February 5, 2025 • 42 mins
I am absolutely thrilled to debut the incredible story of Yvonne Wells for the first time ever on a podcast. Yvonne is an 85-year-old folk artist, who creates the most striking quilts that depict stories from the Civil Rights Movement and the Bible. Her work has been featured in the Smithsonian, the International Quilt Museum, and at the White House. But this late-in-life renaissance was never an expected pivot for her. In fact, she didn’t begin quilting until she was almost 40, having spent her life teaching physical education. I was blown away by her story - from being at the heart of the Civil Rights Movement in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to finally accepting her title as artist in her post-retirement life.
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She Pivots was created by host Emily Tisch Sussman to highlight women, their stories, and how their pivot became their success. To learn more about Yvonne, follow us on Instagram @ShePivotsThePodcast or visit shepivotsthepodcast.com.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to She Pivots. I'm Yvonn Wells.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome back to She Pivots, the podcast where we talk
with women who dare to pivot out of one career
and into something new and explore how their personal lives
impacts these decisions. I'm your host, Emily Tish Sussman. Today
(00:34):
I had the absolute pleasure of debuting the incredible story
of Ivonn Wells for the first time ever on a podcast.
Yvon is a folk artist who creates the most striking
quilts that depict stories from the civil rights movement and
the Bible. She's been making quilts since she was in
her forties, but now at eighty five, she's finally getting
(00:57):
her due. Her work has been featured in the Smithsonian,
the International Quilt Museum, and at the White House, but
this late in life renaissance was never an expected pivot
for her. Yvonne spent her career as a physical education
teacher in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where she dedicated her life to
teaching and to her community. She's of the civil rights
(01:19):
generation and experience the tension and the difficulties of the time.
You'll hear in her interview. Her first hand experience as
one of a few black teachers to integrate one of
the high schools. As a result, her quilts are an
expression of the tension she experienced during the Civil Rights
movement and offer relief and peace through her depictions of
(01:40):
the Bible. Although it took her years to accept the
title of artists, there is no question of the care
and artistry in every stitch. Yvonne's success post retirement is
proof that every path, no matter how nonlinear, can lead
to something greater than you ever could have imagined. So
(02:00):
honored that she is here to share her story with
us today, and so excited for you to get to
know Vonn enjoy.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I am Yvonne Wells, and I make story quilts.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Okay, so we're gonna go. We're gonna go to LITTLELEVDD.
You are one of nine siblings, correct, which sounds like
a whole lot of fun, a whole lot of chaos.
And where do you chaos?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Mostly?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Where do you fall in the birth order?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I'm number eight. It was seven girls and two boys.
Seven of us were born in the thirties, two were not.
The oldest was born in twenties and the youngest was
born in forties. But the rest of us were born
in the thirties, So my mama had seven babies and
(02:56):
ten years.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Oh my goodness is wild. So did you end up
being the youngest? Did you end up with a lot
of responsibility at home or did your siblings mostly take
care of you? Like, how did it work in your family?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Well, no, I'm the one who did mostly everything. They
did some however, as well. But if there was something
that needed to be fixed or needed to be done,
it was always Yvonne. So I was considered a tomboy
and I could do all of this stuff. If something
needed to be hammered, moved on, the yard needed mowing,
(03:39):
I'm Yvonne, the tomboy they knew.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Did you think about being a grown up? Like, did
you ever think about what you wanted to be when
you grew up?
Speaker 1 (03:48):
I know I didn't think. I always thought I would
be a grown up, but I didn't know which direction
I would go in. However, it was placed in our
mind and our souls and our bodies that each of
you would go to college. So we all did go
to Stillman College, which was in walking distance from our home.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
That's quite remarkable at the time. It's remarkable under any
circumstances for all nine siblings to go to college, but
certainly in the South at the time. Yes, And did
everyone live at home? And why was that important to her?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Well? She always said, in order to get a better
way of life, in order to do well in life,
you're going to have to have education so that you
will know what to do to have a prosperous life.
Education was the way out, she would say. So that's
(04:48):
why it was extremely important for us to go to college.
Each of my aunts in office all went to college.
Doctor Hardy was the president of Stillman College moment tarily
and my mother's everybody taught school, but everybody went to college.
So that was I didn't see any way out. And
(05:09):
as a matter of fact, I didn't want to see
any other way out because it is I who would
always try to carry on what my mother was. Her
wishes were. I remember upon her die in bed and
I'm holding her hands. She said, Yvonne, take care of
your brother. Yvonne, do this, Yvonne, do that.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yvonne did as her mother wished and attended Stillman College,
and it wasn't long before she met her husband.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Sure we were in school at Stilmam together and I
was one year ahead of him in nineteen fifty eight.
I think he came in nineteen fifty eight and I
graduated in nineteen fifty seven. I was already there when
he came in. And when he came in, I saw him.
I said, well, there's nice looking guy. But I was
(06:02):
told that he was already consumed by other women. I said, okay,
I just leave it alone. But as time went on,
that finally changed.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Was it always clear that you were going to go
into teaching and to education.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Not always clear. It wasn't always clear because at one
time I thought I wasn't going to go at all.
But somehow we were able to manage to get enough resources.
And my husband was the caregiver of the financial giver
at that time, so he finished up my years on
(06:38):
my final years of college. Oh, he had to stop
college because his finances were unable to continue his educational goal.
He joined the Marines, and that's how we got the
assistant that I needed to continue.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
So when you started as a teacher, you worked as
a teacher during the height of school integration in Alabama.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
I did.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
You were one of the first teachers to integrate Tuscalousa
High School. What did you see during those years?
Speaker 1 (07:12):
What was your role? Well, when I was informed that
I was going to be transferred to Tuscaloosa High School,
I went to the principal's office and told him, no,
I can't go there because I'm a little strict on
students as far as doing what I asked you to do.
(07:34):
But I love them all and I would buy them
anything and hug them and all that kind of thing.
But I felt that I was not the right person
at the right time to do this job. And he said, well,
let me call the superintendent. So he called and said,
she's not going, and they said, yes, you are going.
(07:55):
So I went on and when I got there, it
was quite different because two different schools, one black, one white,
and the integration was nil at that time. But I
did go and tried to make an impact on the
students as far as being cooperative getting along, but it
(08:18):
didn't work all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
The tensions of that time were immense. Yvonne described it
as quote the most tense time that I've ever experienced
between the races. You could almost cut it so much
so that tension turned to violence. During her classes, this.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Is one of the places I saw the most blood
that I had seen in my life come from a
live person. It appeared to me that they came to
the gym because that was a big area, you know,
lots of space fights with two by fours and whatever
thing they could pick up. And they were fighting, and
(08:59):
I'm trying to break them up from a district and
I knew not to get in between them because that
was dangerous, but we had to always call police in.
