Lynore Routte and Kirstin Pires: The fabric of family

Host Gianofer Fields was interviewing textile artist Lynore Routte when Kirstin Pires, the Chazen's communications manager, came by with an incredibly moving gift.

Meet Me at the Chazen is a podcast about the the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Chazen Museum of Art, the largest collecting museum in the Big Ten. As we report what’s happening here, we'll also explore what it means to be an art museum at a public university and how art museums can help enrich and strengthen the communities they serve. Meet Me at the Chazen theme and incidental music is “Swinging at the Pluto Lounge,” composed and performed by Marvin Tate and friends, and is used with permission of the artists.

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Transcript

Lynore Routte  00:05
The base inspiration was Sanford's work with quilts. Sanford Biggers's work with quilts, how he deconstructs them and gives them a whole new existence. I'm not sure if you're familiar with his work, but this is like the way dimensionalizes this thing. So it's just such an inspiration. So Mark was like, yeah, use what you feel from his pieces of like, let's just start with vintage quilts. And then, in response to the chains being broken, in this piece, I connected it with the wedding ring motif, that's a really super common quilting. So marriages, this marriage between enslaved Africans, the descendants, and America, this is a marriage. It's a very bad marriage. It needs more than counseling. I don't know what we're gonna do to heal it. But every time I look at the wedding ring thing, it feels this intertwining that's supposed to be joyous. And it could also feel like the chains that are restricting.

 Gianofer Fields  01:14
Meet Me at the Chazen. I'm your host, Gianofer Fields. Given the nature of Thomas Ball's Emancipation Group sculpture, it may be hard to believe that there were beautiful moments during the preparation of the exhibit. In fact, there were many. It's April of 2022, and we are standing just outside Gallery IV within earshot of the artists preparing to perform. What started out as a standard interview turned into something lovely. Kirstin Pires is the communications manager for the Chazen Museum of Art. Lenore Routte, is an artist thriving in Baltimore. On the surface, it may be hard to find a thread that connects a cowgirl from the Midwest to an artist from the East Coast. Listen closely and you may find that they are cut from the same cloth.

 Gianofer Fields  02:07
Lynore - it's Lynore right?

 Lynore Routte  02:08
Yeah. 

Gianofer Fields  02:10
I have an Aunt Lenora. So I want to say Lenor-a. 

Lynore Routte  02:13
See Lynore is, where Eleonora is where my great Aunt Eleanora Hughes, and her maiden name was Twine. And my mom's middle name was Eleanor. 

Gianofer Fields  02:24
 I have an Elnore, an Eleanora, Eleanor, Laura. All in the same family.

 Lynore Routte  02:31
Yeah, that's funny, we have a bunch them, other people.

 Gianofer Fields  02:34
So when we think about vintage quilts, we think of them as something that needs to be preserved. We don't often take them and then repurpose them. So talk to me about making that leap to doing that.

 Lynore Routte  02:46
This is the very most interesting part to me, is this isn't … this is a Chinese printed quilt. The fabric is literally, there are no patches on this. It's a singular piece of fabric from China that they made a quilt-like pattern and then they did machine quilting over it, just a mass-produced thing. So I got this, it was queen size with two shams, for $10 on Facebook Marketplace. So what I did was like I cut it into a cape and that is in reference to the Wide Awakes, the modern iteration and the original. So the shaping is more like the original ones, which was circular capes.

 Gianofer Fields  03:33
So yes. So explain what the Wide Awakes are for folks who don't know. I'm still learning.

 Lynore Routte  03:37
This is still, we all are, yeah, yeah, yeah. So the Wide Awakes were a group that helped Lincoln get elected. They were super protective of the crowds that would surround Lincoln, they would signify themselves with oilcloth capes. And they did have a motif of an eye, wide awake eye. They also had lanterns on sticks. They were very strategic and how they presented the visuals. So there have been iterations. And this is the current one I'm learning about and providing some kind of visual, I hope it works. it seems to, it seems to be!

