The Legacy of Potholders: An Interview with Phyllis Thompson
Printmaker Phyllis Thompson has taught art for many years at the primary school and college
levels, and has now returned to actively making her art. When she first came to BAS, she felt like a
"dangling person" who needed to be around practicing artists. She is engaged in sewing, writing, and a
little photography, as well as researching her genealogy.
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Has your genealogy research had an influence on your artwork?
Definitely. One of my biggest primary inspirations has been my grandmother, and in particular,
her work with fabric, and the other people in her community and generation who were working with
fabric. She's an inspiration...I still have her old Singer sewing machine. Beyond that, there is an interest
in the value of working with cloth beyond the functional and the product. It's about the process as an
individual, and the group dynamics and support in the activity of quilting. I brought something to show
you - they're potholders. My grandmother made these, because she wasn't going to buy potholders
from the store - I don't think anybody bought potholders back then. I saved them, and you can see that
they're very stained, but they're going to last forever. I remember sitting on the porch and watching my
grandmother make these, and these little circle things called yo-yos, which she would make thousands
of and stitch them together to make a coverlet. I do recall that she lived on a farm and took in wash for
other people, and did the sewing and cooking...I conceptualize around the activity what it meant and
how it was a creative outlet for her. Sewing was an activity that was self-directed and group-influenced.
Back in the 1970s I wrote an article for a magazine called Heresies about my mother and my
aunt and cloth. Women who work with cloth have always influenced me, because when I did drawings,
they would be very fiber-like...the repetition of sewing and the hand moving in and out. That movement
can be very deliberate, or mindless. This all influenced my interest in repetition, texture, and fabric. I
took those yo-yos out of context and made prints with vegetables, and discovered my interests in
patterns and grids. These interests prevailed, though I had little interest in functional quilts; I did make a
few, because I thought I should, but I was more interested in telling stories.
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Do you have a favorite artwork, or artists?
I have favorite artists...I like Bettye Saar - her work has evolved. I like her interest in
photographs, and things I collect, like fabric and jewelry that belonged to those who came before. Even
things at a flea market, that remind us of something an ancestor once had: I found a bowl for washing
up that was just like my grandmother's. I also like Faith Ringgold - her quilts can be very literal, but they
also tell stories. Aminah Robinson, who is based in Ohio, tells family stories on HUGE quilts - the stories
go on and on. I really like the hands-on quality of her work, the way she manipulates the fabric. I also
think of Elizabeth Catlett, who was an African-American printmaker. I grew up in the 50s and 60s, and
there were very few African-American female artists; she is someone that I remember.
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Is there a medium that you would love to work with, but haven't yet?
Almost...I've been itching to work with letterpress, but I just did that last week, which is why I
say 'almost' - you missed me by a week! I've been wanting to work with it, so I took a class with the
Western New York Book Arts Association. I've been wanting to make books...I teach bookmaking, but I
don't do it for me. I didn't want to do anything specific, but I saw it as a way to reconnect with a new
medium in the category of printmaking. I took the class last week and I enjoyed it; I think it could be a
little residency for me. I was trying to take in the basic characteristics, and now I am thinking, 'what can I
bring to it?'
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What is the best piece of advice you've been given?
The Legacy of Potholders: An Interview with Phyllis Thompson
Work every day. (Smiles) In a broader sense, think about your work every day. In academia, I
would try to write every day, or look at what I wrote the day before. When that doesn't happen, I forget
where I was before. You can get to a certain point, though, where it's okay if you haven't worked on it in
a month. I like to have a number of things that I'm working on...this studio is the best place I've had, so
I've got to make this work!
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How do you view Buffalo as an artist and resident?
From that lens, I might be touching on what I said previously, but I'm seeing myself as being in a
position to be supported. I see myself as a fish in this pool, and look at this city as giving a lot of support.
I am grateful that there is something like BAS, and that it could lead to something else. I kind of see
Buffalo as wanting to be nurturing...of course, it's relative to individuals. For me, I feel dormant here in
relation to other cities where I was very active, but I can't really compare it because I have to be active.
I'm incubated here, and I feel nurtured. I'm grateful that opportunities exist, because I don't want them
to go away, but you choose what to take advantage of, and what you can handle.