Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1518483
April/May 2024 | maconmagazine.com 99 RIGHT Rudy Mendes among his multimedia artworks at the Bicentennial Art Show. Photo courtesy of the Mendes family. LEFT Carolyn Mendes displays her quilts at the All Blues Music and Arts Revival in 2023. Photo courtesy of the Mendes family. CAROLYN AND RUDY MENDES Quilting may be considered a woman's art by many, but some men have joined women in its creation and history. Rudy Mendes learned quilting from his art professor at Howard University, Dr. Raymond G. Dobard, the quilter and historian behind the book "Hidden in Plain View: A Secret History of Quilts and the Underground Railroad." He inspired Rudy, who was then exploring other mediums, to venture into textiles. He joined the Uhuru Quilters Guild in Maryland. "Uhuru" means "freedom" in Swahili. Rudy's interest inspired Carolyn, his spouse, to begin quilting, too. "About 30 years ago, after I had my first child, Rudy told me I should meet some people who quilt. From that day on, I've been quilting, sewing, making. He was my inspiration. As a new mother, I needed to do something hands-on, something in a community." From the beginning, it was a family affair. Some of Carolyn's first quilts included her daughter's outgrown clothing, saving those early memories. When they returned to Carolyn's home state of Georgia, they continued creating. Her works include a folk-art-inspired Harriet Tubman piecework and – a quilt they intend to pass down as a family heirloom – a photographic quilt of the Mendes family tree, picturing the journey and heritage of Rudy's kin from Cape Verde to the eastern U.S. The Mendeses feel freedom in the work. "I put whatever color that look good to my eyes. You know, in African prints, the colors bump into each other, they roll together, they have movement," Carolyn said. "You have freedom to break the rules ... and reflect what interests you at the time. When I see graffiti, the way Black people walk and move, the elongated shapes of African artwork," said Rudy, "I can reflect [in quilts] my love for the culture." In the "Each One Teach One" mentality lionized by Uhuru and other quilting guilds, Rudy hopes that African American quilting, and quilting in general, will continue to be celebrated and passed down, and that men and women of all ages will practice the craft. "You have freedom to break the rules ... and reflect what interests you at the time. When I see graffiti, the way Black people walk and move, the elongated shapes of African artwork ... I can reflect [in quilts] my love for the culture."