 Lynore Routte  03:38
I'm really interested, Lynore, or in this idea that you're, you found a quilt from China, that has appropriated a style of quilting, and you've now repurposed it in the presence of a sculpture where an enslaved person is being free. So it's this whole circular event that you're a part of.

 Lynore Routte  04:41
Thank you. Thank you for seeing that and saying that because I feel like I'm talking too much. But these are the thoughts that are going through my head. I'm going to even take it to a bigger space, do it. Okay, all of the black stitching. I did that kind of thing in the shashiko stitch, traditional Japanese stitching, to kind of give it the hand ...

 Gianofer Fields  05:02
Hand of the maker.

 Lynore Routte  05:04
Exactly. It didn't drape the same until I sat there for hours, just stitching. I also add added studs. But that's another thing I haven't been able to really develop fully yet. So I'm watching a film, a short film about an African designer, who is based in Europe, but comes back to Kenya to source the outcast stuff that's thrown out of Europe and America. So when you use something, and you donate it to a thrift shop, the stuff winds up going to Africa to dump which is my, my bigger view is about repurposing. Right, reducing and all of that reusing, everything I have on, is repurposed. And we'll talk about, we can talk about that in a little bit. I really want to, I'm watching this film, The gentleman is walking through a market in Kenya. And he's talking about, he buys sheets, so he can make mockups of his dress, like 12 and finished products. This exact quilt is hanging in a market in Kenya. I was like, I cannot believe it, I took, I got the clip, I sent it to Mark and I'm like, I cannot even tell you how wrong this is. I bought this in Baltimore, on a Facebook Marketplace for $10. So it had to come from China. All of this work been done. Not real work. But some work was done the fabric itself shipped from China to the United States. And someone used it and didn't want it anymore, she could sell it to me for $10 and she made a profit just a queen size quilt. I was hanging up here like, I was like wow, this world is being polluted by things that aren't even real in the first place.

 Gianofer Fields  06:53
But you've made it very real.

Lynore Routte  06:55
That's why I felt like oh, I have to put my foot in it. I have to put something on it that it's like I'm gonna rescue this from garbage, but more than that I'm gonna make it feel real in a kind of Pinocchio way like "you're a real quilt now."

 Gianofer Fields  07:15
Standing here talking to you you, feathers, you have a spirit pouch, you have all these things that are very spiritual and connect it with something that's that's bigger and broader and more ethereal than us. Are you imbuing that, I always say there's always, there's DNA on the work with somebody who's working with a textile. But there's a spiritual path that's on this quilt as well. 

Lynore Routte  07:36
Absolutely, I'm very much aware of that. I read tarot. I've been working in the spiritual world for a lot longer than any of the things. Talk about DNA. The binding that I made from that is my brother Guy and my son Arjuna's T shirts that they were throwing out because they were beaded, beady and manky,  and I lightened them, bleach them, and I was wearing them as T shirts. And then I'm like, Well, I have 100 of these. I need binding. I'm not buying any binding. So I just cut it.

Gianofer Fields  08:11
Not for a $10 quote.

Lynore Routte  08:12
Not for a 10-dollar quote or even a million dollar quote because I like stitches. And then I use threads that, my mom passed five years ago, but I have all of her leftover threads. Look it's on both sides. Who's this? I'm not gonna keep bragging on this.

Gianofer Fields  08:28
You keep bragging on that quilt.

Lynore Routte  08:29
I'm so happy that I got it. And it was it was my first purchase in Baltimore, which had just moved to, relocated from New York. And I was able to use it. Sequins that people give me, things that they think I could use, all the sequins were gifted to me. I didn't have to buy anything. 

Gianofer Fields  08:47
So this quilt is also about community. It's also about putting all the energy from people who've given you things, your brother, your family, your mother, all these folks.

Lynore Routte  08:55
Yes, every single thing feels valuable to me. There's no waste. There is no waste in my life. Um, this skirt. It's a I don't know if you're familiar with Natalie Chanin. So this is the Alabama Chanin pattern. This is the first one that I learned when I was taking her classes. And the T shirt is a set of four T shirts from someone else who was engaging the work, Pharoahe Monch, these are his T shirts that were left over from his tour.

