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Pearlie Rayford

Pearlie Rayford's quilt is a classic example of a pattern that was popularized in syndicated newspaper columns by "Aunt Martha" and "Nancy Cabot" from 1932 onward.

Her appliquéd dahlias display a cheerful array of colors and prints, as well as her precise quilting stitches, which repeat petal shapes in the negative spaces.

This was my favorite quilt bc I love pink and flowers!

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Marsha Carter

This quilt by Marsha Carter honors Delilah Leontium Beasley (1867-1934), a writer whose landmark book, Negro Trailblazers in California

(1919), was the first study of Black people in the state. The quilt is the first in an on-going series entitled NEVER, EVER FORGET: Courageous African American Women and represents Carter's commitment to preserving Black history.

I love this quilt bc it’s so colorful and creative!

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Anita Carse

The story of the westward movement of Anita Carse's family predates World War II.

About this work, the artist wrote:

This quilt depicts one part of my family's migration west from Missouri. It is constructed around the image of my maternal grandmother, Jessie Amy Fermon (1887-1965), taken in 1910 in Anaconda, Montana. In addition to starting her family there, my grandmother served as a midwife, healer, and anchor to her community. She lived in the Mountain West until eventually settling in California to live with her adult children following the death of her husband.

The wide-open space in this piece refers to the quest for freedom and space to live as free people.

The metallic layer alludes to the mineral extraction upon which the town of Anaconda was built.

My use of cowrie shells references her African ancestry and fertility— not only as a mother of many children, but also as someone who nourished, protected, and provided prosperity for her family and community.

This quilt somehow gives me inner peace so I liked it.

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Alice Neal

Alice Neal began this extraordinary quilt about nine months after her mother, Mary Bright's, passing in December 1954. Neal based the central portrait on a photograph of Bright and used leftover materials from the dress that she wore in the original image. Other patterns that appear throughout the quilt have a personal connection to Bright, such as the four Nine Patch blocks at the corners of the portrait's frame, which refer to the first pattern that Neal learned from her mother. Over nine types of intricate quilt stitching designs embellish the top. Careful embroidery records two sets of dates on the left and right sides: one documents the creation of Neal's artwork, and the other honors the woman who taught her how to quilt.

Neal intended to display this quilt at a museum her family hoped to establish on their land near Monroe, Louisiana. A local television station bought the property, prompting Neal to sell this quilt to collector Eli Leon, believing hìm to be the best person to care for it and its story.

I liked this quilt bc it is very simple but have a lot of creativity.