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BOOK REVIEW
“HERstory Quilts: A Celebration of Strong Women” by Susanne Miller Jones is a collection of 108 mixed-media fiber art pieces celebrates extraordinary women who influenced history, made discoveries or broke into fields dominated by men. Eighty-five artists from seven countries portray politicians, scientists, entertainers, environmentalists, athletes and authors. The medium of quilting features the advances women have made as the artists have honored their subjects in the most imaginative ways possible. Readers don’t have to quilt themselves to appreciate the workmanship highlighting this diverse group of women who achieved excellence and left their marks on us all. What is so admirable is that each artist tells her own story and the full photo of each quilt fills a whole page and includes a history of the woman celebrated with a quilt of the subject. We learn not only of the woman portrayed but of what the artist did to create the quilt. This gorgeous coffee table book is a great resource because it shows what imagination, fabric, inspiration, and workmanship can accomplish, and as one reader said, ‘This book makes learning history a delightful experience as these inspirational stories about amazing women are accompanied by wonderful art quilts.” Author Jones began quilting after retiring from elementary school teaching for 17 years and her second career as fiber artist, curator, and author has blossomed. She’s curated several fiber art exhibits: “Fly Me to the Moon,” an art quilt journey to honor the Apollo astronauts’ missions and all things lunar that resulted in 179 fiber art pieces that toured the U.S. and Europe and resulted in a book, and “Ourstory; Human Rights Stories in Fabric” which premiered at the International Quilt Festival in Houston and then the book was published in 2019. As she traveled the world with her exhibits, Jones became friends with other fiber artists and selected the best for inclusion in this book.
Bonnie McGuiness of Jacksonville, FL and a professional quilter adores this book. She said, “These women’s amazing stories are preserved in these gorgeous quilts and they are honored for their work by artists who not only chose them but also had the freedom to decide what to include in the quilt and then choose the medium to best express their art specific to the honorees. The quilts and the interpretation by the artists are absolutely incredible,” a real testimonial to the women subjects and the women quilters.
Movie Preview: Mickey: The Story of a Mouse BY RANDAL C. HILL
In 1928, when he was involved in a legal tussle with Universal Pictures, Walt Disney lost the rights to his cartoon creation Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Disney then created a replacement cartoon figure: Mortimer Mouse. But Walt’s wife, Lillian, thought her husband would do better with the name Mickey Mouse instead. (Thank you, Lillian.) The world’s favorite rodent, whose simple head is composed of one large and two smaller circles, became an animation superstar with 1928’s Steamboat Willie, the first such release with synchronized sound. (Disney himself provided Mickey’s voice.) Mickey Mouse would in time be featured in over 130 of Walt’s films, including the starring role in 1940’s nowlegendary Fantasia. In 1978, Mickey became the first animated character to earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This and much more are covered in the superlative Disney+ November streaming of Mickey: The Story of a Mouse. While some viewers may dismiss it as a 93-minute commercial for the corporation’s iconic animal, others will appreciate the little-known, behindthe-scenes tales of the Mickey saga. Here, long-time company animators discuss and display their work and explain various stages of the often-complex processes required to bring Mickey Mouse to his millions of fans. One veteran artist, in
particular, confesses, “It wasn’t just one continual success after success, it was stumble after stumble.” The Disney documentary explores the long-time global impact of Mickey Mouse over nearly a century, how the blithe little guy accompanied us through the Depression and served as a propaganda device during World War II, even becoming an image of hope during the Holocaust. Under the guidance of director Jeff Malmberg (Marwencol), we see that the passage of time brought different versions of Mickey, as well as the sometimes-surprising societal shifts that he came to represent. While the Disney Company has always concerned itself with protecting the images of its founder and his megaorganization, the documentary does admit—briefly—to making errors in judgment over the years, including Mickey being shown in blackface and offering negative depictions of Image from IMDb Native Americans. In Mickey: The Story of a Mouse, we also get a one-minute short feature (Mickey in a Minute) of our hero strolling down a hallway, reflecting on posters of his past films until he is suddenly consumed by a vortex and becomes the many images we’ve seen over the decades. The examination of a true icon—fictional though he is—streams on November 18.
