Chawne Kimber Explained

Chawne Kimber
Birth Place:Frankfort, Kentucky
Dean of the College
Discipline:Mathematics
Nationality:American
Alma Mater:University of Florida
Doctoral Advisor:Jorge Martinez
Workplaces:Washington and Lee University
Lafayette College
Wesleyan University

Chawne Monique Kimber (;[1] born 1971)[2] is an African-American mathematician and quilter,[3] known for expressing her political activism in her quilts.[4] [5] She was a professor at Lafayette College, where she headed the department of mathematics.[6] Kimber is now the Dean of the College at Washington and Lee University.[7]

Education and career

Kimber, a native of Frankfort, Kentucky,[8] comes from a family of cotton farmers and quilters in Alabama.[9] Although she writes that she "always loved math", she began her undergraduate studies at the University of Florida by studying engineering before switching to mathematics because she found it more fulfilling.[10] She earned a master's degree at the University of North Carolina in 1995, as a student of Idris Assani.[11] She returned to the University of Florida for doctoral studies, completing her Ph.D. in 1999. Her dissertation, Prime Ideals in Rings of Continuous Functions, connects abstract algebra with functional analysis and was supervised by Jorge Martinez.

After a term as Van Vleck Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Wesleyan University, she joined Lafayette College as an assistant professor. In mathematics, she is known for incorporating concepts of social justice into her classroom teaching.[12] She was a Professor and then head of the Math Department. In 2008, she along with Professor Sharon Jones began the Summer Program to Advance Leadership in STEM at Lafayette.[13] This six-week program where incoming students take college level writing and calculus address along with modules in STEM. Students are those who are identified as leaders from groups typically underrepresented in STEM fields.[14] In 2018, Kimber was one of six recipients of the prestigious Clare Booth Luce Scholarship to attend the HERS (Higher Education Resource Services) Institute.[15] While head of the Math Department, the department "worked to promote an inclusive culture based on the understanding that math is a gateway to many other fields in the sciences, technology and engineering".[16]

In May 2021, Washington and Lee University announced that Kimber would become the school's Dean of the College effective July 1, 2021.[17] She is responsible "for 21 departments and 13 interdisciplinary programs. The dean serves as chair of the Committee on Courses and Degrees and belongs to the Faculty Executive Committee. The dean reports to the provost and serves on the Provost's Academic Council as well as the President's Council".

Quilting

Kimber grew up with her great-grandmother's quilts and her father considered these "quilts his most prized possessions". Kimber began quilting in 2005, soon after completing her application for tenure at Lafayette, and her interest in quilting was renewed in 2007 by the death of her father. Her quilts are influenced by her great-grandmother's work which "used the same patchwork style as those associated with Gee's Bend" – Kimber views her work as a "contemporary adaptation" of that style. In 2008 she began creating highly politicized quilts and blogging about them, beginning with a series of quilts inspired by George Carlin's seven dirty words and by racist and sexist graffiti on her college campus.[18] [19] Her work has been associated with the "modern Quilting" movement, based on its geometric design and provocative content.[20] Her work includes varied subject matter that raise social issues including the killing of African Americans and sexual assault. As well as quilting, Kimber has also exhibited quilting-inspired works of mathematical origami.[21] [22]

Kimber's quilts are frequently included at quilting shows and museum exhibits of quilting. The Paul Mellon Arts Center put up a show of her works in 2018.[23] One of her quilts inspired by the death of Eric Garner won first place at QuiltCon West in 2016, and was included with other pieces by Kimber in a show on "Quilts and Human Rights" at the Pick Museum of Anthropology at Northern Illinois University.[24] Her work, still not, was acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the Renwick Gallery's 50th Anniversary Campaign.[25] [26] This exhibition highlighted that the piece's fabrics were "sourced from mid-century textiles". The description stated that "Kimber's choice to use vintage cloth and improvisational patterns draws on her memories and family history. Many of her enslaved ancestors in rural Alabama cultivated and ginned cotton. Her great-grandmother, Mamo, and other relatives expressed themselves through quilting. [...] Mamo's story was told through her quilts, and Kimber continues the thread".

