Women at Work: Sylvia Hernandez
Art reflects the human experience. It tells a story about our history, traditions, heritage, and what the world is thinking and feeling. In creating art, the artist communicates a message and passes on a legacy, making something that will outlive them and be handed down from generation to generation. With a little bit of luck and a whole lot of skill, an artist’s work will not only reach the eyes of an audience but touch the hearts of the people who need it most, changing their lives forever.
Sylvia Hernandez, a social activist, and a self-taught master quilter from Brooklyn, NY, knows this truth more than most. She’s a visual historian and talented storyteller who pays sharp attention to detail. Her universally celebrated artwork preserves the world’s collective memories with each stitch and confronts issues related to community, social justice reform, and human rights head-on.
Sylvia’s canvas is her fabric, and her expert stitching creates the illusion that her quilts are paintings. While the stunning visuals sewn into her works are a beautiful sight to behold, a part of their undeniable allure comes from the empowering and poignant messages imbued within her captivating creations. The emotionally stirring subject matter behind her work illustrates the urgent need for meaningful systematic change. Art and activism go hand in hand, and Sylvia isn’t wasting time making sure that her message is heard loud and clear.
Self portrait
Sylvia Hernandez’s artwork has been spotlighted in local, national, and international exhibitions, including the Brooklyn All-Stars Quilt Show, the Made in New York Quilt Show, the Woman Made Gallery, Textile Center, the American Swedish Institute, and the Fiber Arts Fiesta Quilt Show in New Mexico. Additionally, Sylvia’s pieces have been shown in the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza and Journey of Hope in America: Quilts Inspired by Barack Obama, which traveled around the United States and abroad.
What’s more, Sylvia is the president of the Quilters of Color Network of NYC and is a member of both the Studio Art Quilt Association and the American Quilters Society. Sylvia served as the former co-president of the Quilters Guild of Brooklyn and has worked alongside AgitArte, a social justice group of working-class artists and cultural organizers who provide grassroots educational programs for marginalized communities in the United States and Puerto Rico.
Most notably, she is the first Puerto Rican artist to have her work exhibited in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts permanent collection. Sylvia’s quilts can also be found in many private collector’s homes, including the Oscar and Emmy award-winning director, producer, and screenwriter, Spike Lee. Currently, Sylvia teaches quilting at El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice and creates art from her home studio.
With Liberty and Justice For All?
#howmanymore
BLM - Can You See us Now?
How did you first discover quilting? When did your love of this art begin, and how did you get started?
I truly can’t remember how quilting came into my life, but my first quilt was for my son Miguel. He was moving out on his own, and we found a bag full of clothing in his closet, which he told me to throw out. When I looked inside, there were T-shirts, a dashiki, boxers, and a sheet. Everything you need to make a memory quilt. And so it began. My other son Teddy would say that I must have been a quilter in my past life because I took to it so quickly.
Being a self-taught quilter takes a lot of patience, dedication, and hard work. What obstacles have you faced on the road to your success as a master quilter? How did you overcome them?
When I first started quilting, I didn’t dare buy the beautiful quilting fabric, one because I could not afford it, and two I needed to practice before I went there. I have to thank PBS for the great quilting programs they had for helping me open this door of creativity. I joined the Brooklyn Quilters Guild over 15 years ago and met the most wonderful group of women and a few men in the world. I am also a member and President of the Quilters Of Color of NYC. I was not as precise in my quilting as many of them were, but I was welcomed in graciously. So it took lots of practice quilting and cheap fabric to get to where I am today.
Where do you buy or source your fabrics from?
I now purchase all my cotton fabric online—the more bright and colorful, the better. We do have a great quilt shop in New York, but with the quarantine, I could not visit. I do have a wonderful fabric vendor that has been donating fabric to me for a few years that I could not thank enough. This is why I have such beautiful fabrics to share with my students and my senior citizens’ group.
What are some of the quilts that you’re the proudest of to date, and why?
The quilts that I am most proud of are my Obama quilts. I made these quilts just after he won the presidential election. For me, these tell a story of pride, perseverance, success, and praise to the ancestors. They were also part of my joining other quilt artists in an exceptionally beautiful exhibit and book. They are the Woman of Color Quilters Network.
What are your favorite types of quilts to make?
My favorite kind of quilt to make are story quilts. There are so many stories, historical events, and current events to tell, and I will never run out of ideas to create pieces. I like to use my quilts as teaching tools for young and old alike.
What kind of techniques and patterns do you employ when working on your art?
The techniques I most use in my quilts are appliqué, adding words, and piecing a background. It is like a fabric collage. I try to create a quilt top in a pattern that goes with the storyline as well. When creating my appliqué pieces, from photos or drawings, I create a pattern like a giant coloring book page to work from.
What tools, fabrics, and resources do you need to make a quilt? Is there a particular kind of sewing machine that works best to achieve your vision?
