The Art of Female Friendship
Celebrating Galentine's Day!
I am really jazzed about Galentine’s Day celebrating female friendship on February 13th, the day before Valentine’s Day. From the iconic TV series, Parks and Recreation, fictional Deputy Director of the Parks and Recreation Department, Leslie Knope (played by Amy Poehler) salutes “ladies celebrating ladies” with a fabulous brunch and lots of support for the women in her life.
I love how this fictionalized holiday has become a bonafide real-life phenomenon to recognize friendship in lieu of hyped up Valentine’s Day. Want to read a bit more about the Galentine's phenomenon, click here.
The Art of Female Friendship
Following my Galentine’s theme, I’ve been noodling about female friendship and particularly visual representations of friendship. There’s just so much interesting, fabulous imagery out there, so this will be the first of several posts related to signs and symbols of friendship.
A Girls’ Circle of Friendship, Scout’s Honor
Many of you know that I’m a Girl Scout leader. One of the first female friendship images that popped up for me is the friendship circle at the end of a troop meeting. The scouts hold hands, crossed right over left, and sing the Girl Scout Friendship Song from the Girl Scout Song Book, 1925.
I really like the second verse about the unending circle of friendship. We embody this metaphor in the friendship circle as girls and women sing, connected, hand-in-hand.
After the song, there is the hand squeeze which passes from scout to scout all the way round the circle. And lastly, the circle takes a dynamic spin as we twirl to the outside of the circle while uncrossing our arms (sorry, it’s kind of hard to describe).
I created this looped friendship and community circle symbol a few years ago when I was participating in a spiritual group. It pops up in my doodles and drawings when I feel connected and grateful. (I shared a version with you in my December 24 post.) Here I juxtapose the white circle of loops with warm red and hot magenta (part of my Art Well 4 Life color palette). It is exactly what it feels like in the Girl Scout friendship circle when you spin out.
Friendship's Strong Ties
I enjoy meandering around the interwebs, on that long and winding Google road, and see where synchronicity takes me.
From the Friendship Song, I came upon the Girl Scout** Friendship Knot. Truth be told, I have never been particularly good at the knot tying component of Girl Scouts and thank goodness I work with fabulous troop co-leaders! (If knots are your thing, the Friendship Knot is actually one of the eleven basic, traditional Chinese knots.)
While making physical knots gets me in a twist, I love me a pattern. The Friendship Knot diagram has great visual appeal for me with its two interwoven, overlapping lines.
I also admire how the Friendship Knot is an ideogram--a graphic representation of an idea--of a strong, beautiful, unbreakable bond among people.
**The Friendship Knot represents the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGS).
You may think that my Google wandering led me to friendship bracelets and you would be right. I’m going to save them for a future post, stay tuned.
Sewing a Pattern of Friendship
When I was a young girl, my mother and aunts would have what they called “Needle Night.” Around our dining room table, they would work on their individual sewing or needle craft projects and chat. I just loved the female energy of these evenings. I have felt this same feminine vibe during art making evenings I’ve participated in and led. (I am experimenting with a virtual version in my monthly Creative Confidence classes!)
Could the Quilting Bee a Better Metaphor?
I imagine this is similar to the female dynamic of a quilting bee. I just love how the quilting bee is such a fantastic synthesis of literal and metaphorical female friendship.
It is a collaborative, design process with individuals contributing compositions (a block or square) which are harmonized with thematic visual elements like a particular color or shape.
The quilting bee is also the embodiment of a community in action and camaraderie, “more hands are better than one,” piecing together individual quilting blocks into a unified whole while enjoying each others’ company.
I was curious about Victorian traditions and the 19th century tsunami of sentimentality, which led me to the practice of making friendship quilts. I turned to Lisa Berray, Manager of Interpretation and Visitor Services at the Agricultural History Farm Park (AHFP) of Montgomery County, who leads this fabulous living history farm and farmhouse.
Here’s the scoop from Lisa:
“Friendship quilts became common in the 1840s and '50s and were often the central focus of quilting bees or guilds. Often, there would be a couple of designated households within a community where women would gather to make a quilt. For example, the farmhouse here at the AHFP was one such house. For many years, there was a large quilt rack in the dining room which would be raised and lowered from the ceiling when it was in or out of use.
“Today, most folks use fabric pens to create their messages on a friendship quilt, but up until even about 50 years ago, the tradition was to embroider messages and symbols unique to the person doing the work or specific to the intended recipient of the quilt.
“Often, as well, the piecing of the quilt top or individual squares was done using fabric from an individual’s own wardrobe (worn out or out grown clothing) so you can see how every piece and stitch of the quilt contained multitudes of love and significance. A great contemporary example is the AIDS quilt, while older examples could be crazy quilts (late Victorian) and just traditionally patterned quilts (1840s to present).
Crazy Quilt, 1890s, Unknown Maker, Montgomery County, MD, Courtesy of the Agricultural History Farm Park of Montgomery County, MD
Cat Quilt, 1996, Carol S. Berray (1947-2018), Albion, NY
“Sometimes, too, a friendship quilt could just be a single square or lap blanket from one person to another, or in honor of someone.
“This quilt was made for me by my mother in remembrance of my first cat after she passed away in 1995. This quilt will always hold precious meaning to me because Mom acknowledged and honored my grief and love of my animals with her time and talent!”
Thank you Lisa Berray for sharing your knowledge, experiences, and your quilts!
Sending Friendship
And of course, one of the most significant and pleasurable signs and signifiers of friendship: the card, selected, written, signed, delivered, and received.
I will do a whole blog post about cards down the line! I love making cards. I started my first card-making "business," the Window Workshop, when I was about 10 years old in a little nook in our basement.
I've designed this set of 15 friendship cards to print out and give to friends, OLD school! (You’ll notice I arranged them here like quilt squares. I couldn’t help myself!)
I’ll leave you with three fabulous friendship quotes which I’ve included in my card set.
