Castle of our Skins Weaves Music, Spoken Word, and African American Quilts, Honoring Ancestral Stories Through the Arts

Castle of our Skins continues its ninth season theme of stitching together stories, history, and art with Sound & Appliqué, an in-person concert complete with two world premieres, seven original quilts, and original poetry created by Shirley Graham Du Bois and Creative in Residence Marlanda Dekine. The event will include a 1 p.m. virtual
lecture by textile artist L’Merchie Frazier on Saturday, January 22, followed by a 7 p.m. concert performance.

“African American quilting traditions are synonymous with making beautiful things out of scraps,” BMC Artist-in-Residence Ashleigh Gordon, Artistic/Executive Director, and violist of Castle of our Skins states. “That history is a direct metaphor for our existence and resilience as Black people and serves as the inspiration for this program.”

Two composers, Lauren McCall and Elizabeth Brown, were selected from an international call to composers to create a chamber piece inspired by African American quilting traditions. Their works, which respectively draw inspiration from coded messages used during the escape from slavery and the words and work of Gee’s Bend quilter Louisiana P. Bendolph, will receive their world premieres. Original poetry exploring the significance of ancestral land, water, and memory will accompany a triptych of commissioned quilts by Boston-based artist L’Merchie Frazier.

Four quilts created by Chicago-based artist Alpha M. Bruton will be paired with select movements from Florence B. Price’s Five Folksongs in Counterpoint for string quartet.

“This chamber work” notes Gordon, “uses the musical technique of cutting up, overlapping and re-envisioning bits of melodies to create something new and beautiful. It makes for a natural pairing to the creative juxtaposition of fabric used by master quilters of past and present.”

Sound & Appliqué includes the following performers: Flutist Orlando Cela; Violinists Gabriela Díaz and Mina Lavcheva; Violist Ashleigh Gordon; Cellist Leo Eguchi; Pianist Sarah Bob; and Narrator Brianna J. Robinson.