African American Quilt Circle Exhibit

African American Quilt Circle of San Antonio | Sharing a Piece of Me December 2020 – January 2021 Technique and digital technology combine to elevate the traditional concept of quiltmaking into storytelling and art, reflecting the thoughts, views and interpretations of talented quilting artists across the country.

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The mission of the Carver Community Cultural Center is to celebrate the diverse cultures of our world, nation and community, with emphasis on its African and African-American heritage, by providing premier artistic presentations, community outreach activities and educational programs.

The Carver Gallery, located in the Jo Long Theatre lobby, presents contemporary and historical exhibitions by local and regional artists, featuring painting, sculpture, photography, and the decorative arts.

Work by Members of the African American Quilt Circle

The African American Quilt Circle of San Antonio (AAQCSA) was founded in August 2017 by four quilters: Karen H. Robinson, Deborah Harris, Racquel Stepter, and Deloria Stepter. The organization formed out of a desire to participate in the City of San Antonio’s 2018 Tricentennial anniversary celebrations and to include the stories of San Antonio’s African American community in those celebrations. AAQCSA members are quilters and fiber artists focused on African American quilt styles. Quilts created by AAQCSA members are original designs which depict significant persons, places, events, and themes from San Antonio’s African American community. AAQCSA members participate in school projects as well as library and museum exhibits. The first AAQCSA exhibit was held at the Carver Library, which opened on March 3, 2018.

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Title: America in Distress Artist: Bridget E. Spruill Year Completed: 2020 Dimensions: 26” x 35” Sale Price: NFS Artist Statement: As John Lewis stated, “But we must accept one central truth and responsibility as participants in a democracy: Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest.

Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society.” If we stand for nothing, we fall for anything…Vote!

Techniques and Materials: Cotton fabric; cotton batting; tea died; burned fabric; distressed fabric; fabric covered bamboo skewers; hand and machine quilted.

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Title: “Ain’t I a Woman?”

Artist: Sharon Mooney Year Completed: 2020 Price: NFS Dimensions: 39”x39” Photo: Raz Hernandez, RPIX Photography Artist Statement: Sojourner Truth represents the beginning of the struggle for suffrage, but she did not live to see the passage of the 19th Amendment. She would not see the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which resulted in the right to vote being experienced by most African Americans.

Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree, a slave, in 1797. She is one of the most powerful advocates for human rights in the nineteenth century. She grew up on a New York estate owned by a Dutch American named Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh. She experienced the miseries of being sold and was cruelly beaten and mistreated. Around 1815, she fell in love with a fellow slave named Robert, but they were forced apart by Robert’s master. Isabella was instead forced to marry a slave named Thomas, with whom she had five children.

In 1827, after her master failed to honor his promise to free her or to uphold the New York Anti-Slavery Law of 1827, Isabella ran away, or, as she later informed her master, “I did not run away, I walked away by daylight….” After experiencing a religious conversion, Isabella became an itinerant preacher and in 1843 changed her name to Sojourner Truth. She took the name Sojourner Truth to signify her role as a walking traveler telling the truth about slavery.

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She was involved in the antislavery movement, and by the 1850s she was involved in the woman’s rights movement, as well. She was the first prominent black women to become directly involved in the women’s suffrage movement. At the 1851 Women’s Rights Convention held in Akron, Ohio, Sojourner Truth delivered what is now recognized as one of the most famous abolitionist and women’s rights speeches in American history, “Ain’t I a Woman?”

She delivered this speech in response to a clergyman ridiculing women as too weak and helpless to trust with the vote.

The account of Truth’s speech was published by Marius Robinson on June 21, 1851 in the Salem Anti‐Slavery Bugle, a few weeks after the speech was given. This version was not the first published account of the Akron speech, but rather the first attempt to convey what Sojourner Truth said in full. Marius Robinson was an abolitionist and newspaper editor who acted as the convention’s recording secretary.

In Robinson’s Version the phrase ‘Ain’t I a Woman’ is not present.

It is interesting to note that Marius Robinson and Sojourner Truth were good friends and it was documented that they went over his transcription of her speech before he published it. One could infer from this pre-printing meeting, that even if he did not capture every word she said, that she must have blessed his transcription and given permission to print her speech in the Anti‐Slavery Bugle.

Marius Robinson’s 1851 version is speech shown in this quilt.

Sojourner Truth continued to speak out for the rights of African Americans and women during and after the Civil War. In 1864, she was invited to the White House and greeted by Republican President Abraham Lincoln. Later she served as a counselor on the National Freedman’s Relief Association, retiring in 1875 to Battle Creek. Sojourner Truth died in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1883.

Technique and materials: Cotton fabric, vintage buttons, vintage piping, and vintage trim; machine embroidery, hand applique, and machine applique.

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Title: “We Still Need to Vote” Artist: Deborah A. Moore Harris Year Completed: 2020 Price: NFS Dimensions: 38” round Photo: Raz Hernandez, RPIX Photography Artist Statement: This incomplete circle vest is a metaphor. A metaphor showing that we are not done voting. It shows that all of us, regardless of our race, creed or color, need to vote. History has shown us there are those who fought, and in some cases died for our right to vote. Therefore, we as citizens should not squander their efforts.