I said, well, my goodness, this is not education. This
is something that has got to be done. But I
did see a lot of a lot of that. But
pretty soon things started to get a little better. A
(09:23):
lot of the students moved out of the zone and
went to another school, and soon it basically became all
one color again black. But they did move to another
school where they had thought that they could get a
better education or better peace. There's nothing like having peace
when you're there trying to learn and then parents coming
(09:46):
up to the school all the time because of some disruption.
It's difficult.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
But still a Vanstine true to her nature and became
a beloved teacher to countless students. Eventually they would find
her and thank her.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
They have found me because I'm not in the community
all the time doing stuff, and they would come up
and say, aren't you miss Wells. I said yes. She
said you taught me in school, and you taught me
well That touched my heart. She said, you taught me
how to live and how to talk, how to my
(10:31):
parents and all of that. And I did. And I'm
so glad to know that I had made some impact.
But I hear that quite often, and it makes me
feel really good that my teaching was not in vain.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And despite your long career as a teacher, you pursued
many interests over the years. You became a certified notary,
a licensed funeral director, a certified emergency medical technician, and
you had to kids. Oh.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
I think the more I did, the better I felt,
because each of those that you have mentioned always had
the intention of helping someone, helping someone who needed help.
I a licensed paramedic. I was a license paramedic for years,
and I got that because as a physical education teacher,
(11:24):
you are not always in the building. You're far away
from your class. Because when I would take them outside
to play ball, the field was way way way away
from a classroom. So I said, gosh, what would happened
if one of my kids got injured? So I said, okay, Van,
(11:45):
I'm going to take that. So it took me two
years to go to paramedic school and be licensed, but
I didn't keep it because other people, I mean, it
came in where that as a paramedic, I wasn't allowed
to do some of the things that I'm thinking that
my kids needed at the time. So as paramedics now,
(12:07):
you cannot do all the things that we could do
a long time ago. And that's why I think we
have paramedics now in the city, not because of me,
but because of the necessity to act quickly in a
scene that is either the last draw or someone is dying,
(12:31):
or someone is injured. But my reason was to help
my kids if needed. And fortunately I don't think I
have to use it at all there. I haven't had
to use it at anything as a matter of fact.
But you never forget some of those skills that were
taught to you.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yeah, and what about a notary and a licensed funeral director. Yes,
a notary. I still am a notary. When I got
the notary and I did volunteer work at a community's
service organization. It's called temporary emergency service where we give
(13:13):
stuff to people who need it. And a lot of
times the students people would come in who were trying
to get their kids in school or trying to get
water turned on something, but they had to be notarized,
and I was there to assist them. However, I'm just
doing that, still doing that now here at home. But
(13:34):
that was the time you got a chance to see
the real community and some of the obstacles that they
go through, and you look around and say how fortunate
you are. And I was always the one who wanted
to help that person who needed my help if I
(13:54):
could give it to them, Yeah, that's beautiful. And I
just have to ask about the few director.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yes, it was very rewarding because at funerals it's a
time you at your most vulnerable time. You don't know
how to be sad and you don't know how to
be happy. So I was always there to talk to
the family and go get the family, give them whatever
(14:24):
they want, take them, go with them to the to
the grave site, and just be there as a as
a help, but be there for consolation or for somebody's
head to lie down on. I just lost my sister
about three weeks three months ago, and I know the
need for a funeral director. However, I didn't only work
(14:48):
with the families. I work in the back as well,
with the bodies as well, but didn't do that very
long because I was not a trained mar tissue or
a trained person to work in the back. But that
then stopped me from doing what I needed to do
with the families.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I'm sure you were such a comfort to them.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
I love it today and I've always loved it.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, so let's start talking about your quilting. You're a
self taught quilter. How did you first learn to sew?
Speaker 1 (15:23):
I don't know if I was consider it sewing, but
I remember my mother would tell us to patch to
sew your socks up because they had holes in it.
I guess it was a manden. So I will put
two bitch stitches in it, and I call that sewing. However,
when it came down to making a quilt, I just
(15:44):
didn't know what to do. That was not in my
way of thinking. Who would have thought Yvonne would be
making quilt making quilts because I'm busy. I'm busy all
the time, as far as in this concern. It became
my first love. After I made my first quilt, I
(16:07):
would quilt all the time. And the reason why I
think it also felt so good it all we was
always because there was always something there in the house
that I could get to make a quilt. And let
me tell you, when I started making quilt, I never
thought I would sell. I never wanted to sell a quilt.
(16:28):
I was making it because of the love and to
see my creation down on the floor completed. It was.
It was my boxley. So that's how I started. Because
when we added on to our home, when we had fireplaces,
my husband went down in a county that a home
(16:51):
was given to us by my aunt, and he brought
all the lumber back. I think it was an Annabelle
home that was writing down there. But we usually would
is in our house right now. But the fireplaces were
not They were not putting out enough heat. So I said, shoot,
I'm going to make me something to keep my little
(17:12):
legs warm. So I looked around the curtains on the wall.
So I just grabbed that and reaching in the closet
and pulls on my husband's clothes and my clothes. The
children's stuff. It was there, sheets were on the bed,
there were all kinds of stuff that I just reached
up and got and made quilts. And it was the
(17:34):
best feeling that I had had in many years.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yvonne let the joy of the craft guide her creating
quilts in a bit of an unconventional way, a way
that she calls my way.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I had seen quilts that were made by other people
and I thought they were extremely beautiful, and I still do.
And I actually tried to make a piece well, and
I did, but it was made my way, not like
it was like there were patterns or anything, but it
was made my way and I enjoyed that and I
(18:11):
liked it. Look, I wasn't told how to do it.
I didn't know if it worked.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
That's her beloved dog, you hear in the back. He'll
make himself known in the background every now and then
throughout the episode.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
I didn't know if it worked. I just didn't. But
I did continue to say I did it in my
way because it was me. Nobody told me anything. When
I did it and it got through, I said, oh gosh,
this looks good. And I said, okay, well I'll continue.
And that's how I get started. You know, I was
(18:49):
making them as fast as I could think and as
fast as I could stitched them, which was very fast
at the time. Enjoyed every minute of it.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
For years, she just created and created, reveling in the
pleasure of the moment. But the quilting community wasn't as
open to her nonconformist designs.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
When I first started going to Kentuck the festival, I
would go up, my son would put up this huge,
this huge tent, and there are people will come by
because I had at least eight quilt showing at one time,
and they go up and look at it, and it
was so it was to me really heartbreaking. They walk
(19:33):
up and say, oh, gosh, this is John. Look at
these big stitches. No. I didn't have an answer for
that because I didn't know anything else. My stitches are large,
but that was who I am. Oh this is nothing
but John. Why would you have all of these colors?
They don't match. Oh it matches to me. I tell
(19:55):
them I'm a personal color in more ways than one.
And they would say that all the time you need
to go to school is you can't show this to anybody.
