< Previous80 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuNe 2024 SHIP SHAPE Arango loves to share her sto- ry, her recipes, the tools that got her where she is. She’ll chat you up in person, maybe even ask you to go for a run with her. She’s quick to point out she’s not a nutritionist — just an ever-evolving success story. She shares free tips on Facebook and Instagram — under 409sunshine and 409sunshinegtx — respec- tively and plans to start a free club to help people get moving and find support for their jour- ney toward better health. Arango enthusiastically advises anyone to try plant-based eating. Start slow, maybe with Meatless Mondays or even making just one plant-based meal a week. “You’ll notice the change,” she said. “You won’t feel weighed down, you’ll feel lighter. I dislike that feeling, and I don’t like the guilt I feel afterward when I don’t honor my body. “But it starts with giving yourself permission to do what you need to nurture your body, mind and soul and understand- ing it’s a lifelong journey,” she said. “Embrace that, and you’re resetting your goals for some- thing positive.” Denise Arango jogs through her neighborhood on Galveston’s West End. “I reversed my health with a natural approach. My doctors were amazed. They had never seen such a change without medicine.” DENISE ARANGO COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuNe 2024 81 SERVICE SPECIAL With This Ad expires 6-30-24 $ 69 409.925.8275 TACLBO22538E FINANCING AVAILABLE FREE ESTIMATES KEEP IT LOCAL! www.AffordableAirTX.com In Independent Living you can be who you were meant to be.... It’s never too late to discover new hobbies, start an exercise program, and make new life-long friends. Choose The Meridian Independent Living and let us take care of the little things ~ so you can live big! Enjoy our fine dining, coffee bar, on-site library, fitness room and movie theater. Spend some quiet time in our chapel. Participate in scheduled activities. Take a walk on the beach. Your days can be filled with all of this and more! The Beach House Assisted Living & Memory Care gives the residents the support they need while they maintain their dignity and independence. On our Post-Acute Skilled Unit we provide Skilled Nursing and Therapy after a hospital stay where Medicare and Insurance will often cover your stay. We also offer Long-Term Care. At The Meridian, we are not just community... we are Family. Call us today or Book a Tour here! We can’t wait to meet you! www.themeridian-galveston.com Call today 409.763.6437 2228 Seawall Boulevard, Galveston Island, TX 77550 The Meridian is a Senior Living Community82 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuNe 2024 CO u RT e SY TH e KINS e Y AFRICAN AM e RICAN ART & HISTORY COLL e CTION COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuNe 2024 83 FEATURE A 20/20 VISION OF AMERICA Kinsey African American Art and History Collection challenges ‘The Myth of Absence’ story by MONIQUE BATSON A bout 40 years ago, a friend of Bernard Kinsey found a bill of sale for an 18-year- old African American man. “He told me he was going to send it to me,” Kinsey said. “I opened it up and it changed my life. I didn’t know that some- one could actually own somebody until I held this bill of sale in my hand and it was dated 1832. From that time on, I’ve been trying to answer a simple question: How did Afri- can Americans get into this predicament in America?” Now the Kinsey family has more than 700 primary source documents dating back to 1595, books first published in 1600 and paintings dating as far back as 1865. Their traveling exhibit has been displayed in 40 cities worldwide. (Above right) During the past 50 years, Bernard and Shirley Kinsey have amassed more than 1,000 pieces of art and collectibles related to Black history and culture. (Clockwise from top left) Artist Samuel L. Dunson Jr. depicts three African Americans harvesting books from the soil of the earth. A woman wipes the dirt off a volume while a young man behind her holds a copy of “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran. While the male has cultivated a bag full of books, his dress suggests this work is not menial labor. These individuals are cultivating knowledge. The Kinseys – Bernard, Shirley and their son, Khalil – are the subjects in Dunson’s portrait; “United States Soldiers at Camp William Penn,” 1863 Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments Chromolithograph. Blacks were banned from military combat until late 1862, despite pleas and petitions demanding they be included in the war effort. Once the ban was lifted, after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, Black leaders, including Frederick Douglass, encouraged Blacks to join the fight for full citizenship. The Bureau of Colored Troops was formed to recruit and register Black volunteers for the Union Army. About 180,000 Blacks served as Union soldiers during the Civil War. This is one of the first recruiting posters used to promote Black service; “The Boss,” 2006, Quilted cotton, appliqué, by Bisa Butler. Butler created this quilt using early 20th-century icons of Americana: Aunt Jemima and Sawmill Peak and other goods that used Black bodies in advertising, to symbolize the lasting effect of the commodification of African-American imagery and