Artist Statement

I don’t want to sound like a cliché, but my interest in quilting came from watching my grandmother piece quilts, and from her giving me several as gifts. The way they made me feel so warm and loved and secure always stuck with me. It was a feeling that only the quilts could give me. I knew then that I wanted to quilt someday, but my dilemma was how to do it and still look “hip.” After all, to my way of thinking, quilting was something old ladies did while sitting on the porch in their rocking chairs, with a good dip of snuff in their mouth, humming spirituals. Surely, I didn’t fit that profile. Little did I know that there was such a thing as a quilt guild, where people of all ages, races, and backgrounds could get together and quilt. I found one in 1992, was inspired, and joined on the spot, as well as two more.

My journey to quilting began with making crib quilts for AIDS babies. They were straight nine-patch quilts that were tied, and sometimes, either hand or machine quilted. At that time, I had minimal working space, so these small quilts suited me perfectly. They were easy to make, I was learning the craft, and doing a good deed—all at the same time. Over the years, I did a few bed quilt tops, but never put them together due to space constraints and a loss of interest in the project. Something, for me, was missing. I felt too boxed in by rules of cutting blocks, seam allowances, rotary cutting, etc. However, I did learn that I loved the process of doing appliqué. I just needed more freedom and to break of the box and “do my own thing.”

One day, and I still don’t know how—I discovered art quilting. That was the turning point in my quilting life. Art quilting was for me because I could see an image in my mind or sketch it crudely on anything (or do it properly) and translate it to fabric. Instantly, the rules were gone, and I was free to create. I felt as if I had found my creative voice—at last. Thinking back, it was probably the class I took at Elder Craftsmen to teach story quilting to the elderly that freed me. As part of the class requirement, I created a story quilt about Brer Rabbit, based on the old Southern tales my parents told me while growing up.

I am a writer, so telling stories is very important to me. Stories are in my work or are written in conjunction with mp art quilts because I consider myself a griot of sorts—one who has to pass the stories of our people down through the generations. Doing it on paper and through fabric are my mediums of choice. I love colors—loud, rich, vibrant colors, so my pieces are bright. I especially love the autumn palette with the deep oranges, corals, greens, and rusts, so those are frequent colors to which I am drawn and like to incorporate into my quilts. I love to depict the stories of African-Americans and other peoples within the African Diaspora. It is my hope that my work will not only inspire other artists to let their creativity flow, but to inform their minds as well.