But I was bound in the termine, and today here
I am.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
And then at what point did you shift from simply
creating to selling your quilts?
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Like I said before, I never thought I would sell them,
but the number of quilts that I was producing led
me to believe, now, I don't have enough room in
the house to put these. So years passed by and
I met a man who had a gallery downtown and
who was interested in quilts, and especially the black person's quilts.
(20:44):
I said, oh, well, okay, so he came over. He
and his wife came over and looked at what I
was seeing, and he just fell in love with what
I was doing and told me to show it to
the public and you may get something. I said, no,
I will not do that because I don't want anybody
to see this junk. And that's what it was called
(21:06):
for several years, junk, but usually it was I was
told to go to school to learn how to quilt,
and I wouldn't show this stuff to anything to anybody.
So all those kinds of things, it's made me to
want to make and to work harder at what I
was doing. But I never changed my way and my
(21:28):
vision of a quilt.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
When you say your way and your vision. Are you
talking about how they're very they're pictorial, they depict scenes.
Was having them be visual and pictorial always part of
the vision for you of the quilt, Like, did they
ever evolve in that sense?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Well, there was an evolution early on after I made
a quilt called a Mothership. It was from a pattern
and I showed it to Robert Caringo. I've heard the
name before, and he said, he thinks this is a story.
I said, well, how do you think it's a story?
He said, wellther yoused to call it mother ship has
(22:09):
the babies and dad's a mother and she's calling them on.
I said, oh, I didn't know that. So after being
told that, I said, shoot, I think I can make
a story because I see so much. I see and
I feel so much. And then I created my first
story quilt after doing all the patterns, was a crucifixion.
(22:31):
And because I worked on the floor, there was several
quilts on the floor at one time. At one time,
I was doing five at a time because I would
stay up all night because it felt good. It felt good,
and I wanted to I didn't want to stop, even
though it's three o'clock in the morning. I don't want
to stop because I may miss something, and I don't
(22:54):
want to miss anything. But I made the Crucifixion, and
after making that, making that, I said, well, I think
I could do them more. And from there I proceeded
to where I am now stories.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Out of them basically, and I think that was probably
the thing that attracted me most about her work is
the storytelling or the narratives that are in each.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Of the quilt. So I'm here at the International Quilt
Museum back in the archives today. There are over ten
thousand quilts, textiles, and quilted objects here in the collection,
and I'm standing in front of my one of my
very favorite quilts. This is a gorgeous quilt made by
Yvonne Wells in nineteen eighty seven, and it's called Going Home.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
So when you're creating your quilts and coming up with
the story, which comes first? Do you see the fabrics
and are you inspired? Does the story become inspired by
the fabric or do you think of the story that
you want to tell and you go out and find
the materials.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I think I do all of that first, however, or
I must see it. I got to see it first
in my mind. Then I have to think about it.
Then I have to feel it in my heart if
this is the way that I want to go with
the story, or am I to look at something else.
Let me say this, I don't jump right into the
(24:18):
story making the quilt until I have almost completely finished
the quilts itself, because as I make the quilts sometimes
the story change.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
If you have a lot of religious themes and civil
rights themes, I do. Are there particular stories you're trying
to tell through the civil rights stories? Are you recreating
things that you've seen or more things that you envision?
Speaker 1 (24:48):
It could be both. I could be all of those.
It was my intention and it is still today that
I would put down in a quilt history. Because I
was during this of rights era, that's my era, and
so much was going on. I said, gosh, let me
(25:09):
just see if I could put some of this down
in my way. But like I said, as a teacher,
I always wanted to have something that a child or
somebody else can look at it and say, oh, is
this the way it was? Or I'll go worried about it.
As I said, the viewer and the artists are two
(25:31):
different people. The artist can see anything, but as a viewer,
you may not even get it unless I'm there to
tell you.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Evonne's quilts have traveled the world, from the Smithsonian to
France to Japan. There's no question her work has achieved
her dream and intention of educating viewers through her depictions.
After the break, we dived into a Vaughn's mindset. She
expanded her work as a folk quilt artist, all while
(26:05):
teaching full time and raising her family. Did you think
about becoming an artist full time while you were still
working as a teacher, because you stayed doing both for
(26:26):
a long time.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
I did. I never thought I was an artist. I
never to well to this day they say I'm beginning
to to envelop that title. But I never thought I
was an artist. I just thought I was somebody who
made quilts. But I'm like I said, I begin to
(26:48):
take it in now because this has been so much
attention given to my staff, and I'm pleased to deafoot
title artist is way way out of my thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
You've noted that you had a lot of anxiety at
first around showing your quilts to the world. How did
you overcome that?
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Well, I saw some acceptance because at first, like I
tell you, it was criticized and it didn't look like
anything any quotures had ever made. I became more embolded
because there were people saying, Oh, this is good, this
looks good, it tells a great story. And then I
had the determination not to stop. I was bound and determined.
(27:32):
I was determined that I was going to keep this
going as long as I could, whether they liked it
or not. I did. I did. I got to that point.
I did.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
I love that. I think some people get discouraged if
the thing they want doesn't show immediate returns for them
or recognition right away. How long do you think it
was between when you started quilting and gaining recognition that
you felt was meaningful.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
When I first got my first award at Kentuck, I
was knocked off my feet because my stuff looked funny.
I was hanging them on barbed wire, tree limbs, chairs
and everything. But at the end of the day, I
wanted best to show. And after that I said, well,
wait a minute, there is something going on that they
(28:23):
saw that I wasn't seeing. And from that point on,
I think I begun to see that I did have
something a little bit different, and it was feeling good.
To me. So that's how it just kept moving and
moving and moving it. I'm not a person who sits
phil and moving.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
She did. Even when she retired from teaching, Avon barely
slowed down.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Now it's supposed to say I didn't see any change
in what I was doing when I was teaching, as
when I retired. That was no change other than I
was home all the time after retiring most of the time.
But I did stuff like mold of yards and cut
(29:09):
the flowers into trees and all that kind of stuff,
and fix the houses of things. I was doing something
all the time, but still creating at the same time
that I was when I was teaching. I never thought
I would come home and sit and rock, even though
I was quilt to know. Not only do I quilt,
(29:32):
I'm a community person. I'm involved in just about everything.
There are people out there in the world who needs me,
I think, and I want to be able to assist
them the best way I can. If it's not financial,
I want them to show I want to show them
that this is the way it can be done. So no,
(29:52):
I'm not a rocker.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
You know this moment is amazing. You are an artist
or having a real renaissance in the art work. Why
do you think it's all happening right now?
Speaker 1 (30:02):
I don't know why it's all happening at one time,
which is almost I thought I wasn't going to make
it through. But things are tapering you off some But
I have other things going on, but not as big
unless somebody says they want me to do a bigger show.
Things are beginning to taper down as far as big stuff.
(30:25):
But why I'm out of here? Why am i here?