On one side the vest reflects our flag and why we should vote. The reverse side is the Declaration of Independence, signed by slave holders, but time and our votes added amendments intended to provide additional protection to our many rights. Yet these rights are too often violated and or hidden from us.

The hands are us, raised to show our support of the voting process as born and naturalized citizens.

The vest was tea dyed to reflect the age of the voting process. But the pins in this piece show how we as a country are held together at times in a strong, yet tenuous or temporary manner.

This vest tells you, implores you to use your voting voice, use your voting power.

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Technique and materials: Cotton fabric, polyester and rayon thread, embellishments; hand dyed with black tea; free motion quilting, and machine applique.

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Title: “World under Fire ” Artist: Regina R. Spruill Year Completed: 2020 Dimensions 17.5 W x 46 L Sale Price: NFS Artist Statement: As Martin Luther King stated: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” When everything is dark, you can’t drive out the darkness by adding more darkness.

Instead you can light up the place and the darkness will be gone.

Techniques and Materials: Cotton fabric, fiber covered wire, canvas, acrylic paints, machine quilted.

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Title: “Cultural Fashion” Artist: Denise Curtis Reed Year Completed: 2008 – 2010 Dimensions: Each doll stands on average 22” to 23” high Sale Price: $65 each Photo: Raz Hernandez, RPIX Photography Artist Statement: Cultural representation in the arts is often limited by the societal norms. There dolls show a stylize beauty of the looks of the African Diaspora. Each doll becomes a miniature view of cultural beauty.

Techniques and materials: Cotton fabric and batting, assorted jewelry findings, wood dowels for support.

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Title: “Dark Sciences: Dreaming Retreat - Black Women Dreaming” Artist: Racquel “Rockie” Gilford-Stepter Year Completed: 2018 Dimensions: 45” x 45” Sale Price: NFS Photo: Raz Hernandez, RPIX Photography Artist Statement: In 2015 the artist participated in a dreaming retreat focused on people of color and how we can actualize our dreams for not only ourselves but our communities. Since then the artist along with her fellow dreamers have shared and facilitated dream workshops across the U.S. This quilt is an on-going project documenting the retreat and experiences since then and will continue to be added to.

Dark Sciences is in honor of Nanny of the Maroons, a warrior woman who was a leader in a community of Africans who escaped slavery in Jamaica. She led her community and resisted the colonizers by being attuned to nature, ancestral communication, and practicing what most people would call magic.

The maroon word for that type of connection and magic is “science,” so they call Nanny of the Maroons “the great scientist.” The Sankofa bird reminds us to go back to the past and learn to move forward to the future. The women in the quilt represent women who also have had “visions” and in their resistance, art or simply being have made great change for their people and the world. Center : Queen Nanny of the Maroon’s L to R: Alexis De Veaux, Henrietta Lacks, Camille Billops, Lucille Clifton, Phillis Wheatley, (center bottom) Zora Neal Hurston, Alice Walker, Sojourner Truth, Anna Julia Cooper, Princess Aqualtune Ezgondidu Mahamud da Silva Santos, Maya Angelou, Upper Left and Right: Octavia Butler, Audre Lorde Techniques and Materials: Cotton fabric and batting; hand and machine stitched.

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Title: “Fearless – Suffragists Maggie Lena Walker and Eliza Cowen” Artist: Barbara Bowen Gathers Year Completed: 2020 Price: NFS Dimensions: 42” x 42” Artist Statement: This quilt is a dedicated to my great grandmother Eliza Cowen. My novel, “The Secrets of Hattie Brown”, (released May 2020) is a fictional historical rendering of her life, and the life of her daughter Hattie Brown (my grandmother). My research of my family history took over thirty years.

At a time when white-owned banks did not accept deposits from black customers, Walker not only grew her bank, but expanded the economic base of the black community in Richmond by hiring and training black women workers, and financing over 600 home and business loans for black families by 1920.

Walker also founded a newspaper where she served as its managing editor and opened a department store tailored for African Americans. A civil rights activist, she organized the first Richmond branch of the NAACP, led a city-wide boycott against segregated streetcars, and promoted women’s suffrage and voter registration drives. Eliza Cowen, my great grandmother, was a midwife, delivering babies of blacks, whites, and Indians across three counties in North Carolina. Although she was illiterate, she was able to purchase land, which was left for her disabled son when she died. She was a member of Maggie Lena Walker’s Secret Order of Saint Luke. My aunt once showed me a ribbon like the one above, that depicted the membership in the Order of St. Luke. She told me that it had belonged to Eliza. I have placed the footsteps of Maggie and Eliza, (with Eliza’s brown footsteps following Maggie’s black ones) on a yellow brick road. The Wizard of Oz was originally published in 1900. The yellow brick road symbolized the road to success, or happiness and self-sufficiency. This was a difficult task for people of color during that era. Thanks to Maggie Lena Walker providing the inspiration for women like Eliza to save money and buy property, a dream became a reality. That is why I placed the Adinkra symbol, the symbol that represents fearlessness, at the end of the road. Both Maggie and Eliza bravely faced many challenges and setbacks in order to achieve greatness.

