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Key Details

Location

Museum of Fine Arts

530 West Call St, 250 Fine Arts Building

Date

7 Dec

11:00 AM-3:00 PM

Event image
7 Dec

Location

Museum of Fine Arts

530 West Call St, 250 Fine Arts Building

Date

7 Dec

11:00 AM-3:00 PM

Family Day

We hope to see you at MoFA for Family Day on Saturday, December 7th, from 11 AM – 3 PM. Learn about our current exhibition, The Quilts of Mrs. Gussie Beatrice Arnold Hill, while enjoying music, movement, food, art-making, and a conversation between family members, Anjali Austin and Althemese Barnes, as they reflect on their Tallahassee histories and the meaning of family.

 

FULL PROGRAM:

11 AM – 12 PM Guided Tours of The Quilts of Mrs. Gussie Beatrice Arnold Hill

12 PM – 1 PM Family Chat: Anjali Austin in Conversation with Althemese Barnes

1 PM – 2 PM In-gallery Movement Class led by Anjali Austin

2 PM – 3 PM Make it With MoFA: Patchwork Sewing

 

About the exhibition:

Conceived and developed by School of Dance Professor Anjali Austin, the exhibition highlights quilts designed and crafted by her maternal grandmother, Mrs. Gussie Beatrice Arnold Hill, a Tallahassee native.

Mrs. Gussie Beatrice Arnold Hill was born in Leon County, Florida, on October 4th, 1912. The eldest of twelve children, she would go on to marry Reverend Gus Ward Hill in 1932 in adulthood, and together, they had one daughter and one granddaughter, Anjali Austin. Mrs. Hill was an entrepreneur, an excellent cook and baker, a spiritual leader of her community, and a prolific and expert quilter. While previous generations may have sewed several quilts in this collection, the majority were hand-cut, pieced, and stitched by Mrs. Hill herself.   

 

Anjali Austin, a Professor of Dance at FSU, is now the caretaker of this collection. By interviewing family members, researching quilt histories and practices, and reflecting on her relationships to these textiles, Professor Austin has traced her African American and Indigenous heritage and culture through techniques and designs displayed in the quilts and the oral histories passed down with them.