I don't know. But apparently others think it's good, and
the people in the right places think it's worth that.
So I'm glad to know that other people can speak
about another artist in the tone that they are speaking
about me.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Your quilts have handed up in some remarkable places. Can
you tell us where they bended up?
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Well, I can't tell you every place because I forget
where they have been. I was chosen to go to
France as one of the thirteen Alabama artists to show
our work. My work it's been there. I've been to
Italy right now. In Paris, I have an exhibition going
on in the Hyatt Museum, and I have one piece
(31:15):
in the Quilt Museum of African American culture. You know,
at the time, someone call and say, I saw your
work this place, I saw you work that place. I'm
glad that that is been shown in different areas of
the world so that they can see what I was
trying to do or I am trying to.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Do still doing it. You even created an ornament for
the White House.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
I cheer that. Oh, you talking about big stuff to me.
I was able to call up there and talk to
somebody in the Blue Room or the White House. You
don't know how that beat that was. That was in
nineteen ninety three, I believe, and they were looking for
and are artist in every state to make an ornament
(32:03):
for the Christmas tree in the Blue Room. I was
recommended by Robert Carclow to do this, and I said, no,
you kidding me. So I was accepted and I did
what I do. I made a panel with the Alabama
flag on it, with Alabama shape and all of its
resources that we have in Alabama. And I also made
(32:26):
an ornament that says hope because Bill Clinton would always
talk about hope. So I made a white ornament with
the word hope on and they put it on a tree.
They were inviting the folk artists to show their work,
and I was one of them.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yvonne's success after success post retirement is a testament that
life is never linear or as you may expect. And
she's not done yet. I vonn has more in store
for us when we return. Stay tuned and tell us
(33:05):
about the inspiration for writing your book.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Oh boy, oh boy. It has been talked about for
many years. I don't know if you know Stacey Morgan,
doctor Morgan, but he's a professor at the University of
Alabama here and we have been friends for many years.
I would go to his class at the university and
talk to his class about my work because he was
(33:30):
one of those people who were very much supportive. So
he wanted me to talk to his class, and I
was thinking. I said, well, now, if that comes a time,
this needs to be put down so that people can
see what I have been doing for these many years.
And it's also thinks something that my kids or my
(33:51):
family could be proud of. I after my own and
said this was my mama. So that was that was
part of the inspiration. But I did not realize how
much work we had to go into writing a book.
But the reason that it was. It was long, however,
(34:12):
but each day that Stacy would come it got better
and better and better. It felt so good. Not only
were we talking and measuring and pulling out stuff, but
he made me feel like this is it. We should
do this. So we did. After a little over five years,
(34:35):
it finally came out. And I'm thrilled you alluded to
your legacy. What do you want your legacy to be? Well,
sometimes it changes. If it could be a long, long,
long legacy, I could say a lot of things I
wanted to be said that she never turned around because
(34:59):
of the negative comments that were made about her work.
She never listened and stopped because people were to say
this is nothing. I want them to say. No matter
whatever she started with, she completed it and excel at it.
(35:21):
As far as Quilton misconcern, I wanted you to be
a teaching too, for anyone who's trying to teach about
history or teach about any kind of lesson from the stories.
I wanted to be a teaching too. Plus I wanted
to be a life on the hill so those who
can see it would learn from it.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
I like to think about what different phases look like
and what success means like how we define success for
ourselves through our different phases of our lives. How do
you think you define success for yourself right now?
Speaker 1 (36:00):
The fact that from the when I first started, there
was a bud I moved on. The butt began to
open up. As time went on, it got large and larger,
and right now I'm at the apex of this folk
art quilt. So I think that's how it got to
(36:24):
be this point. And what is success? This is to
me a success And the fact that my children are
seeing the fruits of my labor means very, very lock
to me. So I think this is it. However, I
don't plan to stop. But it may not be as many,
(36:45):
but I don't plan to stop.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
So I asked this question of all of my guests,
what is one thing that at the time maybe you
considered to be kind of a low, but now you
see it as something that really set you up for
the success that you are now.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
My husband was a military person and when he came
back from Vietnam, he had all kinds of issues, major issues,
and that was that was very low. We had to
learn how to adjust to live in with him. The
kids didn't understand the military airs that he would do.
He was he was tougher than I was, you know,
(37:27):
and that was that was at a time that was
very low. But I proceeded without allowing him to allow
the situation to hold me back. I kind of involved
him in my work by asking what you think, do
you like this? It wouldn't have mattered if we had
(37:49):
said no, because I was going to make it anyway.
But it was at the time that he was he
had just got in and he was a very, very
sick man. But that was low. But I did not
allow my work to interfere with what I was what
he was doing as a sick man. I wanted to
(38:11):
have something that the kids could see Mama doing and
was enjoying it. And that was no stoppage because every
year I would shown and that showed to me that
whatever was going on here at the house, did it
stop me from doing what I wanted to do outside.
That was the lowest part, because there seemed to have
(38:34):
been from the veteran's point of view that he couldn't
get better. And that was kind of hard, but we
managed and we got through it.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Do you think you'll pivot again?
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Yes, I don't know. What it is yet, But I
think I will. I really do, because I have had
things going through my mind. But it is it is
through fabric that I'm still seeing things that is different
from what I'm doing now.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Oh okay, So I hope.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
I can get something done by this year. Oh that
I'll let you know that I'm headed in a new direction. Well,
keep us posted. We like it.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Do you think it gave you a new source of inspiration?
Speaker 1 (39:27):
I think so. The inspiration really comes when I have
completed a piece of work and I look down at
it because it's on the floor. I'd sometimes standing on
the table and look down on it and say, boy,
this looks good. Oh boy, it says what I wanted
(39:49):
to say. Oh boy, I have created a piece of art.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
I loved it so great. It's so wonderful to talk
to you, of honor, it is amazing.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Well, thank you. I just wanted to make sure I
said something about the people who helped me along.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Oh please.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
And that's more than Stacy Morgan and Robert Cargo. I'm
represented by fort Yanzi Ort now in New York. So
those are the people I want to say thank you to.
And plus there are others whose name I can't call.
Wants to say thank you to them as well, and
thanks to you guys.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Absolutely, thank you so much. Evonn Oh, it has.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Been my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Yvonne still lives in the same place she has spent
her whole life, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where she is surrounded by
her beloved family and community. She currently has an exhibition
at Fort gansa Ort Gallery in New York City. You
can purchase her book, The Story of Quilting wherever you
buy books. For more on a Vaughn, follow us on
(41:00):
Instagram at she pivots the Podcast. We do our best
to keep you up to date on all our guests.