Techniques and Materials: The making of this quilt involved stitching, painting (Shiva sticks), writing (fabric markers), stamping using dyes and photo printing. Most of the fabrics used in this quilt have been cut from clothes that I have worn.

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Title: “Friendship Scrappy” Artist: Yve Joseph Year Completed: 2020 Longarm quilting: Kathy Robinson Dimensions: 79” x 87” Sale Price: NFS Artist Statement: This quilt started in 2019 from scraps (personal stash and from quilting friends, Jayne Cartier, Kathy Robinson and Kelly Stein). I wanted to start a 12 “ quilt block from scraps and my quilting friends loaded me up with some awesome scraps! During that time, a move to a new house happened in Dec 2019. Approx. 3 months later, Covid-19 decided to travel to the US, which changed and placed a holt to everything. Confined at home, I had ample time to work on those quilt blocks. Quilting done on my friend, Kathy’s Longarm. She was gracious enough to get me started with the design and I finished it.

Those scraps turned into this beautiful art piece. My WONDERFUL husband is the recipient of this quilt.

Techniques and Materials: 100% cotton fabrics; cotton/polyester batting; machine quilting.

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Title: “Good Trouble” Artist: Rhonda Masters Year Completed: 2020 Dimensions: 47” x 41” Sale Price: NFS Photo: Raz Hernandez, RPIX Photography Artist Statement: When I first heard about this quilt exhibit idea in 2019, I knew instantly that the voting rights advocate I wanted to feature was Ms. Stacey Abrams of Georgia. The nation watched as she, a former Georgia State Legislator and attorney, mounted an impressive campaign for Governor of Georgia in 2018, and nearly won. It was the news reports of her campaign that highlighted the significance of voter suppression as an issue for me, and I learned about the various methods used around the country to limit the people’s access to the ballot box and to lend unfair political advantage to targeted candidates or parties.

Though Ms. Abrams lost her 2018 bid for the Governorship, she was not defeated. Instead, she formed Operation Fair Fight, and set out to engage voters in a new way. Over the next 2 years, this modern-day suffragette and her organization registered nearly 1M new voters in Georgia. These new voters surely made the difference in turning Georgia from a red state to a blue state in the 2020 election. They helped bring an end to the Trump era and usher in new national leadership - the Biden/Harris Administration - and the historic election of Kamala Harris to the Office of the Vice President.

I admire Ms. Adams’ fighting spirit and I deeply appreciate her work to level the playing field and help secure the right for all of us to vote in free and fair elections. Because she is a Georgian, I believe she was surely influenced or inspired in her activism by late Congressman John Lewis. I am thankful that she decided to make “good trouble” and shake up the Georgia electorate.

Techniques and Materials: Cotton fabrics, photo fabric transfer, machine quilting, and machine embroidery. The boxing gloves are hand constructed of faux leather with grommets and laces.

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Title: “Margaret Murray Washington, (1865-1925)” Artist: Karen Hinton Robinson Year Completed: 2020 Dimensions: 52” X 52” Price: NFS Photo: Raz Hernandez, RIX Photography Artist Statement: Like so much of American History, the Women’s Suffrage Movement rendered the Negro women nearly invisible. However, Negro women led and played a significant role, not only in the battle for voting rights for women, but also in the battle against racism and sexism.

Mrs. Washington and her husband, Booker T. Washington, represented a more conservative approach to winning racial equality. Her focus not only prepared women for the exercise of voting, but it also energized the community to organize, to build, to improve the home, to seek education and to seek interracial cooperation. Margaret Washington’s primary areas of social activism came through views sought to challenge racism and assume responsibility for the quality of their lives.

Born in Macon, Mississippi, in 1861, to a former slave, Lucy Murray, and an unnamed Irishman, Margaret graduated from Fisk Preparatory School in Nashville, Tennessee. She accepted a teaching position at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. By 1890 she became the Lady Principal (Dean) of Women at Tuskegee. She was the founder of the Tuskegee Women’s Club which became the center for educational, social and political club work. Clubwomen realized the charge to establish services to address their basic needs. Kindergartens, day care centers, libraries, sewing clubs, reading rooms, mothers’ meetings and industrial workshops for young males, were some of the programs provided.

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Mrs. Washington supported the Tuskegee agenda “Lifting as We Climb”. She called on the middle-class colored women to engage in “moral uplift” and community service to improve not only one’s self but the whole race. Living out this commitment, she was a co-founder of the National Association of Colored Women’s Club (NACWC). She later served as president of both the NACWC and the International Council of Women of the Darker Races. Margaret was a speech writer for her husband and the editor of the “National Associate Notes”, the publication for the NACWC. Mrs. Washington’s statement written on behalf of the NACWC, was the sole representation of Colored women included in Susan B. Anthony’s book, “History of Women’s Suffrage”, volume 4.

An educator, reformer, suffragist and clubwoman, Margaret Murray Washington was inducted into Alabama’s Women Hall of Fame in 1972 for her compassion, intelligence, and independence of judgement, which led her to be among the greatest women and African American leaders of her century.