 Gianofer Fields  09:26
So our family.  

Lynore Routte  09:30
These shirts are left over! Ain't nobody buying a 3X. Let me just,cut it up and try to make the skirt, and I've been wearing this skirt for 10, 10 plus years. 

Gianofer Fields  09:41
Are you ever finished Lenore? Are you ...

Lynore Routte  09:44
No, no, no, no. We would, this is what Mark was just saying, which one of these are we leaving, so I can continue to work on the others and back to the original point about taking a quilt and using repurposing them. These quilts were literally, that is not even a completed quilt, that was a quilt top. I got a matching set of quilt tops $30 for the pair, queen size, no finishing, you could see that they were teaching someone because the seams were wonky. It's perfect for what we're doing then it is I put a thin backing of just a sheet, an old sheet. And I don't feel as guilty about had no top stitching or anything. The only top stitching it'll have will be my hand.

 Gianofer Fields  10:35
So do you, you just mentioned guilty? Do you feel guilty sometimes?

Lynore Routte  10:38
Yes. 

Gianofer Fields  10:38
Why? That's a big question. Sorry. 

Lynore Routte  10:43
No, no, I feel guilty when I sometimes when I buy something new. That's it. And I just I just treated myself to a very expensive pair of shoes. And I learned how to make some shoes as well. But I was like I can't. These shoes were singing in my heart, they're being delivered in Baltimore today. Asking myself to one pair of shoes. The last few years I'm like I'm not buying any new clothes for a year.

 Gianofer Fields  11:06
We are related! This is the longest I've ever gotten in my life without buying new clothes. And I've made myself a promise that anything that I have, has to be remade or I have to make it out of quilting fabric or whatever. So I am not allowed to buy anything new if I want something new. I have to make some stuff I already have.

Lynore Routte  11:22
This is what I do this what you do. This is what we do.

 Gianofer Fields  11:25
We're family.

Lynore Routte  11:26
Yes. See? Exactly.

Gianofer Fields  11:29
But the last, the only thing I will spend money on and a miracle that I haven't, is shoes and I haven't bought any shoes in the last, since the day after Christmas. 

 Lynore Routte  11:38
I bought these secondhand, and these are like $300 and I got them for $80. 

Gianofer Fields  11:44
And you will have them forever. 

Lynore Routte  11:46
Absolutely. This jacket is literally my cousin's, he lost a lot of weight when he joined the military and he just gave me all of his old things. This is a T shirt that my son designed. The logo from all of our friends is the musician Jean Grae. And she commissioned this, he was reluctant but he did it, and so this is one of the leftover T shirts wasn't centered properly so I got it.

 Gianofer Fields  12:11
So Lenore as we stand here in this room and you see your works among these works of art and yours are just as valued and worthy. I in my opinion, I think we talked about you never been finished right? Is there ever any trip of trepidation when you start?

Lynore Routte  12:29
Never. I always, I can't wait to start. Even when I'm, I'm here in this amazing place. And seeing things that have triggered my imagination of, I can't wait to get home. I'm already sorting in my mind what I need to use to get to the idea that I'm having. I don't really I want to get a sketchbook, I don't sketch much, but I felt I have to sketch it because I have to dive in. There's no fear of these things because they're forgiving. I tune in to the energy of them before I started some ... Drawing I'm always uptight about. What if I don't render it in a way that anyone understands? But this stuff, textiles, and I do jewelry.

Gianofer Fields  13:14
She showed me her Instagram page.

Lynore Routte  13:18
That I have no problem if I see beads I'm already organizing. No fear at all.

Kirstin Pires  13:23
I brought this, because I want to give you this gift. But it's even more special for Gianofer to be here.

Lynore Routte  13:32
Oh boy this is what I get ... I'm such an easy crier.

 Gianofer Fields  13:36
Good!

Lynore Routte  13:37
Oh my goodness. First of all, you know I'm going to keep the paper.

Kirstin Pires  13:43
And I repurposed it. 

