Arester Earl facts for kids

Arester Earl (1892–1988) was an African American quilter. She created beautiful quilts that often included special stuffed shapes, bright colors, and fabric crosses. These designs showed ideas from African spirituality and old stories.

About Arester Earl

Arester Earl was born in Covington, Georgia, in 1892. Her father was a preacher and farmer who owned a large farm. She learned how to make quilts from her stepmother and older sisters.

Early Life and Family

Arester Earl's husband, Robert Earl, passed away in September 1937. She spent many years raising their five children. Even though she was born in Covington, she also lived in Macon, Georgia, for some time.

Returning to Her Art

After her children were grown, Arester Earl started quilting again in the 1970s. She continued to create until she passed away in 1988 in Atlanta, Georgia, at 96 years old.

Her Unique Quilting Style

Arester Earl's quilts are special because of her unique style. She used individually stuffed, colorful fabric blocks. She joined these blocks together with long stitches. She developed this method because she had poor eyesight and one side of her body was partly paralyzed.

A Special Way of Quilting

Arester Earl often quilted while lying down in bed. She once said that quilting "means life to me." This shows how important her art was to her.

Bright Colors and Bold Designs

Earl loved using bright colors in her quilts. She said she preferred them because "they showed up better." Her style has been called "off-beat" or "improvisatory." This means her quilts looked natural and not always perfectly even. These small "imperfections" actually show how she made each quilt by hand.

Hidden Meanings in Her Quilts

Arester Earl often sewed small red squares into her quilts. These squares might have been used as protective charms. A textile expert named Maude Southwell Wahlman called quilts with bright squares next to duller ones "mojo" quilts.

Some of her quilt elements had deep meanings. For example, the stuffed shells in her "Shell" quilt represented the power of the underwater world. These ideas came from Kongo spiritual beliefs. Earl also confirmed that her repeating cross designs were inspired by Kongolese beliefs. These beliefs are about the soul's journey through birth, life, and death. She also saw common African cosmogram patterns when she was a child. A cosmogram is a symbol that shows the universe or a spiritual journey.

Earl shared that her "Red-and-White Dream" quilt was inspired by childhood memories. These memories came back to her in dreams. She also dreamt of other patterns for her quilts.

Famous Quilts and Recognition

Arester Earl's work was recognized in a 1983 book. The book was called Ten Afro-American Quilters. It featured her alongside other talented quilters like Martha Jane Pettway and Sarah Mary Taylor.

One of her most famous quilts is "Log Cabin." This quilt is owned by Ella King Torrey, who was the president of the San Francisco Art Institute. The "Log Cabin" quilt hangs in Torrey's dining room and is part of the Torrey Quilt Collection.