Techniques and Materials: cotton fabric, lace, yarn, jewelry, applique, embroidery, fabric painting, photo transfer, cotton/polyester batting, longarm quilting, 23

Title: “Mary Ann Shadd Cary” Artist: Deborah A. Moore Harris Year Completed: 2020 Price: NFS Dimensions: 32” x 39” Photo: Raz Hernandez, RPIX Photography Artist Statement: Mary Ann Shadd Cary – 1823 to 1893. Mary Ann Shadd Cary truly lived her dash. She was an anti-slavery activist, a journalist, publisher, an educator, daughter, wife, mother, and lawyer. Clearly, she lived by her motto “It is better to wear out than to rust out.”

Technique and materials: Cotton fabric, cotton batting, polyester and rayon thread; information and image were printed on fabric using an inkjet printer.

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Title: Sampler Quilt, “Mother to Son” Artist: Lorrin Arrington Savage (San Antonio, Texas) Year Completed: 2019, NFS Dimensions: 80” x 72” Photo: Raz Hernandez, RPIX Photography Additional quilting: Adrean Thomas Artist Statement: This is my interpretation of a Sampler Quilt. The blocks were designed by various quilters and given titles that tied each design to some portion of African American life.

As I laid out the blocks for assembly, I envisioned a staircase, which brought to mind the words of Langston Hughes, “life for me ain’t been no crystal stair,” in his poem, “Mother To Son.” My quilt blocks began telling of trials and tribulation, but this story quilt ends with some triumphs.

The poem, by Langston Hughes, Mother to Son. The mother speaks of her trials, tribulations, and triumphs as well as her ancestors. Starting at the top, you have the Church Mother speaking to her son. Son they took our ancestors from Africa and their Tribes. A Monkey Wrench was thrown into the way they lived, and they were crammed into the hull of Slave Ships headed to foreign land. Our ancestors were paraded on the Auction Block and sold to serve and plow Cotton Fields. Our ancestors were resilient, and this didn’t squelch their hopes. They made the best of what they had in their Shotgun Houses.

Clinging to the importance of family they Jumped the Broom and started new generations. From generation to generation they pressed forward with hope and kept their eyes on The North Star. Some took The Long Walk To Freedom and used the Underground Railroad. When one or two would steal away; and made it North to Freedom, that was a victory for all. Overtime many acquired reading and writing skills, learning that Knowledge Is Power. The old mothers would Praise God for those successful in escaping. Stronger and wiser our brothers and sisters began to push the envelope in the Pursuit of Justice. Families grew and we remained mindful of the importance of linage and Our Family Tree. Daily, weekly, yearly someone became WOKE to the beauty of our Braids and Corn rows, WOKE to the possibility of buying versus renting. So, we began to buy Row Houses, no, forget the row houses; we’re now capable of Buying The Block. But when it is all said and done, we lift our hands and We Sing Praises. Thankful and proud of triumphs, to include our Former President Obama. Bottom line, the church mother is basically saying do not give up, be hopeful, be bold, persistent, have the courage and be actionable, because “life ain’t been, nor will it ever be … crystal stairs”.

I present to you my quilt; an ode’ to Langston Hughes, “Mother to Son” poem and to those who have gone before us, prompting us to keep going up those stairs.

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Techniques and Materials: Pieced, thread painted and quilted using, cotton, tulle, machine applique, machine embroidery, fusing, buttons.

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Title: “The Naysayers”, 2020 Designed and Created by: Lorrin Arrington Savage Dimensions: Sale Price: NFS Photo: Raz Hernandez, RIX Photography Artist Statement: There were hundreds of thousands of notable leaders at all levels.

Women of color faced and endured additional obstacles the white women did not.

The Black Suffrage movement endured what I call a “Triple Treat”. One, they were opposed by the Anglo male and the laws of Poll Tax, tests before voting and other outrageous laws. Two, there were Anglo women who refused to petition and collaborate with them. Lastly, they were shunned by family and friends for fear of reprisal. It was an equality race that was hard to come by for the early Suffragist. I am thankful to be a benefactor of their vision and transformation of women’s equality.

Techniques and Materials: Cotton fabric, batting, hand paint, quilting; applique, yarn, tulle and trim used along with free motion quilting.

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Title: “Out of the Shadows” Artist: Cynthia Bolden Vaughn Year Completed: 2019 Dimensions: 15” x 19” Sale Price: NFS Artist Statement: From as far back as Eve, women have been limited and told they were not enough. The face shown in this piece is that of a woman having worked her way through many of the forms of oppression to which women have been exposed. Today, there are strong female leaders influencing women to step up and stay “Out of the Shadows.”

Techniques and Materials: 100% cotton fabrics; cotton/polyester batting; free motion machine quilting.

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Title: “African American Women’s Suffrage: The Laws” Artist: Sharon Mooney Year Completed: 2020 Sale Price: NFS Dimensions: 47-1/2” x 47-1/2“ This summary of laws outlines how African American Women’s Suffrage was delayed and denied throughout history. The laws shown are related to slavery and suffrage as they show many opportunities in history for the story to unfold differently. History shows us that African American women have indeed endured a true struggle for the right to vote. Unfortunately, this appears to be a struggle that continues today.