I usually use cotton fabric in my quilts, but once in a while, I will use something different; I print photos on fabric sometimes as well. I have a few sewing machines (6), but my pride and joy is my long arm machine. On a long arm machine, I can do the stitch designs on the quilt top; it can hold a quilt as wide as 120 inches. I just have to roll it up to the next section to sew.
What is the most challenging aspect of crafting a quilt? Are there some patterns that are more difficult than others?
The most difficult part of crafting a quilt is the idea for the design, which can come quickly, or I have to really research and consider different approaches. The stronger subject matter quilts especially take lots of thought, consideration, and respect with a touch of beauty. There are definitely patterns for bed quilts that are very complicated, with lots of measurements, stitches, and specific piecing methods that are beautiful, but I don’t make those. I admire the quilters that make them, but it’s not my thing.
Roughly how long does it take you to complete each quilt?
The amount of time it takes me to make a quilt depends on how I am feeling about the subject matter. If I am upset, angry, or disgusted about the subject, I can make a quilt in under a week. Some quilts I have to walk away from a few days because it becomes overwhelming.
Where do you draw inspiration from when crafting each design? What is your creative process like?
I draw inspiration from so many things. An image can be the start, a feeling can do it, terrible events can do it, or a simple pair of Chuck Taylors. After that, the research begins.
Do the materials you work with have any relevance in terms of the messages you convey with your artwork?
In my quilts, I try to tell a story, be it a current events quilt or a memory quilt. I try to use fabric that has something to do with the storyline. For example, I recently made a quilt in memory of John Lewis and found fabric that has the Constitution printed on it, perfect background. In memory quilts for elders, I look for fabric from the era of their youth; fabric from the 30s, 40s, and 50s are always fun to work with.
You teach at El Puente Academy of Peace and Justice, the first public school for human rights and Community School model in the country. How do you design your curriculum and approach your lesson planning?
My work at El Puente Academy of Peace and Justice is wonderful because they have yearly events like Revolution for Black History Month. As part of the curriculum, creativity and teaching join forces, and beautiful things are created. Every school year starts with a theme like the environment, and that is what we use for making small art quilts and one large group quilt. I tell the students you may never make another quilt, but you will be able to put a button on or hem a pair of pants.
By addressing political or social issues with activist art, people can express themselves creatively while simultaneously challenging existing power structures. Given the current state of democracy in the United States, how do you think quilting and fiber art can bring about social change?
The arts have always been a way of expressing our thoughts or our opinions in the current events of our country or the world. Quilting/fiber arts are not any different. Quilters have been creating story quilts for many, many years, although some still consider it a woman’s craft as if that is a bad thing.
Quilt activism has grown widely as more stories of protests, political unrest, and injustices are seen visually because of social media. Last year during the quarantine, I made about 40 quilts, all having to do with events of the day. In creating these pieces, I hope to use them as teaching tools or visual storylines for now or future generations. The Fine Arts Museum of Boston just purchased two of my quilts for their permanent collection; how’s that for a women’s craft.
Wow, Congratulations! That’s a huge achievement. I very much agree with your perspective on the concept of “a women’s craft,” which brings me to my next topic. Some art critics don’t view quilting and fiber arts as a “high brow” medium worthy of prestige. Why do you think quilting and other decorative or domestic handicrafts are undervalued and otherwise not accepted as fine art by certain members of the art community? What would you like these critics to understand about both the merit and significance of quilting?
I believe there was a time when handcrafts/quilts were not considered art, and don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of people who still don’t, but as with all trends, I think quilting is embracing many art collectors right now. The Quilters of Gees Bend, Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi (quilter, curator, author, rocket scientist), Bisa Butler, Eleanor Burns, and Harriet Powers are just a handful of pioneers in the quilting world. Also, people don’t realize that quilting is a billion-dollar industry; let that sink in. Quilting has been here for hundreds of years and will be around for hundreds more.
Do you have any advice for aspiring quilters who want to start but don’t know where to begin?
For anyone considering quilting, start small but buy good supplies, reach out to local quilt guilds for inspiration, check out YouTube videos, get a book or two on the subject, and just have fun. Don’t let the quilt police get you; it’s supposed to be fun. Also, you can reach out to me for help.
For Teddy
Community PTSD Quilt
RBG
It has been a privilege to talk with Sylvia Hernandez about her social activism and works of art. Sylvia’s quilts and the thought-provoking messages behind them have been a formidable rallying call to action, and I suspect her art will have the same powerful and enduring effects for years to come.
You can view Sylvia Hernandez’s perennial quilts in person at The Boston Museum of Fine Arts or by following her on Facebook, Brooklyn Quilt Girl, and Instagram, @Quiltgirl61. For a more in-depth look at Sylvia and her work, you can check out her conversation with Michelle Bishop, the Founder and Executive Director of Harlem Needle Arts, featured on #MantraMondays here.