Talk to you next time. Thanks for listening to this
episode of she Pivots. I hope you enjoyed it and
if you did, leave us a rating and tell your
friends about us. To learn more about our guests, follow
(41:21):
us on Instagram at she pivots the Podcast, or sign
up for our newsletter where you can get exclusive behind
the scenes content on our website at she pivots thepodcast
dot com. Special thanks to the she pivots team. Executive
producer Emily Edavelosik, Associate producer and social media connoisseur Hannah Cousins,
(41:45):
Research director Christine Dickinson, Events and Logistics coordinator Madeline Snovak,
and audio editor and mixer Nina pollock I And yours
she pivots
Welcome back to She Pivots. I'm Yvonn Wells.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome back to She Pivots, the podcast where we talk
with women who dare to pivot out of one career
and into something new and explore how their personal lives
impacts these decisions. I'm your host, Emily Tish Sussman. Today
(00:34):
I had the absolute pleasure of debuting the incredible story
of Ivonn Wells for the first time ever on a podcast.
Yvon is a folk artist who creates the most striking
quilts that depict stories from the civil rights movement and
the Bible. She's been making quilts since she was in
her forties, but now at eighty five, she's finally getting
(00:57):
her due. Her work has been featured in the Smithsonian,
the International Quilt Museum, and at the White House, but
this late in life renaissance was never an expected pivot
for her. Yvonne spent her career as a physical education
teacher in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where she dedicated her life to
teaching and to her community. She's of the civil rights
(01:19):
generation and experience the tension and the difficulties of the time.
You'll hear in her interview. Her first hand experience as
one of a few black teachers to integrate one of
the high schools. As a result, her quilts are an
expression of the tension she experienced during the Civil Rights
movement and offer relief and peace through her depictions of
(01:40):
the Bible. Although it took her years to accept the
title of artists, there is no question of the care
and artistry in every stitch. Yvonne's success post retirement is
proof that every path, no matter how nonlinear, can lead
to something greater than you ever could have imagined. So
(02:00):
honored that she is here to share her story with
us today, and so excited for you to get to
know Vonn enjoy.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I am Yvonne Wells, and I make story quilts.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Okay, so we're gonna go. We're gonna go to LITTLELEVDD.
You are one of nine siblings, correct, which sounds like
a whole lot of fun, a whole lot of chaos.
And where do you chaos?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Mostly?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Where do you fall in the birth order?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I'm number eight. It was seven girls and two boys.
Seven of us were born in the thirties, two were not.
The oldest was born in twenties and the youngest was
born in forties. But the rest of us were born
in the thirties, So my mama had seven babies and
(02:56):
ten years.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Oh my goodness is wild. So did you end up
being the youngest? Did you end up with a lot
of responsibility at home or did your siblings mostly take
care of you? Like, how did it work in your family?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Well, no, I'm the one who did mostly everything. They
did some however, as well. But if there was something
that needed to be fixed or needed to be done,
it was always Yvonne. So I was considered a tomboy
and I could do all of this stuff. If something
needed to be hammered, moved on, the yard needed mowing,
(03:39):
I'm Yvonne, the tomboy they knew.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Did you think about being a grown up? Like, did
you ever think about what you wanted to be when
you grew up?
Speaker 1 (03:48):
I know I didn't think. I always thought I would
be a grown up, but I didn't know which direction
I would go in. However, it was placed in our
mind and our souls and our bodies that each of
you would go to college. So we all did go
to Stillman College, which was in walking distance from our home.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
That's quite remarkable at the time. It's remarkable under any
circumstances for all nine siblings to go to college, but
certainly in the South at the time. Yes, And did
everyone live at home? And why was that important to her?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Well? She always said, in order to get a better
way of life, in order to do well in life,
you're going to have to have education so that you
will know what to do to have a prosperous life.
Education was the way out, she would say. So that's
(04:48):
why it was extremely important for us to go to college.
Each of my aunts in office all went to college.
Doctor Hardy was the president of Stillman College moment tarily
and my mother's everybody taught school, but everybody went to college.
So that was I didn't see any way out. And
(05:09):
as a matter of fact, I didn't want to see
any other way out because it is I who would
always try to carry on what my mother was. Her
wishes were. I remember upon her die in bed and
I'm holding her hands. She said, Yvonne, take care of
your brother. Yvonne, do this, Yvonne, do that.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yvonne did as her mother wished and attended Stillman College,
and it wasn't long before she met her husband.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Sure we were in school at Stilmam together and I
was one year ahead of him in nineteen fifty eight.
I think he came in nineteen fifty eight and I
graduated in nineteen fifty seven. I was already there when
he came in. And when he came in, I saw him.
I said, well, there's nice looking guy. But I was
(06:02):
told that he was already consumed by other women. I said, okay,
I just leave it alone. But as time went on,
that finally changed.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Was it always clear that you were going to go
into teaching and to education.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Not always clear. It wasn't always clear because at one
time I thought I wasn't going to go at all.
But somehow we were able to manage to get enough resources.
And my husband was the caregiver of the financial giver
at that time, so he finished up my years on
(06:38):
my final years of college. Oh, he had to stop
college because his finances were unable to continue his educational goal.
He joined the Marines, and that's how we got the
assistant that I needed to continue.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
So when you started as a teacher, you worked as
a teacher during the height of school integration in Alabama.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
I did.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
You were one of the first teachers to integrate Tuscalousa
High School. What did you see during those years?
Speaker 1 (07:12):
What was your role? Well, when I was informed that
I was going to be transferred to Tuscaloosa High School,
I went to the principal's office and told him, no,
I can't go there because I'm a little strict on
students as far as doing what I asked you to do.
(07:34):
But I love them all and I would buy them
anything and hug them and all that kind of thing.
But I felt that I was not the right person
at the right time to do this job. And he said, well,
let me call the superintendent. So he called and said,
she's not going, and they said, yes, you are going.
(07:55):
So I went on and when I got there, it
was quite different because two different schools, one black, one white,
and the integration was nil at that time. But I
did go and tried to make an impact on the
students as far as being cooperative getting along, but it
(08:18):
didn't work all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
The tensions of that time were immense. Yvonne described it
as quote the most tense time that I've ever experienced
between the races. You could almost cut it so much
so that tension turned to violence. During her classes, this.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Is one of the places I saw the most blood
that I had seen in my life come from a
live person. It appeared to me that they came to
the gym because that was a big area, you know,
lots of space fights with two by fours and whatever
thing they could pick up. And they were fighting, and
(08:59):
I'm trying to break them up from a district and
I knew not to get in between them because that
was dangerous, but we had to always call police in.
I said, well, my goodness, this is not education. This
is something that has got to be done. But I
did see a lot of a lot of that. But
pretty soon things started to get a little better. A
(09:23):
lot of the students moved out of the zone and
went to another school, and soon it basically became all
one color again black. But they did move to another
school where they had thought that they could get a
better education or better peace. There's nothing like having peace
when you're there trying to learn and then parents coming
(09:46):
up to the school all the time because of some disruption.