Almost immediately after the war ended, the 14th Amendment and the 15th Amendment to the Constitution raised familiar questions of suffrage and citizenship. The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution granted voting rights to African Americans. Angry Southern racist whites did not want to let go of their power in state and local government. In order to preserve white supremacy politicians began passing laws to restrict or deny (disenfranchisement) the right of Blacks to vote in elections. Literacy tests and poll taxes were targeted to keep blacks, who had been denied an education and denied money for their work because of slavery, from voting. This kept poor and uneducated whites from voting too. The Grandfather clause gave back the right to vote if they were related someone who could vote before 1867. Since black could not vote before 1867, this excluded them from being able to vote. These tactics, along with others, became known as the Black Codes.

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African American Women were excluded from the 14th Amendment, Justice Denied. The exclusion of African American women was not just by men. White women did not want African American women to obtain the right to vote before them. This sentiment continued throughout the suffrage movement, as shown in the advertisement Pathfinder advertisement that says: Votes for WHITE women.

Some women’s suffrage advocates refused to support the 15th Amendment and even allied with racist Southerners who argued that white women’s votes could be used to neutralize those cast by African Americans. In 1869, the fight for a universal-suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution began.

Others argued that it was unfair to endanger black enfranchisement by tying it to the markedly less popular campaign for female suffrage. This pro-15th Amendment faction formed a group called the American Woman Suffrage Association and fought for the franchise on a state-by-state basis.

The territory of Wyoming granted women the vote in 1869, the same year as the founding of the two national suffrage organizations. Three years later, Colorado became the next woman suffrage state. Utah and Idaho followed in 1896. No new states granted woman suffrage between 1896 and 1910, but suffrage wins in Washington (1910) and California (1911) sparked new life in the suffrage movement’s state campaigns.

Between 1910 and 1918, the Alaska Territory, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota and Washington extended voting rights to women.

In 1918, President Wilson switched his stand on women’s voting rights from objection to support. On June 4, 1919, the U.S. Senate passed the 19th Amendment by two votes over its two-thirds required majority, 56-25. The amendment was then sent to the states for ratification.

Although this right was granted to all women, including African American Women, all women were not able to vote. In some states, predominately the Union’s former slave states and the Southern states, the struggle for African American Women continued past the suffrage laws into the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and their amendments, into today. The Black Codes were back as the “Jim Crow” laws. Once women were granted the right to vote, these suppression actions were directed at the African American Women. In response to these tactics the 24th Amendment that abolished poll taxes and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 suspended the use of literacy tests and voter disqualification devices, and authorized the use of federal examiners to supervise voter registration in states that used tests or in which less than half the voting-eligible residents registered or voted and added the requirement of federal approval of any change to local or state voting laws (preclearance). It directed the U.S. Attorney General to institute proceedings against use of poll taxes and provided criminal penalties for individuals who violated the act. These actions were needed to enforce the 14th Amendment (and the 19th Amendment that added African American women as voting citizens). In recent years some parts of the Voting Rights Act were not renewed.

At what point is the struggle over? Recent media coverage supports the position that voter suppression is still being practiced today, some tactics include: gerrymandering, denying citizens with felony convictions the right to vote, Voter ID Requirements & Intimidation, undermining election security & disinformation, polling place closures, and roll purges..

These tactics disproportionately affect minorities, including African American Women.

Is Justice Delayed or Justice Denied?

Technique and material: Cottom fabric, polyester fabric, and rick rack; machine embroidery and special printed fabrics.

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Title: “The Texas Suffragette Queens” Artist: Laura Casmore Year Completed: 2020 Dimensions: Sale Price: NFS Photo: Raz Hernandez, RPIX Photography Artist Statement: This piece pays homage to the African American Suffragettes whose work was primarily in Texas. As a child growing up in the 60’s when women were allowed to freely vote in Texas, I remember my mom encouraging her friends and anyone that would listen to her, talk about the importance of voting. My mom Sylvina Marks Casmore would often recite to us the tactics used to keep African Americans and women from voting. I never saw a poll tax, literacy test, handwriting test but Texas history is well documented on the antics used to keep women from voting. Although the nineteenth amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920, it was not until 1964 in Texas that African American women were allowed to vote freely. The majority of Texas AA Suffragettes were educated, prominent community members who were active in their civic clubs and churches.

Since most of these were born during the Victorian Era I chose to showcase ladies as the stylist, educated, women they were as they marched, held meetings and worked for the right to be heard by vote. Many African American women were members of various clubs who promoted voting and civil rights issues. The Texas Association of Women’s Club was the umbrella organization for most of the clubs.

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Title: “The Maxwell Bag in Shweshwe” Artist: Karen Hinton Robinson Year Completed: 2019 Dimensions: 13” x 17”x 6” Sale Price: NFS Photo: Raz Hernandez, RIX Photography Artist Statement: In the 1840s, French missionaries gifted the Basotho Chief, King Moshoeshoe, I indigo-printed cloth. Extremely pleased, the King endorsed the fabric and it spread in popularity throughout the Sotho and Zulu tribes. The name ‘Shweshwe’ derives from its royal influencer, King Moshoeshoe. In the early 2000s, the influences of global fashion on a post-apartheid South Africa had a contemporary influence. Today young South African fashion designers incorporate shweshwe in modern dress designs.

While touring Cape Town in 2018, I learned about this fabric called Shweshwe. I made this bag from Shweshwe fabric purchased in Cape Town.

It is a reminder of that magnificent trip and the rich history of the Mother Land.

Techniques and Materials: Shweshwe fabric, foam stabilizer, interfacing, cording, medal purse feet; cotton thread, machine quilted. (The Maxwell Bag pattern is from Abbey Lane Quilts).

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Title: “They Marched Yesterday. I Will Vote Today” Artist: Cynthia Bolden Vaughn Year Completed: 2020 Price: NFS Dimensions: 17” x 21” Photo: Raz Hernandez, RPIX Photography Artist Statement: This piece presented itself while I was in a creative slump.

I was doing what I call mindless sewing, just sewing scrapes together. When these marchers appeared to me. The anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, was weighing heavy on my mind and the enormous sacrifice and efforts of so many people to reach this. Also, the efforts of the mothers, sisters and daughters was being discussed movement African American Suffrage In an appearance with Former Vice President Biden, Senator Harris said she was “mindful of all the heroic and ambitious women before me whose sacrifice, determination and resilience makes my presence here today even possible.”

Technique and materials: Cotton, silk. Machine Quilting, appliqué, printing on fabric.

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Title: “Us…We (ARE) The People” Artist: Deloria Tapps Stepter Year Completed: 2020 Dimensions: 43” x 30” Sale Price: NFS Photo: Raz Hernandez, RPIX Photography Artist Statement: The framers of the U.S. Constitution wrote an introduction indicating there was a more perfect union, justice, domestic tranquility, common defense, and general welfare of all. However, the problem with this statement was that it did not include black, brown, and indigenous people.

Why? Because we were not thought of as people but as property. It cannot be refuted that WE, the people, built this nation and are woven into its very fiber. WE are in this together from” California to the New York Harbor…this land belongs to me and you.”

Techniques and Materials: Cotton fabric, batting, buttons, leather, aluminum, polyester nylon, and rayon threads. Machine embroidered and machine quilted.

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Title: “Angela Davis” Artist: Cynthia Bolden Vaughn Year Completed: 2020 Dimensions: 36” x 42” Sale Price: NFS Photo: Raz Hernandez, RIX Photography Artist Statement: This quilt was inspired by a poster that I admired for years and by Dr. Davis herself. As a young girl I remembered watching Miss Davis on television as she was led into the court room. She wore her beautifully rounded Afro as if it were a crown atop of uplifted head and boldly exhibited the black power sign. I thought that even though she was facing whatever trouble she was in, I did not know or understand at the time, she looked like a strong black woman. “Power to the People”.

Techniques and materials: Cotton material, vinyl, tulle. Machine quilting, appliqué.

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Title: Anna J. Cooper – A Necessity Designed and Created by: Lorrin Arrington Savage Year Completed: 2020 Dimensions: 40-1/2” x 52” Sale Price: NFS Photo: Raz Hernandez, RIX Photography Artist Statement: Ann J. Cooper spent a big part of her career as an educator. She taught Latin and Math at a High School in Washington, D.C. She was the co-founder of the Color Women’s League in 1892. She helped create colored branches of the YMCA and YWCA for those migrating to the north. She was a staunch suffragist during her time. She supported the Suffrage movement through her teaching, writing and speeches. She advocated for equality and education for African Americans and women. As a public speaker, she gave noteworthy speeches in the United States and internationally. Her thoughts and beliefs were that black women needed to educate themselves, vote for themselves, no one, including black men could speak for them. Anna was best known for her statement: “Only the BLACK WOMAN can say when and where I enter in the quiet undisputed dignity of my womanhood, without violence or special patronage; then and there the whole Negro race enters with me.”

Techniques and Materials: Cotton fabric, batting, hand paint, quilting; applique, yarn, tulle and trim used along with free motion quilting.

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Title: Afro-Fusion Artist: Janice Nelson Brown Year Completed: 2020 Dimensions: body necklace, goes around body; longest point is 37 inches below neckline Sale Price: NFS Photo: Raz Hernandez, RPIX Photography Artist Statement: This creation melds together my love for crafts and sewing. It is a body necklace fit for a queen!

Blending black, white and red with bling ends in this unique accessory ensemble. It pictures Afrocentric flair with Janice Brown style.

Techniques and Materials: Felt, cotton fabrics, batting, interfacing, cotton rope, plastic, glass, Swarovski crystals, polyester thread, fabric glue; construction: hand and machine sewing; glued embellishments

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Title: “Triumph” Artist: Susan Blades, San Antonio Texas (210) 296-1386 Year Completed: 2020 Price: Sold Dimensions: 18”

Work by Invited Members of the Fiber Artists of San Antonio

Artist Statement: My name is Triumph… I’m a very old soul and have lived many lives. If I could speak or gaze upon the world, I’d tell you of my travels, passions, and goals. My path has had many twists and turns. My very early life, as an African Queen, with the love of my children and cherished citizens, a farm laborer working in the fields….years later in shackles, slavery and great suffering which left scars.

My greatest anguish has been prejudice.

At this very moment, I am preparing to enter the most spectacular time in my long life. I am about emerge into a most wonderful place, called PROMISE. I will soon become capable of speaking and my eyes will open wide with optimism. I will experience my most glorious desire, to find…tranquility. This will be my last life and the one I will treasure most.

Please, accompany me in completing my final journey. Together we will be strong, compassionate, consider one’s feelings, be responsible and more importantly…to care about one another.

The colors of our skin, the languages we speak, and our religious ties will become invisible as we blend together as one.

True blessings…as love will Triumph.

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Technique and materials: A blend of lush wool felt, cotton fabric, jewels, chains, poly stuffing, a handmade basket filled with items gathered from the great outdoors.

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Title: Sandhill Morning Artist: Linda Rael Yr. Completed: 2018 Dimensions: 40-1/2” x 52” Sale Price: $670 Artist Statement: One of my favorite places is the Open Space, a wonderful and quiet natural and archaeological resources conservation area in Albuquerque, NM located near the Rio Grande river.

During the fall and winter seasons, it is the home for many Sandhill cranes which feed in the early morning amongst the fields and wet areas. This quilt is a tribute to this beautiful bird. The materials used are mostly recycled lace and old curtains from my Grandma Edie, background flannel sheet from my father-in-law’s sick bed, pearl buttons from a dear friend no longer with us, and leaves on the bottom made from yarn trimmings. While this quilt is dedicated to the great Sandhill Crane, it is also dedicated to the memories of those loved ones who have since passed. .

Techniques and Materials: Rust-dyed and painted flannel sheet ,batting, stitching, beads, stuffed, buttons, painted fabric and small sticks.

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Title: Street Art 2020 Artist: Pat Schulz Year completed: 2020 Dimensions: 8x11” Sale Price: NFS Artist statement: The figure and question mark are overlaid on the scribbled words COVID in street art format and seems appropriate for 2020 which has been dominated by the pandemic. The image of a figure with the question mark over its head is street art photographed in Morocco.

Scribbles are added by me of the word COVID. It seemed appropriate to add the “fringe” of bottle caps from water bottles collected on a trip to Mexico just before the world shut down because of the pandemic. Just another use of items found and used for street art!

Techniques and materials: Figure and question mark photograph double exposed over scribbles of the word, COVID, photo digitally manipulated in iPad apps, inkjet printed on cotton, hand and machine stitching, cotton and rayon threads, fine gauge wire, bottle caps

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Title: “Virtual Totebag Nautilus Quilt” Artist: Mark Steinhelper Year Completed: 2020 Dimensions: virtual, variable.

Sale Price: to be determined Artist Statement: A couple of years ago my wife asked me to try my hand at dying cotton fabrics for use in making tote bags, and a new phase of our partnership began. The motif of this piece is a photograph of tetrahedral-shaped tote bags I snapped for display on our website (www.folktote.com). The resulting virtual quilt is a “thought-experiment” where I projected myself at the end of my days, perhaps in hospice, and asked myself how I’d make art only using my iPhone. One answer was to photographically manipulate a photo into a virtual photographic “quilt” that could be uploaded for printing on fabric or canvas using online commercial resources (hence the size and price uncertainty – it depends!).

Techniques and Materials: Tetrahedral tote bags crafted by my wife were arranged in a spiral “nautilus” pattern, photographed with an iPhone SE, the image manipulated using BeCasso and Photos applications for iPhone, and the various resulting individual images tiled in a rectangular pattern.

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Title: The Dream Weaver Artist: Lyn Belisle Year Completed: 2019 Dimensions: 18x24x5�

Sale Price: $350 Artist Statement: Cultural fusion and cultural diversity can exist side-by-side in richness and grace, reflecting the vastness of the human creative instinct. The Dream Weaver is an assemblage of shards and fragments that personifies a woman whose dream it is to connect the threads between cultures and, in doing so, shows that the whole – united - is greater than the sum of the parts.

Techniques and Materials: Fired earthenware, basketry, plant bundles, quills, handwoven rug fragments, kantha cloth, beads, raffia, sinew, found objects

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Title: Harvest Series, 2020 Dimensions: varied Price: $30 each for Temari plus Yubinuki stand; $80 for a set of three Temari plus Yubinuki stands.

Designed and created by: Carmen Goyette, San Antonio, TX Contact information: carmen@tcv1996.com Artist Statement: I began making Temari (Japanese hand balls) and Yubinuki (Japanese Thimbles) at the start of the quarantine sometime in March (2020). Both items use local/recycled materials and can be stitched anywhere, allowing me to be creative and still interact with my family. Wrapping and stitching are meditative ending in beautiful things which made me happy.

Techniques and Materials: Each Temari and Yubinuki stand are individually wrapped using a traditional Japanese method with various Japanese patterns. Each item consists of recycled fibers, paper, cotton, cotton/ polyester batting, various threads, and yarns. Each Temari contain metal elements to create a ringing sound when shaken.

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Title: “Just Some Old Paint Tubes�

Artist: Vicki Siptak Photo: Raz Hernandez, RPIX Photography Artist Statement: A friend gave me her old oil paint tubes. Even though the paint was not useable, the tubes looked like art.

Techniques and Materials: Citrol, National Geographic Magazine pages, old dried out paint brushes, old oil paint tubes, E-6000, canvas.

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Title: “Indigo Moon” Artist: Phyllis J. Jordan Year completed: Sale Price:

2019

NFS

Dimensions: 22” x 11.25” Artist statement: Working with needle and thread is a longtime love. Layering is a thoughtful process. Embellishing and enhancing is challenging. Creating this piece was all three and fun.

Techniques: Hand dyed cotton and commercial fabric with hand stitching. The wool Indigo moon was hand dyed also.

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Title: “Cholla Girl”, 2020 Designed and Created by: Linda Rael; LRAEL@satx.rr.com Dimensions: 24” x 15” Sale Price: NFS Photo: Raz Hernandez, RPIX Photography Title: “I Just Used Straws” Artist: Vicki Siptak

Techniques and Materials: batik fabric, dried cholla cactus, turquoise beads and a painted possum skull (I think), assorted yarns for hair, died cheesecloth, beads.

Photo: Raz Hernandez, RPIX Photography Artist Statement: If I need a necklace to wear with an outfit, I just make one.

Techniques and Materials: Beads made out of plastic straws and fabric; embellishments; wire.

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Title: “Boro Blues” Artist: Linda J. Kirk Year completed: 2017 Sale Price: NFS Dimensions: 20”h x 24” w Photo: Raz Hernandez, RIX Photography Artist Statement: Inspired by a lecture and begun in a class by fiber artist Dr. Mary Ruth Smith on Japanese Boro stitching. Dr Smith provided a box of fabric scraps for students. The large denim piece with the metal buttons still intact and the red dyed fabrics in that box inspired the color scheme and composition.

Techniques and Materials: Hand stitched in Boro style. Scrap fabrics (cotton, denim, silk, wool), metal buttons, Perle cotton threads. Mounted on a black linen covered canvas.

Title: “Boro: A Study in Red” Artist: Linda J. Kirk Year completed: 2017 Sale Price: $150 Dimensions: 16”h x 16” w Photo: Raz Hernandez, RIX Photography Artist Statement: Inspired by a lecture and class by fiber artist Dr. Mary Ruth Smith on Japanese Boro stitching. The 2-day class invigorated the artist to begin a second composition. During the evening between classes, the torn strips from the artist’s stash were woven to form the focal point .

Techniques and Materials: Hand stitched in Boro style. Cotton and wool fabric scraps, Perle cotton. Mounted on a black linen covered canvas.

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Title: #Me Too, 2018 Dimensions: Variable, size 10 Price: NFS Designed and created by: Caryl Gaubatz Photographer: Ansen Seale Artist Statement: Clothing metaphors have been widely used in literature. My work uses a garment to tell the story of my experiences in the military with regards to sexual harassment and discrimination. I chose a wedding dress pattern, because wedding dresses imply innocence and hope for a meaningful relationship. The dress is made of cheap dressmaker's muslin: lovely from afar but coarse and rough when up close. I chose tone on tone thread, which blends into the background, because sexism in the military may be covert. The dress is backless because no one had my back. The edges are unfinished because the story is unfinished.

Techniques and Materials: Cotton muslin and thread.

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Title: “Steely Swallowtail” Artist: Mark and Layne Steinhelper Year Completed: 2020 Dimensions: 6.5” x 6.75” x 6.75” tetrahedron Sale Price: $ 50 Artist Statement: We collaborate to produce totebags (www.folktote.com), and this piece is representative of our recent work during the COVID pandemic where we’ve turned to some visitors to our garden for artistic inspiration. In our collaborative efforts, Mark modifies the surface of the fabric using a variety of techniques, and Layne stitches them up into interestingly functional pieces of wearable art.

Techniques and Materials: A digital photograph of a swallowtail caterpillar on the fennel growing in our garden was enlarged and served as a reference for hand painting its image on cotton kimono cloth with Procion dyes mixed with a water-based resist. The steely-grey background color was generated during a brief fixing and washing phases in the dye process. The cloth was then shaped, and quilted, with commercial batik, onto a foam interface to construct a tetrahedron-shaped bag with a matching zipper and decorative tassel.

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Title: “Blue Boro with a Necklace” Artist: Vicki Siptak Photo: Raz Hernandez, RPIX Photography Artist Statement: The boro piece was created in a fun class. The necklace was something created to wear with an outfit. The decision to hang it with the boro piece was just a random idea. It looked good with the boro and if needed to be worn…..

Techniques and Materials: Cotton fabrics, wire, embellishments, metallic and ceramic beads; beads made out of plastic straws and fabrics; slow stitching.

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Catalog Content Provider: Deborah A. Moore Harris Catalog Design: Lyn Belisle

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