| 
December 2, 2008, by Boipelo Moagaesi
An unusual Arts exhibition was recently attended at the Botswanacraft. Unusual it was for although defined as art, this was a quilt exhibition and in this part of the world, quilts are know only for their use as bedspreads. However on this night, these quilts took on a new identity as wall hangings, displaying a patchwork of cloths and bursts of colour from African and America.
Interviewing Jenny Healy, owner of Kalahari Quilts and organizer of the event on her reasons for venturing into this specific art form she stated “About five years ago while I was sick, I asked my husband to hand me pieces of fabric which I started sewing together and very soon, had my first quilt…We soon started to employ local women who do this type of work from home, and in no time this turned into a business.” Currently Jenny states that Kalahari Quilts has employed ten local women, and two men, one of which is her husband.
Inquiring on this even rarer occurrence of men doing quilting, especially an African man, Kgotlhao Rratlhorwana happily explained that initially, he was only employed as the driver of Kalahari Quilts while his wife did quilting for the company. However, after years of observing and consequently developing a keen interest, he one day gave it a try and discovered his talent. As Jenny exclaims “He is one of our best, even better than some of the women!” Rratlhora proudly states to have a unique stitching style and whenever he is called on to do the stitching, the quilts don’t last long in the store. On questions of him being male and engaging in an art work traditionally done by females he stated “If this puts food on the table, then let it be so!”
On the exhibition side, the quilts displayed on one side of the wall were from Kalahari Quilts and clearly so with their leteisi influence and African sunset colours that Jenny states to love having been born and lived under African skies, in Zambia and Botswana. On the other side of the room were quilts by the American Cindy Friedman who was invited to attend the event and display her work. Viewing the exhibition and unable to contain her amazement at the displays, a thrilled Cate Orford exclaimed “These are absolutely exquisite. Look at the detail. It’s amazing that you can do all this from fabric.”
Also popular at this event were dolls and mannequins created by Tebogo Punie Mosinyi. These dolls made from recycled material (bottles , sticks and pieces of fabric) had a humorous element to them as they were brought to life with characters and names such as Lekgarebe, the Hawaiian babe with the thick red lips and Tathikwa, the Herero fashionista who is said to have just returned from the New York Fashion Week.
For those interested in learning more about quilting or purchasing orders, contact Jenny on 72616462/72618711. For dolls and mannequins Punie can be reached on 3972861. |
