See You in August
The Quilts of the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival
by
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ival.n 1992, a cousin introduced me to the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, which I attended with my daughters. It was at that festival that I stumbled into a tent where women were sitting around a beautifully hand-painted quilt top, chatting and stitching. I introduced myself, was invited to sit down, and added my own handiwork to the 'Circle of Womyn' quilt. I was immediately welcomed and felt I had found a home. This marked the beginning of my 25-year love affair with the festival and its quilts. In 2002, I was the recipient of one of the treasured festival quilts. Each year at the festival, I worked on the quilt in one way or another. If I didn’t contribute during the winter months, I always found time to sit and stitch during the festival week. However, that year I couldn't attend the festival due to illness. I had contracted the West Nile virus, for which antibiotics were ineffective. I convalesced at a cousin’s home in eastern Michigan while another family member took my teen daughters to the festival. It was bittersweet to miss the festival, knowing it wouldn't come around again for another year. I lay bedridden all week, not getting any better, unable to rise due to the fever and pain that filled my body. Late on Sunday, I was surprised from a fitful sleep to find my daughters and a couple of festival friends standing over me. They draped something heavy over me. Looking up, I saw it was the prized Music Festival Quilt. I lay back and felt the hands of a thousand women healing me as tears coursed down my cheeks. I swear I could feel the love of all those women, and in that exact moment, I began to heal. The imagery on the 'Firebreather' quilt depicts a woman breathing fire, which turns into a bird with great wings carrying it upwards. I humbly renamed it 'Phoenix Rising' for the restorative energy it brought to me. I later learned that a friend from Iowa had bought a raffle ticket in my name. Due to events in my life that year, it was the only quilt I hadn't worked on since my first festival, yet it was the most important. As soon as I got home from that festival, I started looking for past quilt winners.
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About the Book
See You in August is a pictorial timeline and history of a collection of quilts created at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, held each summer from 1976 to 2015. The quilts, spanning a period of thirty years, were made one per year by thousands of women who contributed stitches and blocks. The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival was an international feminist women’s festival and is often referred to as the “Original Women’s Woodstock.” Author Laura Paré attended the event from 1991 to its closure. Welcomed into the circle, she now recounts stories of the women and their quilts, revealing the uplifting power of community, creativity, and friendship. Seated around a quilting bee during this iconic gathering, which was known throughout feminist movements worldwide, these women connected heart and soul while working on the shared task of quilting. Seen together for the first time, this Slow Art collection tells its story through memoirs and recollections from the women who made them.
About the Author
Laura Paré lives on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. A master tailor, she spends her days in her workshop altering and sewing clothing and costumes. She frequently travels for work in the film industry in the costume department as a tailor to the stars. Laura attended the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival for twenty-six years. She is the facilitator of a local women’s spiritual group in her community. Laura is a Sound healing practitioner regularly hosting sound bath events at her local yoga studio where she also teaches yin and restorative yoga classes. She enjoys rowing on the Chesapeake Bay, hosting tea parties, and spending time with her family and friends.