labor. For the Kinseys, the power of Butler’s image lies in its representations of the 4 million African Americans who toiled on 75,000 cotton plantations, generating billions of dollars for their owners from their free labor; “The Walls,” 1951, oil on Masonite, by Hughie Lee-Smith. CO u RT e SY “The Kinsey Collection is one of the more comprehensive collections in America that documents the African American story of accomplishment and achievement,” Kinsey said. But in decades of collecting information, Kinsey and his wife, 84 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuNe 2024 FEATURE Shirley, have worked to highlight “The Myth of Absence,” demon- strating the contributions of African American people throughout history. “In 1595, before Jamestown was founded, there were African Amer- icans in San Augustine being bap- tized,” Bernard Kinsey said, referring to the small town in East Texas. “We also have a 1695 document of an African American couple getting married in San Augustine. The African American story is not just about slavery. There were 700,000 free Black people living in America during slavery, and those people contributed to the story of America. So we try to concentrate on that part.” The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection is on dis- play though June 23 at Holocaust Museum Houston, which compares the size of the display to that of the Smithsonian Institution Museums. “Adolph Hitler studied Ameri- can segregation and Jim Crow in putting together his concentration camps,” Kinsey said. “Here is one of the most despicable people in the world, and where did he learn to get guidance on how he was going to mistreat the Jewish com- munity? It was America. “When German professors in higher education were leaving Ger- many, most American universities would not hire Jewish professors because of antisemitism. Guess who hired those professors? Black colleges all over the south.” The couple’s son, Khalil Kinsey, became a part of the business after reading the first book written by his parents. “It changed his life,” Bernard Kinsey said. “Before he started getting involved with the family, I couldn’t get him interested in this kind of stuff.” After writing their first book, which was published in 2009, Ber- CO u RT e SY HOLOCA u ST M u S eu M HO u STON CO u RT e SY COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuNe 2024 85 nard asked Khalil to edit the document. “Basically he dove in with us and he’s been with us ever since,” Ber- nard said. Bernard said meeting his wife of almost 60 years is also part of why they focus on African American con- tributions. While the two were enrolled at Florida A&M University, Shirley was arrested during a civil rights demon- stration centered at opening movie theaters in Tallahassee. “Can you imagine being 17 years old dressing up to go to jail in a very hostile environment?” Bernard said. “We’ve been together for 60 years, and I think that’s a testament to not only our partnership but how we saw our lives evolving.” Now the family strives to create a conversation about the value and contributions of the African American community to the formation of the United States. The Kinseys on June 21 will pres- ent items from their collection during a presentation and book signing at Rosenberg Library, 2310 Sealy Ave. in Galveston, beginning at 5 p.m. Attendance is free, and books will be available for purchase. Bernard said the event, which will be centered around Juneteenth, is for all ages. “You cannot understand American history without understanding the African American story of contribution,” he said. “And once you understand that, for the first time you can have 20/20 vi- sion in America. Otherwise, most peo- ple are walking around with cataracts because you don’t have a full picture of how America became America.” “You cannot understand American history without understanding the African American story of contribution.” BERNARD KINSEY (Below) Visitors view The Kinsey Collection at Holocaust Museum Houston. (Opposite, from top) Shirley and Bernard Kinsey sign copies of their book, “The Kinsey Collection: Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey.” The Kinseys will be at Rosenberg Library in Galveston on June 21 for a presentation and book signing; Sculpture from The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection on display at the Holocaust Museum Houston. The traveling exhibit includes paintings, photographs, rare books, letters, manuscripts and more that offer a well-rounded look at the African American experience and provide new perspectives on the nation’s history and culture. CO u RT e SY HOLOCA u ST M u S eu M HO u STON86 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuNe 2024 CURRENTS | ART DREAM WEAVER Islander practices and teaches the ancient art of the loom story by BARBARA CANETTI photos by STUART VILLANUEVA H umans have been using looms for thousands of years — the first loom can be traced back to the Neolithic period, about 12,000 years ago, according to historians. The loom has shaped how we dress, furnish our homes and express ourselves creatively. Though an ancient practice, the art of weaving still is an excit- ing and fun activity, Galveston resident Sandra Miller said. Miller has four looms she uses to create unique patterns and designs