Year: 2020

Size: 75” x 50”

Technique: Hand dye-painted in six values of blue with thickened fiber reactive dyes on cotton fabric, machine quilted with many different colors of thread

Materials: 100% cotton fabric, polyester/wool batting, polyester threads

Statement: I have always thought that African-American women are the matriarchs of their families and communities. Everyone turns to them. They are also a powerful force in getting their communities to vote. I wanted to create a piece about this, but also to highlight the fact that African-American women did not receive the right to vote in all 50 states until 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was passed. I met Phyllis at a rally in January 2020. It was at night, in the rain, and I was drawn to her. I explained that I wanted to create a piece and asked if she would be my model. Without hesitation she said “Yes!”. When I asked if she had a friend who would also model, she brought Loretta. They both came to my studio and I photographed them. As I progressed on making the piece I sent them updated photos every day. Phyllis told me that when she was 12 years old in 1962, she was one of 12 children asked to integrate into the Chapel Hill schools. She had the choice and she said yes. Ever since then, she said things like this have been happening to her, which is why she was enthusiastic to my request. I later dreamed the name of the piece and actually got up and wrote it down. In the morning I had no recollection of the dream until I saw the paper with Sharing the Moment written on it. This piece felt like a gift and a wonderful collaboration and I am so thankful I had the possibility to share this with them!

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The oxymoron "Resident Alien" is relevant to me because two members of my family are resident aliens.

When I was a child, a public service television commercial aired as a reminder to resident aliens that they must register at their local post office. This commercial was a cartoon of walking stick figures. As a child, I didn’t know what a resident alien was, but, I did know that aliens were green. This childhood misconception and the fact that all resident aliens receive a green card made green the obvious choice for the base color.

The people in this piece come from all over the world as resident aliens do, the three profiles represent the people that disappear into the system once they arrive, and the lighter glow behind each person’s head represents the hope that resident aliens feel when they enter our country. 

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Dimensions: 71 x 55 inches

Technique: Hand dye-painted, machine quilted

Material: 100% cotton fabric, polyester/wool batting, polyester threads

Artist Statement:

Since they have always been at the center of community life, women are natural organizers. Justice, equity, and freedoms have been transformed by the collective effort of many women. This piece is a tribute to Stacey Abrams and all the women organizers for their undaunted efforts to protect voting rights in America.

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Dimensions: 59 x 79 inches

Technique: Hand dye-painted with thickened fiber reactive dyes

Material: 100% cotton fabric, wool/polyester batting

Artist Statement: In 2014 I dreamed this image in hot pink. My daughter Nadia was standing in a field looking directly at the viewer. She was wearing a business suit and she had a baby on her hip. As I approached her I could see that there were hundreds of quotes in the beautiful sky behind her.
I dye-painted the top in the winter of 2015 and started to quilt it, then in June 2015 I stopped because I was stuck. In July I decided to add the crows because crows mean change, are mystical, and are considered feminine. In September 2015 I had to stop working on Equality to work on another project and couldn't return to it until May 2018.
The United States changed considerably between 2014 when I dreamed Equality and 2018. In 2014, the hot pink color didn't make sense to me but it did make sense in 2018 with the women's movement and the #MeToo movement.
When I first dreamed this image, I thought it was about my daughter but as I was making it I realized that it was really about me, and my daughter, and my granddaughter, and my mother, my sister, my nieces, and all women who have fought for Equality for Women.
There are approximately 400 quotes about women in this piece. Click here to see the quotes: https://www.hollisart.com/equality

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Dimensions: 48”(H) x 50”(W)

Technique: Hand dye-painted with thickened fiber reactive dyes on cotton fabric, machine quilted with many different colors of thread

Material: 100% cotton fabric, polyester/wool batting, polyester threads

Artist Statement: Xebo is a Western Lowland Silverback gorilla who lives in the Barcelona Zoo. His species is native to the Congo Basin and is critically endangered. These gorillas are quiet, peaceful and nonaggressive animals threatened by disease and poaching. Thank you to Eduardo Cabral who allowed me to use his photo as inspiration.

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Size: 57”(H) x 51”(W)

Date: 2019

Technique: Hand dye-painted, machine quilted

Materials: 100% cotton fabric, polyester/wool batting, polyester threads

Statement: Gertrude Weil was a mover and shaker her entire life. Unafraid to voice her opinion, she followed in her mother’s footsteps in fighting for social welfare at an early age. She continued working for change until she died. Educated in the north at progressive schools, she chose to return south to her beloved Goldsboro, NC after finishing college. Once home, Gertrude earned the nickname “Federation Gertie” for her passion for civic reform. She fought tirelessly for women’s rights, labor reform, and desegregation. Gertrude inspired me because she was a bold challenger and a natural organizer who loved discussion and debate. As I worked on this piece, I grew to feel that I knew her personally. She physically resembled my grandmother who also attended college in the same era. Her activities were also very similar to my own mother’s crusades for the ERA and social reform. Gertrude was from an affluent Jewish family that allowed her to have a privileged white lifestyle. She was quite striking physically and the pictures I could find often showed her beautifully dressed. Even though she was quite humble, her natural leadership impulses always put her in the center of organizing and speaking, so I chose to have her front and center, looking directly at the audience. The women in the piece are from her graduating class at Smith College, and the “Votes for Women” button is based on a real brass button from the era. This piece is dye-painted on cotton with thickened dyes and then machine quilted with hundreds of different colors of thread. I created a warm black & white color as the base because it looked like the old photos that inspired me.

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Dimensions: 12 x 22 inches

Technique: Hand dye-painted, machine quilted

Material: 100% cotton fabric, polyester/wool batting, polyester threads

Artist Statement: When I want to ground myself, I walk in the forest where I can be surrounded by trees.

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Size: 34 x 31inches

Technique:  Hand dye-painted, machine quilted

Material:  100% cotton fabric, polyester/wool batting,  
                 polyester threads

Artist Statement:

Where is the voice for African women/girls?

Where is the voice for African elephants?

Where is the compassion?

Detail images

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Dimensions: 13 x 18 inches

Technique: Hand dye-painted with thickened fiber reactive dyes, machine quilted

Material: 100% cotton fabric, wool/polyester batting

Artist Statement:

Women win the prize for determination. Determined to do and say the right thing. Determined to take care of everyone. Determined to be one step ahead. Determined to always look good. Determined to make it to all of the activities. Determined to be there for everyone.

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Dimensions: 42 x 64 inches

Technique: Hand dye-painted, machine quilted

Material: 100% cotton fabric, polyester/wool batting, polyester threads

Artist Statement:

African-American women could not legally vote in every state until The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. They are a force to be reckoned within their communities across America. These women are now bringing whole neighborhoods to the polls to vote with them.

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Dimensions:  16 x 16 inches

Technique:  Whole cloth quilt, machine-quilted. The image has been created with thread only.

Material:  100% African cotton fabric, wool/polyester batting

Artist Statement:

“Echoes of the past can "haunt" us in our lives making us stronger and more compassionate.”

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Dimensions: 14 x 17 inches

Technique: Hand dye-painted, machine quilted

Material: 100% cotton fabric, polyester/wool batting, polyester threads

Artist Statement:

Akosiwa was a good friend I met in Togo. Thinking of her brings back memories of  flowers and the lush rainforest where we lived.

Private collection

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Size: 16 x 26inches

Technique:  Half of the image is dye-painted. One eye is painted, the other is created with quilting. The rest of the imagery is also created with thread.
Material:  100% cotton fabrics, wool/polyester batting

Artist Statement
Crows have long been considered magical. They are symbols of creation and spiritual strength. I saved a young crow in August 2013. After spending a day with me I was able to get him to a shelter. He was released about 6 weeks later, and then about 10 days after that a crow appeared in our yard. He is in our yard everyday watching. I'm convinced that he is the crow I saved. He is often with 1 or 2 other crows.
Since then crows have started appearing in my dreams so I knew they needed to be in my work.

Private collection

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Dimensions: 16 x 15 inches

Technique: Hand dye-painted, machine quilted.

Material: 100% cotton fabric, polyester/wool batting, polyester threads

Artist Statement:

Throughout our world there is a similarity in people's features and face structures. But our decisions of whether people are "good or bad" depends upon our perception of who they are. Often a man wearing a turban is seen quite differently than a man wearing a feather headdress. It seems to be the extremes in our society that decide our perceptions.

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Dimensions: 58 x 75 inches
Technique:  Whole cloth quilt, hand-dye-painted, machine-quilted
Material:  100% cotton fabric, Cotton Classic batting
Artist Statement:
Blue Men is the nickname given to the nomadic Tuaregs who roam the Sahara desert on their camels. They wear indigo blue turbans which gives their skin a blue tint. This quilt is a tribute to the many Tuareg men I befriended while living in Africa. This is a whole cloth quilt, painted only with blue dye. The many colors of thread in the quilting give it a touch of reality.

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Dimensions:  61 x 78 inches

Technique:  Hand dye-painted with thickened fiber reactive dyes

Material:  100% cotton fabric, wool/polyester batting

Artist Statement:

Global warming is now a reality. Glaciers are melting and breaking apart, floating to places further and further south. A whole ecosystem is in danger and ocean levels are rising quickly, threatening to submerge land everywhere on our planet.
I dreamed of this piece in red. Could it be because of the urgency of this situation?

Private collection

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Dimensions: 48 x 32 inches

Technique: This piece is machine-quilted and the image has been created with thread only.

Material: 100% cotton fabric, wool/polyester batting

Artist Statement:

The drawing of Forest Spirit was made while visiting Milford Sound in New Zealand. Milford Sound is in a rainforest which receives over 272 inches of rain/year. It is one of the wettest places in the world, very lush and beautiful with dozens of waterfalls cascading down the cliffs.

One of the bewildering things to me is the fact that there is very little wildlife in this compact forest. Even though I was told this, I "knew" there were beings hidden among the shadows created by the dense undergrowth and I drew this image while we were there. It is my idea of the forest spirits that I could almost feel peering out of the depths of the vegetation.

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Dimensions: 27 x 72 inches

Technique: Machine appliqued raw edge denim, hand dye-painted accent fabric, machine quilted.

Material: 100% hand dye-painted fabric, denim, wool/polyester batting, 100% polyester threads

Artist Statement: The joy of drinking fresh potable water directly from a faucet is still a luxury in many places throughout our world.

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Dimensions: 103 x 78 inches

Technique: Hand dye-painted with thickened fiber reactive dyes, machine quilted

Material: 100% cotton fabric, wool/polyester batting

Artist Statement:

Innocence is based on a dream I had.

In the dream, I was standing at one end of a very large room. At the other end of the room was a huge orange portrait of an African boy. He seemed wise, innocent and mischievous all at the same time. As I walked toward him, I suddenly realized that there were images of many children floating over his face. Images that I couldn't see from the back of the room, children I could only see when I was willing to stand close to the child. The children were from all over the world and in many situations. They were laughing, playing, eating and working. There were also child prostitutes and even a child soldier was represented. The boy (whom I affectionately call Ernest) seemed to be telling me to pay attention to the children in our world, to speak for them and tell their stories, for they are the innocent ones, they are in peril in many places, and they have no voice.

Over the many months I worked on Innocence, I seemed to feel a closeness and compassion for these children. Many of them had come into my life at one time or another. Two of my kids and my niece are in this piece, along with some of their playmates.

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Dimensions:  77 x 85 inches

Technique:  Hand dye-painted with thickened fiber reactive dyes on cotton fabric, machine quilted, polyester batting

Material:  100% cotton fabric, polyester batting

Artist Statement:

In the spring of 2000, I dreamed of a yellow piece that spoke to me of the continual droughts that threaten so many places on our planet. Our fresh water is precious and limited. This is a worldwide problem that affects us all which is why the images represent four different continents. "Precious Water" is painted with dyes using six values of yellow, then quilted with over 200 different colors of thread.

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Dimensions:  82 x 82 inches

Technique:  Hand dye-painted with thickened fiber reactive dyes using six values of purple dye on cotton fabric, machine quilted with over 200 different colors of thread.

Material:  Cotton fabric, wool/polyester batting

Artist's Statement:

In February 2002, I dreamed "Hope For our World". The dream was in purple and Archbishop Tutu was standing in a field. Children from all over the world were approaching him like he was a Pied Piper. The dream seemed to be speaking about World Peace and the Future of our Children. Desmond Tutu represented Hope.

In May of 2005 I was honored to have a meeting with Archbishop Tutu to discuss my dream.

"Hope For Our World" was finished April 16th and I sent an image of it to my daughter. Her response was:

"How ironic that the piece is finally done on a day like today where you can't help feel sad about the world we live in, a world where massacres like the one at Virginia Tech this morning still happen. It makes me think that this piece is there to remind us that even when we wonder what this world is coming to, when we think that there can't possibly be hope in a world with such tragedies, we are reminded of people like Desmond Tutu. People that will fight for peace and never give up... we realize that there still is hope after all."

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Dimensions:  19 x 31 inches

Technique:  whole cloth quilt, machine-quilted

Material: 100% cotton fabric, wool/polyester batting

Artist Statement:

I was approached by the art initiative called "Through Her Eyes" to create a piece of art work to benefit the organization Women for Women International.

Today in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), people are still struggling amidst one of the deadliest wars in all history. Millions have died and new conflicts threaten peace every day.
Perhaps worse than the loss of life is the staggering number of human rights violations, torture, mutilation and sexual violence that has occurred against tens of thousands of women and children.
This woman seems to be saying Enough! to the turmoil surrounding her.

Organizations like Women for Women International are helping some of these women in their struggle toward recovery and rehabilitation.

50% of the proceeds from the sale of this piece will go to the organization Women for Women International.

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Size: 16 x 16inches

Technique:  Partially dye-painted, machine pieced, machine quilted
Material:  100% cotton fabric, wool/polyester batting

Artist Statement:
Alzheimer's disease changes its victims. They may resemble their former selves on the outside, but almost seem to fade away on the inside.

Private collection

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Dimensions:  48 x 52 inches

Technique:  Hand dye-painted with thickened fiber reactive dyes

Material: 

 100% cotton fabric, polyester/cotton batting

Artist Statement:

Karen is a massage therapist. We met on a cruise ship in 2006. She had been trained as a physical therapist in the Philippines and felt she had a gift in her hands. But she couldn’t make a living in her home country so, as millions of other economic refugees, she left the Philippines.
She was unhappy on the cruise ship and poured her heart out to me.
That night I dreamed this piece in blue. Afterward we met every day and she talked about her aspirations and what was important to her and then gave me permission to create her story.
Growing up in Manila, the ocean represented escape for her. From my point of view, the islands had always represented tropical flowers and beautiful beaches. Karen made me see how economic refugees are the sacrificed ones who must leave their homes to support families.

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Dimensions:  47 x 57 inches

Technique:  Dye painted, machine quilted

Material:  100% cotton fabric, wool/polyester batting

Artist Statement:

The Tuareg people are nomads that live in West Africa. They traditionally carried the goods from North Africa to sub-Saharan Africa on their camels. With the tremendous droughts that have struck Africa in the last 20 years, many nomads have been forced to settle down because they have lost their beautiful herds. Theirs is a lifestyle that is disappearing. This piece has imagery typical of the Tuareg traditions.

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Dimensions:  36 x 46 inches

Technique:  Whole cloth quilt except for the borders, hand-dye-painted fabric, machine-quilted

Material:  100% cotton fabric, wool batting

Artist Statement:

Fatima's son, cradled in his mother's arms, seemed more pensive than usual on this Sunday morning while we were chatting at their home in Bamako, Mali.

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Dimensions: 52 x 76 inches

Technique: Hand dye-painted with thickened fiber reactive dyes on cotton fabric, machine quilted

Material: Cotton fabric, wool/polyester batting

Artist Statement:

The imagery in Exodus came to me in a dream I had in 2006. This was at the height of the exodus from Darfur and my white dream made sense to me because of the genocide happening in Sudan.
In 2018 there are an estimated 68.5 million refugees and internationally displaced people worldwide, which is the highest number since WWII.
Regardless of how they arrive in a country and for what purpose, these people must be given a chance for a new life where they can live safely.

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Dimensions: 49 x 58 inches
Technique:  Thread painted, machine quilted
Material:  100% silk fabric, wool/polyester batting

Artist Statement:
A good friend of mine has always had a love affair with silk. She traveled to Thailand to learn how to spin and weave. The base of this quilt is created from Thai silk she brought back, and the women depicted are some of the experts she learned from on this trip.

I am proud to say that "Silk" was awarded the 2012 Master Award for Thread Artistry at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas!

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Dimensions:  13 x 13 inches

Technique:  Hand dye-painted, machine quilted

Material:  100% cotton fabric, polyester/wool batting, polyester threads

Artist Statement:

This piece was inspired by the wonderful Maori stories about New Zealand forest spirits

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Dimensions:  17 x 15 inches

Technique:  Hand dye-painted, machine quilted

Material:  100% cotton fabric, polyester/wool batting, polyester threads

Artist Statement:

When I lived in Togo, West Africa I learned about Mami Wata.
One description of her is as having very fair skin and compelling eyes. Beautiful and seductive, protective yet dangerous, Mami Wata is celebrated throughout much of Africa.
She and other related African water spirits all honor the essential sacred nature of water.

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Dimensions: 23 x 20 inches
Technique: Whole cloth quilt, hand dye-painted fabric, image created with threads
Material: 100% cotton fabric, polyester batting

Artist Statement:
"Captured" is about the role that women must play. Women are captured and this can be interpreted in so many ways. The facade we must wear to protect ourselves often hides the many experiences that we have had in our lives. What a woman portrays on the outside doesn't always reveal what is on the inside.

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Dimensions:  24 x 54 inches

Technique:  Hand dye-painted with thickened fiber reactive dyes

Material:  100% cotton fabric, Cotton Classic batting

Artist Statement:

January 1, 1992, our family was invited to a New Year’s celebration in Mali. The party took place on the sandy banks of the Niger River. Shelters to protect everyone from the sun were built out of straw and bamboo. About two hundred people came and celebrated the new year with music, dance, good food and lots of laughter. This grandfather was there with his granddaughter. He was so loving and gentle with her that I photographed him several times peeling an orange for her. This piece was inspired by my favorite of these photographs.

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Dimensions:  35 x 85 inches

Technique: hand dye painted, machine quilted, whole cloth quilt except for the border, hats are appliqued over the border

Artist Statement:

Our daughter studied in Ecuador when she was in college. She volunteered to teach English in a small village in the Andes mountains. We visited her and went to that village where I photographed the children. I was so struck by how old the girls looked and the responsibility that is put upon them at such a young age that I created this piece in their honor. These girls are all under fifteen years of age. This piece is composed of four photographs I combined.

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Dimensions: 58 x 58 inches

Technique: Machine appliqued raw edge denim, hand dye-painted accent fabric, machine quilted

Material: 100% hand dye-painted fabric, denim, wool/polyester batting, 100% polyester threads

Artist Statement:

Water is The Source of Life. We sing and dance to it, pray for it, and dream and write about it. Water quenches our thirst, grows our food, washes us, and gives us a means of play and relaxation. As our world becomes more crowded and our resources diminish, our water will become more cherished causing us to rethink our lifestyle.

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Dimensions:  63 x 46 inches

Technique:  Hand dye-painted with thickened fiber reactive dyes, machine pieced border,  machine quilted

Material:  100% cotton fabric, Wool batting

Artist Statement:

Many humanitarian organizations are turning to women to help develop projects to build a stronger Africa. The women are dependable, enthusiastic and hard-working. This quilt was made from a photograph my husband took at a training program he and his organization set up to teach women about running their own businesses. These women are an inspiration to me.

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Dimensions: 27 x 37 inches

Technique: Hand-dye-painted fabric, machine-quilted. The image has been created with thread only.

Material: 100% cotton fabric, wool/polyester batting.

Artist Statement:

We can’t always control what happens in our lives. Health, family, work… It sometimes seems to be more chaotic than we expect. “Letting Go” is about me moving from the chaotic to the peaceful in a difficult period in my life.

$14,000.00

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Dimensions:  42 x 30 inches

Technique:  machine quilted

Material:  whole cloth quilt, 100% cotton Malian fabric, wool batting

Artist Statement:

African babies are never separated from their mothers, which creates a powerful bond that lasts throughout their lives.
Before moving to Africa, I had never thought about having children of my own. Our first child was born in a bush hospital in Agou-Nyogbo, Togo. She was delivered by African midwives by the light of a kerosene lamp. This experience and raising our three children in West Africa has had a profound impact on my being a mother.
I was pregnant with our first child when I photographed this young mother feeding her baby in a market in Burkina Faso.

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Dimensions:  36 x 28 inches

Technique:  image created with machine quilting

Material:  100% cotton African fabric, wool/polyester batting

Artist Statement:

The joy of drinking fresh potable water directly from a faucet is still a luxury in many places throughout our world.   

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Dimensions:  80 x 60 inches

Technique:  Hand dye-painted with thickened fiber reactive dyes, machine quilted

Material:  100% cotton fabric, cotton/polyester batting

Artist Statement:

The Sahel is a region just south of the Sahara desert where trees are scarce. One type of tree that grows in this region is the baobab tree, also called the “tree of life” because it provides food, medicine, and shade for the people who live there. The Fulani are nomads and the women are considered to be the most beautiful in West Africa. I met the little girl in orange when I stayed a week in a village in northern Benin in 1996. I had gone there to draw with a friend of mine and this little girl was our constant companion. I chose to combine these images as atribute to the beauty that I discovered in this part of the world.

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Dimensions:  80 x 60 inches

Technique:  Hand dye-painted with thickened fiber reactive dyes on cotton fabric, machine quilted

Materials:  100% cotton, Cotton Classic batting

Artist Statement:

Traditional houses in the Sahel region of West Africa are built with adobe. This quilt represents a mosque I saw in San, a village in northern Mali. It is a typical example of the beautiful mosques that are found throughout this area. Mosques are often built in the center of the villages and become a gathering place for all kinds of activities. Once or twice a week, local butchers will sell meat in front of the mosque.

Public collection: American Embassy Mali, West Africa

Dimensions: 55 x 40 inches

Technique:  Hand dye-painted with thickened fiber reactive dyes on cotton fabric, machine quilted

Material:  100% cotton fabric, wool batting

Artist Statement:

There is a place, south of the Sahara desert, where faces seem to grow out of granite boulders..... These enormous faces were carved by an artist who thought they would look appropriate in the landscape. My husband was working on a project nearby, and he photographed children playing among these sculptures. The contrast between the innocent children and the huge faces captured me because it made me think of the fragility of a child against the force of mankind. I re-enforced the surreal effect by painting it in the monochromatic orange and then quilting it with realistic colored threads.

Private collection

Dimensions: 26 x 42 inches

Technique: whole cloth quilt, machine-quilted

Material: 100% cotton fabric, wool/polyester batting

Artist Statement:

Jimmy Carter is a man whom I have admired for many years. He was the first president I was able to vote for back in 1976. Over the years he has proven to be an amazing activist and negotiator for peace and human rights throughout the world. Since artists get to make art that inspires and moves them, I chose to make a piece honoring Mr. Carter. Two of the drawings represent him as President Carter; the third one is when he received the Nobel Peace Prize. I hope I will have the chance to meet him one day.

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