It's difficult.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
But still a Vanstine true to her nature and became
a beloved teacher to countless students. Eventually they would find
her and thank her.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
They have found me because I'm not in the community
all the time doing stuff, and they would come up
and say, aren't you miss Wells. I said yes. She
said you taught me in school, and you taught me
well That touched my heart. She said, you taught me
how to live and how to talk, how to my
(10:31):
parents and all of that. And I did. And I'm
so glad to know that I had made some impact.
But I hear that quite often, and it makes me
feel really good that my teaching was not in vain.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And despite your long career as a teacher, you pursued
many interests over the years. You became a certified notary,
a licensed funeral director, a certified emergency medical technician, and
you had to kids. Oh.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
I think the more I did, the better I felt,
because each of those that you have mentioned always had
the intention of helping someone, helping someone who needed help.
I a licensed paramedic. I was a license paramedic for years,
and I got that because as a physical education teacher,
(11:24):
you are not always in the building. You're far away
from your class. Because when I would take them outside
to play ball, the field was way way way away
from a classroom. So I said, gosh, what would happened
if one of my kids got injured? So I said, okay, Van,
(11:45):
I'm going to take that. So it took me two
years to go to paramedic school and be licensed, but
I didn't keep it because other people, I mean, it
came in where that as a paramedic, I wasn't allowed
to do some of the things that I'm thinking that
my kids needed at the time. So as paramedics now,
(12:07):
you cannot do all the things that we could do
a long time ago. And that's why I think we
have paramedics now in the city, not because of me,
but because of the necessity to act quickly in a
scene that is either the last draw or someone is dying,
(12:31):
or someone is injured. But my reason was to help
my kids if needed. And fortunately I don't think I
have to use it at all there. I haven't had
to use it at anything as a matter of fact.
But you never forget some of those skills that were
taught to you.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yeah, and what about a notary and a licensed funeral director. Yes,
a notary. I still am a notary. When I got
the notary and I did volunteer work at a community's
service organization. It's called temporary emergency service where we give
(13:13):
stuff to people who need it. And a lot of
times the students people would come in who were trying
to get their kids in school or trying to get
water turned on something, but they had to be notarized,
and I was there to assist them. However, I'm just
doing that, still doing that now here at home. But
(13:34):
that was the time you got a chance to see
the real community and some of the obstacles that they
go through, and you look around and say how fortunate
you are. And I was always the one who wanted
to help that person who needed my help if I
(13:54):
could give it to them, Yeah, that's beautiful. And I
just have to ask about the few director.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yes, it was very rewarding because at funerals it's a
time you at your most vulnerable time. You don't know
how to be sad and you don't know how to
be happy. So I was always there to talk to
the family and go get the family, give them whatever
(14:24):
they want, take them, go with them to the to
the grave site, and just be there as a as
a help, but be there for consolation or for somebody's
head to lie down on. I just lost my sister
about three weeks three months ago, and I know the
need for a funeral director. However, I didn't only work
(14:48):
with the families. I work in the back as well,
with the bodies as well, but didn't do that very
long because I was not a trained mar tissue or
a trained person to work in the back. But that
then stopped me from doing what I needed to do
with the families.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I'm sure you were such a comfort to them.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
I love it today and I've always loved it.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, so let's start talking about your quilting. You're a
self taught quilter. How did you first learn to sew?
Speaker 1 (15:23):
I don't know if I was consider it sewing, but
I remember my mother would tell us to patch to
sew your socks up because they had holes in it.
I guess it was a manden. So I will put
two bitch stitches in it, and I call that sewing. However,
when it came down to making a quilt, I just
(15:44):
didn't know what to do. That was not in my
way of thinking. Who would have thought Yvonne would be
making quilt making quilts because I'm busy. I'm busy all
the time, as far as in this concern. It became
my first love. After I made my first quilt, I
(16:07):
would quilt all the time. And the reason why I
think it also felt so good it all we was
always because there was always something there in the house
that I could get to make a quilt. And let
me tell you, when I started making quilt, I never
thought I would sell. I never wanted to sell a quilt.
(16:28):
I was making it because of the love and to
see my creation down on the floor completed. It was.
It was my boxley. So that's how I started. Because
when we added on to our home, when we had fireplaces,
my husband went down in a county that a home
(16:51):
was given to us by my aunt, and he brought
all the lumber back. I think it was an Annabelle
home that was writing down there. But we usually would
is in our house right now. But the fireplaces were
not They were not putting out enough heat. So I said, shoot,
I'm going to make me something to keep my little
(17:12):
legs warm. So I looked around the curtains on the wall.
So I just grabbed that and reaching in the closet
and pulls on my husband's clothes and my clothes. The
children's stuff. It was there, sheets were on the bed,
there were all kinds of stuff that I just reached
up and got and made quilts. And it was the
(17:34):
best feeling that I had had in many years.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yvonne let the joy of the craft guide her creating
quilts in a bit of an unconventional way, a way
that she calls my way.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I had seen quilts that were made by other people
and I thought they were extremely beautiful, and I still do.
And I actually tried to make a piece well, and
I did, but it was made my way, not like
it was like there were patterns or anything, but it
was made my way and I enjoyed that and I
(18:11):
liked it. Look, I wasn't told how to do it.
I didn't know if it worked.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
That's her beloved dog, you hear in the back. He'll
make himself known in the background every now and then
throughout the episode.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
I didn't know if it worked. I just didn't. But
I did continue to say I did it in my
way because it was me. Nobody told me anything. When
I did it and it got through, I said, oh gosh,
this looks good. And I said, okay, well I'll continue.
And that's how I get started. You know, I was
(18:49):
making them as fast as I could think and as
fast as I could stitched them, which was very fast
at the time. Enjoyed every minute of it.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
For years, she just created and created, reveling in the
pleasure of the moment. But the quilting community wasn't as
open to her nonconformist designs.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
When I first started going to Kentuck the festival, I
would go up, my son would put up this huge,
this huge tent, and there are people will come by
because I had at least eight quilt showing at one time,
and they go up and look at it, and it
was so it was to me really heartbreaking. They walk
(19:33):
up and say, oh, gosh, this is John. Look at
these big stitches. No. I didn't have an answer for
that because I didn't know anything else. My stitches are large,
but that was who I am. Oh this is nothing
but John. Why would you have all of these colors?
They don't match. Oh it matches to me. I tell
(19:55):
them I'm a personal color in more ways than one.
And they would say that all the time you need
to go to school is you can't show this to anybody.
But I was bound in the termine, and today here
I am.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
And then at what point did you shift from simply
creating to selling your quilts?
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Like I said before, I never thought I would sell them,
but the number of quilts that I was producing led
me to believe, now, I don't have enough room in
the house to put these. So years passed by and
I met a man who had a gallery downtown and
who was interested in quilts, and especially the black person's quilts.