on rugs, blankets, table runners and other items. Miller, who owns a knitting/crochet/weaving shop called Joyfully Stranded, also teaches the art of weaving on the looms to locals and visitors to Galveston. “It is really fascinating to see how the threads go from a cone to something on your table,” Miller said. “There are hun- dreds of styles and although I have been doing this for almost 40 years, there is so much I don’t know. But I know enough to teach others.” Miller got hooked on loom weaving nearly 40 years ago when she went to a weeklong workshop in Chautauqua in western New York. But she learned to knit when she was 10 and crochet when she was even younger. In addition to clothing, other items such as huts, roofs and entire houses were being woven together since Neolithic time. The earliest record of a loom dates back to 7000 B.C.E. in modern-day Turkey, according to a study done at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, which found that although its particular form has varied through the ages and by locality, the early looms’ essential parts have remained the same. The four looms in Miller’s island shop all are different. One is a small, tabletop model that could be used to make intricate patterns on smaller items and a second one now is being used by a student who is creating four matching 6-foot- long cotton/linen blankets in different colors for her children. A third loom, probably handmade decades ago and given to her as a gift, is all wood and intricately put together. But she isn’t using it. COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuNe 2024 87 Artist Sandra Miller creates beautiful textile works using looms. She owns Joyfully Stranded in Galveston.88 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuNe 2024 CURRENTS | ART Her favorite loom, however, is a large maple counterbalance loom, called a Cam- bridge Loom, made in 1935 by the Reed Loom Company in Michigan. Lately, she’s working on a series of rag rugs, using cotton strips of various colors and designs. She sits on a bench behind the loom and operates the mechanisms for hours at a time. The loom came from a friend in La Porte who had five looms and was unloading them to friends who wanted them. “I always wanted a pretty, old loom,” Mill- er said. “I had to take this one apart to move it. I photographed it so I would be able to put it back together.” Miller can weave a 3-foot-long rug in sev- eral hours on the loom, but setting up the threads and designs takes a day or more, depending on how difficult and intricate the project is. “The set up is very time-intensive,” she said. Hundreds of threads are stretched under tension from a beam in the back of the loom and strung through a series of wires to cre- ate a pattern. Floor treadles, which are the foot-powered lever mechanisms that control the harness and where the design informa- tion is stored, determine which threads will be woven into the pattern. These are called the warp threads. A second set of threads, called the weft threads, pass under and over the warp, guid- ed by a smooth wood shuttle as the fabric is being woven. The two sets of threads cross each other to make the weave. It’s complicated at times and requires some knowledge of math, but once it’s set up, it can be fun and relaxing, she said. Miller, who grew up in Houston, always had a dream of owning a yarn shop, and when she retired from local school districts as a speech therapist six years ago, she put her plan into action. She shopped at the Antique Warehouse in Galveston, buying in- teresting-looking furniture for a future store and put everything in storage. Five years ago, she finally found a building with living quarters above on 19th Street. She spent the (From top) Sandra Miller has four looms in her textile shop, including a small, tabletop model that could be used to make intricate patterns on smaller items; woven textiles are displayed on a tabletop at Joyfully Stranded in Galveston. (Opposite) Miller weaves a colorful work on an antique loom. COASTMONTHLY.COM | JuNe 2024 89 pandemic years remodeling the building. She furnished the downstairs with an- tiques and eclectic storage units such as baskets, boxes and bowls, and gathered art, jewelry, beads, baskets, ceramics, wools, yarn and other assorted items from 14 local artists to put in the shop to accompany her hand-dyed wool and all types of art tools. She displays antique spools, wool dryers, yarn winders, spindles and an embossed lead whorl used for spinning and dating from about 300 B.C.E., giving guests a peek at the history of weaving. She conducts classes in knitting, crochet, weaving and beading, and creates a comfort- able community meeting place for people who want to knit, crochet or chat at the same time. Several couches forming a semi-circle are available for anyone who wants to go to the shop and create, especially on Friday evenings, when she hosts Fiber Friday. “Yarn people seek out yarn shops wherever they go,” she said. “Half of my customers are not from this area, but make a special trip to the store. I love teaching people how to use the loom because they get so excited. But being here — surround- ed by all the things I love to do — it was always my dream.” “I love teaching people how to use the loom because they get so excited.” SANDRA MILLERNext >