On August 10th, Dr. Joan Gaither's Community Birthday Celebration returned from a several-year hiatus just in time to mark her 80th birthday. It was a day filled with incredible music, food, and friendship, fitting for its milestone. There were over 100 attendees, including family, friends, and colleagues from Dr. Gaither's countless roles in the community. So, it is a joy to celebrate the return of this summer tradition that embodies Joan's giving spirit and displays Joan's impact on the community through the overwhelming support for the YPS Program in her honor.
To contribute to the Dr. Joan M.E. Gaither Young People's Studio Scholarship Fund in honor of Dr. Joan Gaither, please visit mica.edu/joangaither.
Dr. Joan Gaither joined MICA's faculty in 1996 after receiving a bachelor's degree in art education from Morgan State University in 1965 and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1988. Her family deeply influenced her early artistic experiences, as she crafted rag rugs alongside her mother and grandmother. During her junior high years, her teacher and mentor, George Barrick, inspired her to use art as a tool for reflection, documentation, and communication. As an artist, Dr. Gaither has cultivated a distinctive voice through her exploration of mixed media, fibers, and photographic images. Since the mid-1970s, she has been known for creating large-scale artworks that explore identity and culture while exhibiting with peers and mentors like Joyce Scott and Dr. Leslie King Hammond. Her early work included photographic and watercolor pieces that focused on character studies of her surroundings, blending images to express complex ideas and narratives. In 2000, Dr. Gaither created her first large narrative quilt, My Story: A Family Quilt. This 10' x 12' quilt, rich in Maryland State Flag colors and adorned with photo transfers, gold threads, and intricate embellishments, represents her culture and family history. This work sparked her extensive quilt-making journey, which took off during her sabbatical in 2003.
In her work and throughout her life, Dr. Gaither has demonstrated an unrelenting commitment to using art to affect social change. She creates intricate quilts celebrating heritage and community. She says, "When I'm quilting from the soul, I think the fabric can hold not just the memory of the cloth, but it can hold the whole story." Through renowned works such as the Sesquicentennial 1864 Slave Emancipation Quilt and American Women Making a Difference, Dr. Gaither creates visual metaphors that inspire reflection and action—instilling a sense of hope and possibility in all who see them. Her artworks have been open to community participation since 2006, allowing people to "tell the stories they can only tell."
Her quilts, beginning with Trails Tracks Tarmac, incorporate community oral histories, photographs, and objects depicting largely untold stories. The number of volunteers for each quilt grows and increases the number of community members documenting their personal histories - Common Threads, a collaboration between 11 organizations and four schools, has reached 750 participants. Dr. Gaither's community quilting has continued with collaborative programs documenting church history in Greenville, North Carolina, patriotism and flags in Baltimore, Maryland, and Negro League baseball in Galesville, Maryland. As an educator, she takes this practice further by teaching workshops on documentary quilt-making to students of all ages and lecturing on oral histories at institutions across the United States.
Her support of MICA students exemplifies her artistic approach. She builds community, weaves together stories, and ensures that the next generation has the tools to create their own, creating a transformation that all feel. In 2012, shortly after retiring, Dr. Gaither established the Dr. Joan M.E. Gaither Young People's Studio Scholarship Fund. Dr. Gaither worked to ensure the scholarship fund would be endowed by inspiring more than 200 family, friends, and community members to support the scholarship fund in her honor. She has personally contributed over $40,000 to the fund. This collective effort has raised over $63,000, enabling hundreds of students needing financial support to participate in MICA's YPS program. Each year, that number grows as support for the Dr. Joan M.E. Gaither Young People's Studio Scholarship in celebration of Joan grows.
When Dr. Gaither was first introduced to MICA's Young People's Studio (YPS), she knew it was amazing. “YPS is good for kids and outstanding for the teachers,” says Joan of the program. YPS has nurtured young artists in Baltimore for over a century and offers K-12 students classes to spark creativity, encourage invention, and foster artistic innovation. It provides a unique opportunity for art educators and artists to gain experience teaching students of different ages, backgrounds, and levels of prior art experience. Dr. Gaither's investment in this program is not just shaping the next generation of artists but also instilling hope in the future of art. The growing support for the YPS program, as witnessed by the overwhelming celebration of Dr. Gaither's 80th birthday, is a testament to the impact of her work and the bright future of art she is helping to shape.
Much like the quilts she creates, the legacy Joan is building through the Dr. Joan M.E. Gaither Young People's Studio Scholarship Fund will empower young artists to tell their own stories for many generations. Dr. Gaither's life's work is a tapestry of art and philanthropy, woven together by a deep commitment to her community. We are grateful to Joan for her dedication to her craft, commitment to building community, and unwavering dedication to making a positive difference in the world.
To contribute to the Dr. Joan M.E. Gaither Young People's Studio Scholarship Fund in honor of Dr. Joan Gaither, please visit mica.edu/joangaither.