Elizabeth Landau, for The Washington Post in 2020, commented that Kimber "tries to keep her math and quilting worlds separate. Some of her quilts deliberately rebel against the patterns and orderly structures that dominate math. They are — like jazz music played with fabrics and stitches — improvisational. But the thread of challenging systemic inequalities runs through both of Kimber's endeavors. [...] Against the backdrop of persistent social injustices, Kimber's quilts are both timely and timeless".[27]

References

  1. Web site: Allen . Aimee . 17 January 2017 . The Beautiful Mind of Chawne Kimber . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20211206053034/https://community.themodernquiltguild.com/resources/beautiful-mind-chawne-kimber . 6 December 2021 . Modern Quilt Guild.
  2. Web site: Kimber, Chawne Monique 1971- . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20190923011434/https://www.worldcat.org/identities/np-kimber,%20chawne%20monique$1971/ . 23 September 2019 . 22 September 2019 . WorldCat Identities.
  3. Lamb . Evelyn . 11 October 2018 . Math, Quilting and Activism: Mathematician Chawne Kimber shares her favorite theorems and quilts that make a statement . live . . https://web.archive.org/web/20240708064638/https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/roots-of-unity/math-quilting-and-activism/ . 8 July 2024 . 29 September 2024.
  4. Web site: Hlohowskyj . Maria . 2 February 2017 . The Colorful, Radical Quilts of Chawne Kimber . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240422000722/https://www.womenarts.org/2017/02/02/the-colorful-radical-quilts-of-chawne-kimber/ . 22 April 2024 . 29 September 2024 . Women Arts.
  5. News: Gelt . Jessica . 20 February 2016 . These quilts with messages about gun violence and racial injustice issues aim to discomfort . subscription . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240707220144/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-gun-violence-quilts-20160220-story.html . 7 July 2024 . 29 September 2024 . Los Angeles Times.
  6. Web site: Chawne Kimber . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20181012014558/https://math.lafayette.edu/people/chawne-kimber/ . 12 October 2018 . 11 October 2018 . Lafayette College.
  7. Web site: 5 May 2021 . Chawne Kimber Named Dean of the College at Washington and Lee University . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210506074602/https://columns.wlu.edu/chawne-kimber-named-dean-of-the-college-at-washington-and-lee-university/ . 6 May 2021 . 7 June 2021 . The Columns . . en . Press release.
  8. Web site: Artist - Chawne Kimber . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240707103115/https://americanart.si.edu/artist/chawne-kimber-32209 . 7 July 2024 . 29 September 2024 . Smithsonian American Art Museum.
  9. News: Neitz . Katie . Summer 2018 . Photography by Clay Wegrzynowicz . Beautiful and Powerful: Prof. Chawne Kimber stitches messaging about censorship, social injustice, and racism into layers of colorful cotton . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240416205816/https://magazine.lafayette.edu/summer2018/2018/07/11/beautiful-and-powerful/ . 16 April 2024 . 29 September 2024 . Lafayette Magazine . Lafayette College.
  10. News: Lum . Lydia . 2 May 2011 . Scholar Combines Math and Social Justice in the Classroom . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240530183720/https://www.diverseeducation.com/home/article/15090514/scholar-combines-math-and-social-justice-in-the-classroom . 30 May 2024 . 29 September 2024 . Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.
  11. Web site: Williams . Scott W. . Chawne Kimber . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160110201840/http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/PEEPS/chawne_kimber.html . 10 January 2016 . 11 October 2018 . Black Women in Mathematics . State University of New York at Buffalo.
  12. News: Grose . Ben . 28 October 2013 . Adding Diversity to Curricula, Starting in the Classrooms . subscription . live . https://archive.today/20231027-024041/https://www.chronicle.com/article/adding-diversity-to-curricula-starting-in-the-classrooms/ . 27 October 2023 . 29 September 2024 . The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  13. Web site: 31 October 2019 . Featuring the summer program to Advance Leadership in STEM @ Lafayette . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240604215041/https://citls.lafayette.edu/2019/10/31/featuring-the-summer-program-to-advance-leadership-in-stem-lafayette/ . 4 June 2024 . 29 September 2024 . Lafayette College Center for the Integration of Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship . Lafayette College.