(20:44):
I said, oh, well, okay, so he came over. He
and his wife came over and looked at what I
was seeing, and he just fell in love with what
I was doing and told me to show it to
the public and you may get something. I said, no,
I will not do that because I don't want anybody
to see this junk. And that's what it was called
(21:06):
for several years, junk, but usually it was I was
told to go to school to learn how to quilt,
and I wouldn't show this stuff to anything to anybody.
So all those kinds of things, it's made me to
want to make and to work harder at what I
was doing. But I never changed my way and my
(21:28):
vision of a quilt.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
When you say your way and your vision. Are you
talking about how they're very they're pictorial, they depict scenes.
Was having them be visual and pictorial always part of
the vision for you of the quilt, Like, did they
ever evolve in that sense?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Well, there was an evolution early on after I made
a quilt called a Mothership. It was from a pattern
and I showed it to Robert Caringo. I've heard the
name before, and he said, he thinks this is a story.
I said, well, how do you think it's a story?
He said, wellther yoused to call it mother ship has
(22:09):
the babies and dad's a mother and she's calling them on.
I said, oh, I didn't know that. So after being
told that, I said, shoot, I think I can make
a story because I see so much. I see and
I feel so much. And then I created my first
story quilt after doing all the patterns, was a crucifixion.
(22:31):
And because I worked on the floor, there was several
quilts on the floor at one time. At one time,
I was doing five at a time because I would
stay up all night because it felt good. It felt good,
and I wanted to I didn't want to stop, even
though it's three o'clock in the morning. I don't want
to stop because I may miss something, and I don't
(22:54):
want to miss anything. But I made the Crucifixion, and
after making that, making that, I said, well, I think
I could do them more. And from there I proceeded
to where I am now stories.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Out of them basically, and I think that was probably
the thing that attracted me most about her work is
the storytelling or the narratives that are in each.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Of the quilt. So I'm here at the International Quilt
Museum back in the archives today. There are over ten
thousand quilts, textiles, and quilted objects here in the collection,
and I'm standing in front of my one of my
very favorite quilts. This is a gorgeous quilt made by
Yvonne Wells in nineteen eighty seven, and it's called Going Home.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
So when you're creating your quilts and coming up with
the story, which comes first? Do you see the fabrics
and are you inspired? Does the story become inspired by
the fabric or do you think of the story that
you want to tell and you go out and find
the materials.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I think I do all of that first, however, or
I must see it. I got to see it first
in my mind. Then I have to think about it.
Then I have to feel it in my heart if
this is the way that I want to go with
the story, or am I to look at something else.
Let me say this, I don't jump right into the
(24:18):
story making the quilt until I have almost completely finished
the quilts itself, because as I make the quilts sometimes
the story change.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
If you have a lot of religious themes and civil
rights themes, I do. Are there particular stories you're trying
to tell through the civil rights stories? Are you recreating
things that you've seen or more things that you envision?
Speaker 1 (24:48):
It could be both. I could be all of those.
It was my intention and it is still today that
I would put down in a quilt history. Because I
was during this of rights era, that's my era, and
so much was going on. I said, gosh, let me
(25:09):
just see if I could put some of this down
in my way. But like I said, as a teacher,
I always wanted to have something that a child or
somebody else can look at it and say, oh, is
this the way it was? Or I'll go worried about it.
As I said, the viewer and the artists are two
(25:31):
different people. The artist can see anything, but as a viewer,
you may not even get it unless I'm there to
tell you.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Evonne's quilts have traveled the world, from the Smithsonian to
France to Japan. There's no question her work has achieved
her dream and intention of educating viewers through her depictions.
After the break, we dived into a Vaughn's mindset. She
expanded her work as a folk quilt artist, all while
(26:05):
teaching full time and raising her family. Did you think
about becoming an artist full time while you were still
working as a teacher, because you stayed doing both for
(26:26):
a long time.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
I did. I never thought I was an artist. I
never to well to this day they say I'm beginning
to to envelop that title. But I never thought I
was an artist. I just thought I was somebody who
made quilts. But I'm like I said, I begin to
(26:48):
take it in now because this has been so much
attention given to my staff, and I'm pleased to deafoot
title artist is way way out of my thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
You've noted that you had a lot of anxiety at
first around showing your quilts to the world. How did
you overcome that?
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Well, I saw some acceptance because at first, like I
tell you, it was criticized and it didn't look like
anything any quotures had ever made. I became more embolded
because there were people saying, Oh, this is good, this
looks good, it tells a great story. And then I
had the determination not to stop. I was bound and determined.
(27:32):
I was determined that I was going to keep this
going as long as I could, whether they liked it
or not. I did. I did. I got to that point.
I did.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
I love that. I think some people get discouraged if
the thing they want doesn't show immediate returns for them
or recognition right away. How long do you think it
was between when you started quilting and gaining recognition that
you felt was meaningful.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
When I first got my first award at Kentuck, I
was knocked off my feet because my stuff looked funny.
I was hanging them on barbed wire, tree limbs, chairs
and everything. But at the end of the day, I
wanted best to show. And after that I said, well,
wait a minute, there is something going on that they
(28:23):
saw that I wasn't seeing. And from that point on,
I think I begun to see that I did have
something a little bit different, and it was feeling good.
To me. So that's how it just kept moving and
moving and moving it. I'm not a person who sits
phil and moving.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
She did. Even when she retired from teaching, Avon barely
slowed down.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Now it's supposed to say I didn't see any change
in what I was doing when I was teaching, as
when I retired. That was no change other than I
was home all the time after retiring most of the time.
But I did stuff like mold of yards and cut
(29:09):
the flowers into trees and all that kind of stuff,
and fix the houses of things. I was doing something
all the time, but still creating at the same time
that I was when I was teaching. I never thought
I would come home and sit and rock, even though
I was quilt to know. Not only do I quilt,
(29:32):
I'm a community person. I'm involved in just about everything.
There are people out there in the world who needs me,
I think, and I want to be able to assist
them the best way I can. If it's not financial,
I want them to show I want to show them
that this is the way it can be done. So no,
(29:52):
I'm not a rocker.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
You know this moment is amazing. You are an artist
or having a real renaissance in the art work. Why
do you think it's all happening right now?
Speaker 1 (30:02):
I don't know why it's all happening at one time,
which is almost I thought I wasn't going to make
it through. But things are tapering you off some But
I have other things going on, but not as big
unless somebody says they want me to do a bigger show.
Things are beginning to taper down as far as big stuff.
(30:25):
But why I'm out of here? Why am i here?
I don't know. But apparently others think it's good, and
the people in the right places think it's worth that.
So I'm glad to know that other people can speak
about another artist in the tone that they are speaking
about me.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Your quilts have handed up in some remarkable places. Can
you tell us where they bended up?
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Well, I can't tell you every place because I forget
where they have been. I was chosen to go to
France as one of the thirteen Alabama artists to show
our work. My work it's been there. I've been to
Italy right now. In Paris, I have an exhibition going
on in the Hyatt Museum, and I have one piece
(31:15):
in the Quilt Museum of African American culture. You know,
at the time, someone call and say, I saw your
work this place, I saw you work that place. I'm
glad that that is been shown in different areas of
the world so that they can see what I was
trying to do or I am trying to.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Do still doing it. You even created an ornament for
the White House.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
I cheer that. Oh, you talking about big stuff to me.
I was able to call up there and talk to
somebody in the Blue Room or the White House. You
don't know how that beat that was. That was in
nineteen ninety three, I believe, and they were looking for
and are artist in every state to make an ornament
(32:03):
for the Christmas tree in the Blue Room. I was
recommended by Robert Carclow to do this, and I said, no,
you kidding me. So I was accepted and I did
what I do. I made a panel with the Alabama
flag on it, with Alabama shape and all of its
resources that we have in Alabama. And I also made
(32:26):
an ornament that says hope because Bill Clinton would always
talk about hope. So I made a white ornament with
the word hope on and they put it on a tree.
They were inviting the folk artists to show their work,
and I was one of them.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yvonne's success after success post retirement is a testament that
life is never linear or as you may expect. And
she's not done yet. I vonn has more in store
for us when we return. Stay tuned and tell us
(33:05):
about the inspiration for writing your book.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Oh boy, oh boy. It has been talked about for
many years. I don't know if you know Stacey Morgan,
doctor Morgan, but he's a professor at the University of
Alabama here and we have been friends for many years.
I would go to his class at the university and
talk to his class about my work because he was
(33:30):
one of those people who were very much supportive. So
he wanted me to talk to his class, and I
was thinking. I said, well, now, if that comes a time,
this needs to be put down so that people can
see what I have been doing for these many years.
And it's also thinks something that my kids or my
(33:51):
family could be proud of. I after my own and
said this was my mama. So that was that was
part of the inspiration. But I did not realize how
much work we had to go into writing a book.
But the reason that it was. It was long, however,
(34:12):
but each day that Stacy would come it got better
and better and better. It felt so good. Not only
were we talking and measuring and pulling out stuff, but
he made me feel like this is it. We should
do this. So we did. After a little over five years,
(34:35):
it finally came out. And I'm thrilled you alluded to
your legacy. What do you want your legacy to be? Well,
sometimes it changes. If it could be a long, long,
long legacy, I could say a lot of things I
wanted to be said that she never turned around because
(34:59):
of the negative comments that were made about her work.
She never listened and stopped because people were to say
this is nothing. I want them to say. No matter
whatever she started with, she completed it and excel at it.
(35:21):
As far as Quilton misconcern, I wanted you to be
a teaching too, for anyone who's trying to teach about
history or teach about any kind of lesson from the stories.
I wanted to be a teaching too. Plus I wanted
to be a life on the hill so those who
can see it would learn from it.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
I like to think about what different phases look like
and what success means like how we define success for
ourselves through our different phases of our lives. How do
you think you define success for yourself right now?
Speaker 1 (36:00):
The fact that from the when I first started, there
was a bud I moved on. The butt began to
open up. As time went on, it got large and larger,
and right now I'm at the apex of this folk
art quilt. So I think that's how it got to
(36:24):
be this point. And what is success? This is to
me a success And the fact that my children are
seeing the fruits of my labor means very, very lock
to me. So I think this is it. However, I
don't plan to stop. But it may not be as many,
(36:45):
but I don't plan to stop.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
So I asked this question of all of my guests,
what is one thing that at the time maybe you
considered to be kind of a low, but now you
see it as something that really set you up for
the success that you are now.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
My husband was a military person and when he came
back from Vietnam, he had all kinds of issues, major issues,
and that was that was very low. We had to
learn how to adjust to live in with him. The
kids didn't understand the military airs that he would do.
He was he was tougher than I was, you know,
(37:27):
and that was that was at a time that was
very low. But I proceeded without allowing him to allow
the situation to hold me back. I kind of involved
him in my work by asking what you think, do
you like this? It wouldn't have mattered if we had
(37:49):
said no, because I was going to make it anyway.
But it was at the time that he was he
had just got in and he was a very, very
sick man. But that was low. But I did not
allow my work to interfere with what I was what
he was doing as a sick man. I wanted to
(38:11):
have something that the kids could see Mama doing and
was enjoying it. And that was no stoppage because every
year I would shown and that showed to me that
whatever was going on here at the house, did it
stop me from doing what I wanted to do outside.
That was the lowest part, because there seemed to have
(38:34):
been from the veteran's point of view that he couldn't
get better. And that was kind of hard, but we
managed and we got through it.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Do you think you'll pivot again?
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Yes, I don't know. What it is yet, But I
think I will. I really do, because I have had
things going through my mind. But it is it is
through fabric that I'm still seeing things that is different
from what I'm doing now.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Oh okay, So I hope.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
I can get something done by this year. Oh that
I'll let you know that I'm headed in a new direction. Well,
keep us posted. We like it.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Do you think it gave you a new source of inspiration?
Speaker 1 (39:27):
I think so. The inspiration really comes when I have
completed a piece of work and I look down at
it because it's on the floor. I'd sometimes standing on
the table and look down on it and say, boy,
this looks good. Oh boy, it says what I wanted
(39:49):
to say. Oh boy, I have created a piece of art.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
I loved it so great. It's so wonderful to talk
to you, of honor, it is amazing.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Well, thank you. I just wanted to make sure I
said something about the people who helped me along.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Oh please.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
And that's more than Stacy Morgan and Robert Cargo. I'm
represented by fort Yanzi Ort now in New York. So
those are the people I want to say thank you to.
And plus there are others whose name I can't call.
Wants to say thank you to them as well, and
thanks to you guys.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Absolutely, thank you so much. Evonn Oh, it has.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Been my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Yvonne still lives in the same place she has spent
her whole life, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where she is surrounded by
her beloved family and community. She currently has an exhibition
at Fort gansa Ort Gallery in New York City. You
can purchase her book, The Story of Quilting wherever you
buy books. For more on a Vaughn, follow us on
(41:00):
Instagram at she pivots the Podcast. We do our best
to keep you up to date on all our guests.
Talk to you next time. Thanks for listening to this
episode of she Pivots. I hope you enjoyed it and
if you did, leave us a rating and tell your
friends about us. To learn more about our guests, follow
(41:21):
us on Instagram at she pivots the Podcast, or sign
up for our newsletter where you can get exclusive behind
the scenes content on our website at she pivots thepodcast
dot com. Special thanks to the she pivots team. Executive
producer Emily Edavelosik, Associate producer and social media connoisseur Hannah Cousins,
(41:45):
Research director Christine Dickinson, Events and Logistics coordinator Madeline Snovak,
and audio editor and mixer Nina pollock I And yours
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