Lynore Routte  13:46
I love you.

Kirstin Pires  13:46
So I thought that would be appropriate. 

Lynore Routte  13:48
And my son and I talked to ... Oh, you have got to be kidding. This is gorgeous! It's so beautiful.

Kirstin Pires  14:09
This is a square, part of the quilt I was telling you about. My great grandmother and my grandmother started it, and I want you to have this because when I finish the quilt, I'm gonna leave space for your family in my quilt. And you can have that for your family.

 Lynore Routte  14:39
Thank you so much.  

Lynore Routte  14:49
Oh, man, this is so beautiful. I never would have never ... this is ...  you obviously … telling my son about how much we exchanged ... and he definitely wants one of your hats. 

Kirstin Pires  15:07
He will have one. 

Lynore Routte  15:08
This this exceeds anything I ever expected again, in this experience. 

Kirstin Pires  15:13
I don't know if this is one that … who actually worked on it, I think it's my grandmother because if you look on the back, it's all hand stitched. She was amazing with her skill. But this ...

Lynore Routte  15:30
Beautiful stitches, these stitches. This is gorgeous.

Kirstin Pires  15:34
I was telling Lenore that my grandmother and her mother worked on this on this quilt, not this, I don't know, this particular square. And then so she wanted my dad to work on it. And then ... 

Lynore Routte  15:50
You're gonna get my makeup all running.

Kirstin Pires  15:51
And then I and then I worked on it and my niece worked on it. So is that five generations?

Lynore Routte  15:59
This is so amazing.

Kirstin Pires  16:01
And I just felt such a connection to you as an artist and textiles and I, I don't even have words, but I started thinking about it. And I thought, I was thinking about how I could honor that and connect with you with something.

 Lynore Routte  16:20
 This is so beyond.

 Kirstin Pires  16:21
And it just came to me and I am so, I'm going to finish that quilt now. And I'm going to leave space for your family.

 Lynore Routte  16:30
Please.

Kirstin Pires  16:31
And we're forever connected.

Lynore Routte  16:35
This is what, this is why I'm here. Thank you. Thank you.

Kirstin Pires  16:51
This is happy. 

Gianofer Fields  16:56
It's like, it's just this like bright spot in the middle. It's like just fun and energy and beauty ...

Lynore Routte  17:03
On so many levels. It's the, did you touch the fabric?

Kirstin Pires  17:07
It's from the 30s or 40s.

Lynore Routte  17:11
One of my favorite periods of clothing is the '30s. 

Kirstin Pires  17:15
And my my great grandmother was Swedish, a Swedish immigrant, and these are the Swedish flag colors. Yes. I don't know if that was ...

Lynore Routte  17:25
That's funny, it's Barbados too. When I was I was a little kid, my mom took us to Barbados a few months for vacation and I had my bathing suit, it was a color, it just happened to be the color of the flag. And you put it in the most perfect loving paper. I am so done.

Kirstin Pires  17:43
That paper came from my sister.

Lynore Routte  17:45
Okay, I can't even. I can't I can't ... I can't I can't wait to get home, I leave tomorrow. This is going right on the altar, this is such a gift, I have to honor your family.

Gianofer Fields  18:14
I always say as long as I have this [recorder] in my hand, I don't cry, and you made a liar out of me. I made a liar out of me today. That was best, that's like, the most precious, thank you so much for doing that. And when you get it …

Kirstin Pires  18:29
I didn't want to, I didn't want to impose on your experience here.

Gianofer Fields  18:39
We were talking about you when you left about how sweet you are how much we love you. I got it on tape. It's no joke. 

Gianofer Fields  18:48
You've been listening to Meet Me at the Chazen and our guest, Lynore Routte, is an artist based in Baltimore Maryland. Kirstin Pires is the communications manager for the Chazen Museum of Art. Meet Me at the Chazen is a production of the Chazen Museum of Art on the campus of UW–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information about the museum, its collections, and exhibitions visit chazen.wisc.edu I'm your host Gianofer Fields. Thank you for listening.