  14. News: Winter 2010 . Advancing Leadership and Social Justice . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240930004858/https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/42191066/2010-sites-at-lafayette-lafayette-college . 30 September 2024 . 29 September 2024 . The McDonough Report . . 6–7.
  15. Web site: 5 November 2018 . STEM Stars . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240709015232/https://news.lafayette.edu/2018/11/05/stem-stars-2/ . 9 July 2024 . 2 June 2020 . Lafayette College News.
  16. Web site: Flaherty . Colleen . 19 November 2019 . Mathematician comes out against mandatory diversity statements, while others say they continue to be useful -- with some caveats . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20191119135215/http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/11/19/mathematician-comes-out-against-mandatory-diversity-statements-while-others-say-they . 19 November 2019 . 7 June 2021 . . en.
  17. Web site: Brantley . Max . 4 June 2021 . Another win for the Lost Cause: Washington and Lee University won't change its name . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231004190208/https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2021/06/04/another-win-for-the-lost-cause-washington-and-lee-university-wont-change-its-name . 4 October 2023 . 7 June 2021 . . en-US.
  18. News: Dampier . Cindy . 4 April 2017 . Uniting politically divided quilters, stitch by stitch . subscription . live . https://archive.today/20240930-013104/https://www.chicagotribune.com/2017/04/04/uniting-politically-divided-quilters-stitch-by-stitch/ . 30 September 2024 . 29 September 2024 . Chicago Tribune.
  19. Book: May, Rachel . Quilting with a Modern Slant: People, Patterns, and Techniques Inspiring the Modern Quilt Community . . 2014 . 9781612120638 . North Adams, MA . 82–83 . en . Chawne Kimber: How Words Matter . 854956985 . Google Books.
  20. News: Cox . Meg . 9 May 2013 . 'Modern Quilters' Stress Simplicity, Edgy Subjects: Quilting's new-wave movement focuses on provocative material; fury at the 'F' word . subscription . 29 September 2024 . The Wall Street Journal.
  21. Web site: 2014 . Chawne Kimber and Ethan Berkove: Weaves and Whorls . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231005043510/http://gallery.bridgesmathart.org/exhibitions/2014-joint-mathematics-meetings/chawne . 5 October 2023 . 11 October 2018 . Mathematical Art Galleries: 2014 Joint Mathematics Meetings, The Bridges Organization.
  22. Web site: Bruce . Kathy . Okaya . Michiko . 2013 . Crease, Fold, and Bend . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240724094440/https://galleries.lafayette.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/99/2017/04/Crease-Fold-Bend-1.pdf . 24 July 2024 . 29 September 2024 . Lafayette Art Galleries . 18.
  23. News: Bocek . Sasha . 26 January 2018 . Not Your Grandmother's Quilt: Chawne Kimber's Radical Knits . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231005043511/http://thechoatenews.choate.edu/2018/01/26/not-grandmothers-quilt-chawne-kimbers-radical-knits/ . 5 October 2023 . 29 September 2024 . The Choate News.
  24. Web site: 25 September 2017 . Pick Museum unveils quilt exhibit with a visit from Reverend Jesse L. Jackson Sr. . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231004190208/https://www.niutoday.info/2017/09/25/pick-museum-unveils-quilt-exhibit-with-a-visit-from-reverend-jesse-l-jackson-sr/ . 4 October 2023 . 29 September 2024 . NIU Today, Northern Illinois University.
  25. Book: Savig . Mary . This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World . Atkinson . Nora . Montiel . Anya . . 2022 . 9781913875268 . Washington, DC . 228–238 . en . 1291595008.
  26. Web site: Artworks: still not - Chawne Kimber [2019] ]. live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240707110747/https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/still-not-118676 . 7 July 2024 . 7 December 2022 . Smithsonian American Art Museum.
  27. News: Landau . Elizabeth . 23 December 2020 . 'I can't breathe': How one Black quilter channels social justice into her work . live . https://archive.today/20201223-194923/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/social-justice-quilts-chawne-kimber/2020/12/22/0f517ab8-205f-11eb-b532-05c751cd5dc2_story.html . 23 December 2020 . 30 March 2023 . . en-US . 0190-8286.

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