Artist: Laura Moss Gottlieb

Homage to the Anonymous Quilters Who Preceded Us, 2021

This portion of a decayed quilt with superimposed images of quilters drawn from Library of Congress photos evokes its 1930s historical context. A beautiful quilt is the background for images of three quilters from that era: an African-American woman creating a Dresden Plate quilt on a treadle sewing machine in her rough-hewn cabin in Gee’s Bend, Alabama; a white woman hand quilting a fan quilt in a farm workers’ community sewing room in California; and an African-American woman hand stitching a Baptist Fan quilting pattern on a quilt in her Georgia smokehouse. These anonymous, talented women are gone by now, but their work—though now tattered and worn from use--is allusive and partial, but still powerful and beautiful. My piece pays homage to the gorgeous workmanship and talent of the unknown maker(s) of this and similar quilts.

--Made in Madison, WI

Inspirational Images Linked here:

https://www.loc.gov/item/2017775821/

https://www.loc.gov/item/2017817421/

https://www.loc.gov/item/2017794138/