then I began to notice other things; the scraps of tire treads, the design suggested by the curves of ther roads and the painted lines, all the roadside signs. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do a quilt on the subject.

Getting started was difficult. Because it was spring, the fabric stores had very limited supplies of fur. So I worked on the tire treads. I had to learn about Seminole piecing. Numerous experiments with this technique resulted in the colorful patterns seen on the quilt, imitating the patterns on tires. I had to make choices about the animals included. I chose to show the smaller wild animals. Their deaths sadden but lack the emotional impact of seeing beloved pets killed. I saw the Disney movie "Bambi" when it was first released and so I could never includea deer on my quilt. I collected patterns and fur as the supplies became available. I came to really appreciate the variety of anumal eyes available and now have quite a collection. After the animals were finished, the quilter in me could not ignore the scraps of fur and leather left over. I sewed them together and if the resulting piece looked like an animal. I added an eye and included it. If the piece didn't resemble an animal I included it also. All of us have seen those nondescript remains.

Quilt's title:

Roadkill

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Pictorial, Seminole -style strip

Quilt top made by:

Jones, Lethonee

Quilted by:

Jones, Lethonee

If you are the quilt owner, how did you acquire this quilt?

Purchased the quilt

Where the quilt was made, city:

Kalamazoo

Where the quilt was made, county:

Kalamazoo

Where the quilt was made, state:

Michigan (MI)

Time period:

1976-1999

When was the quilt finished?

ca 1986

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's city:

Kalamazoo

Quiltmaker's county:

Kalamazoo

Quiltmaker's state:

Michigan (MI)

Quiltmaker's birth date:

1938

Quiltmaker's date and place of death:

3/2006

Quiltmaker's ethnic background/tribal affiliation:

African American

Quiltmaker's educational background:

Ph.D. Union Graduate School; Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities, Yellow Springs, Ohio, 1977.

Quiltmaker's religious affiliation:

Youth Activities Coordinator, Allen Chapel, AME Church, 1986-89.

Quiltmaker's occupation:

Professor of Social Work, Western Michigan University

How did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

From Friend

Why does the quiltmaker quilt?

Pleasure

Does/did the quiltmaker teach quilting?

yes

Does/did the quiltmaker belong to a group? Name of the group?

Delano Quilters, Kalamazoo Nature Center, 1984-89. Log Cabin Quilters, 1985-present. Northside Quilters, 1986-88.

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

44

How long is the quilt?

89

Shape of edge:

Straight

Quilt's condition:

Good/moderate use

What is inscribed on the quilt?

LAttJ Lethonee A. Jones

What is the date inscribed on the quilt?

Oct. 1988

Describe the quilt's layout:

Vertical strip

Spacing of quilt blocks:

Separated by vertical strips

Describe the fibers or fabrics in the quilt top:

Synthetic fur

Applique techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Applique

Describe embellishment materials or techniques:

Embellished

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

Number of pieces of fabric in the quilt back:

1

How are the layers held together?

Machine quilting

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 1:

4

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

4

Where did the maker get their materials?

Purchased new

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Original to maker

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

Quilting Sisters: African-American Quilting in Michigan exhibit: Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, MI, January 13-February 13, 2000; Port Huron Museum, Port Huron, MI, September 8-October 21, 2001; Kalamazoo Valley Museum, Kalamazoo, MI, June 22-September 28, 2002; Castellani Art Museum at the Falls, Niagra Falls, NY, March 13-April 24, 2005.

Related items such as diaries, obituaries, wills, household inventories, or pictures of the quiltmaker:

African American Quiltmaking in Michigan (1997) book, figure 18 p. 23

Publications (including web sites) where this quilt or maker was featured:

Photos of quilter

Source of the information on this quilt:

Museum employee

Ownership of this quilt is:

Public- Michigan State University Museum

Quilt owner's name:

Michigan State University Museum

Quilt owner's city:

East Lansing

Quilt owner's county:

Ingham

Quilt owner's state:

Michigan (MI)

How was this quilt acquired?

Purchase

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

9/27/1996, Lethonee Jones, seller and maker

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

How did the quiltmaker participate in the creation of the quilt?

Made entire quilt

If the source helped design the quilt, describe their input:

Designed the pattern

Describe anything about the design of the quilt that wasn't already recorded in a previous field:

As a part of my job on the social work faculty at Western Michigan University I had to travel over a good portion of western Michigan and northern Indiana to visit the various social work agencies where our students were placed to see how their work was going. Dead animals were a familiar sightalong the roads. I usually just averted my eyes with a tongue click and a sigh. But in the spring of 1988 I had to go down US 131 to the Indiana Turkpike on the waay to South Bend. So many animals were killed that spring that my usual response just wasn't enough. Although there were some larger older animals, so many were young ones. There were some pets, nice big dogs and some cats. The awful waste of life impressed me and I had to speak out in some way. I thought about how the animals were here first. The roads were laid out for human convenience with no regard fto the sources of food and water that the original residents depended on. I thought of the arrogance of human beings to put their concerns first. The young, the inexperienced, the unwary were all just smashed up by people in their rush from one place to another. Considering the problems my students were seeing, I wondered if this was a metaphor for the rest of us. Then I began to notice other things; the scraps of tire treads, the design suggested by the curves of ther roads and the painted lines, all the roadside signs. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do a quilt on the subject. Getting started was difficult. Because it was spring, the fabric stores had very limited supplies of fur. So I worked on the tire treads. I had to learn about Seminole piecing. Numerous experiments with this technique resulted in the colorful patterns seen on the quilt, imitating the patterns on tires. I had to make choices about the animals included. I chose to show the smaller wild animals. Their deaths sadden but lack the emotional impact of seeing beloved pets killed. I saw the Disney movie "Bambi" when it was first released and so I could never includea deer on my quilt. I collected patterns and fur as the supplies became available. I came to really appreciate the variety of animal eyes available and now have quite a collection. After the animals were finished, the quilter in me could not ignore the scraps of fur and leather left over. I sewed them together and if the resulting piece looked like an animal. I added an eye and included it. If the piece didn't resemble an animal I included it also. All of us have seen those nondescript remains. I also chose to leave off the gory touches that would have made the road kills more realistic. My purposee in this quilt is to make an ecological statement, to ask for respectful concern for our world, to remind all of us of this purpose, although whimsically but to remind the viewer of our fellow creatures, who share the same world.

Who photographed this quilt?

Mark Eifert

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum