“The classic blues women’s lyrics reflected the injustices they encountered in urban America. They criticized discrimination and sang of the struggles for social change. Being an early feminist voice, many songs decried the male double standard. These women were rebellious and stood tall against discrimination in any form. This quilt is part of a series created to honor their spirit.

The quilt was designed using a basic “Log Cabin” quilt pattern, an obvious reference to the [Harriet Beecher Stowe] classic novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Two sides of each block are composed of dark tones and two sides are of light tones. When joined they create an encasement that “holds” each singer. Each light or dark side is configured from seven different fabrics, the “7” being a symbolic, mystical number.

The materials were torn by hand and sewn on my mother’s 1930s sewing machine. Embellishments were hand sewn. The collected black and white images were digitized, altered with the addition of color, and printed on cotton. All the components of this project are cotton, with the exception of miscellaneous adornments.”

Artist’s statement, 2003

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