EARLY COUNTRY I-HOUSE -- KY

This early country house in Kentucky is like many of the small modest houses of this form. Many dating back to the 1800's they are numerous in the southern and eastern part of the United States. This particular one was found in the country near Lancaster, Kentucky. It is a great example of the small simple I-House. Very practical, vernacular and popular in southern states.

TRADITIONAL APPLIQUE PICTORIAL QUILTS -- A SOUTHERN TRADITION

Pictorial Quilt 1898

Quilter --Harriet Powers

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Massachusetts

Bible Quilt -- 1886
"Adam and Eve Naming the Animals"
Quilter, Harriet Powers
Smithsonian, Washington D.C.

History repeats itself over time in all types of genera. In this case -- appliqued pictorial quilts. 

In the 1800s a Georgia woman of African-American descent created a quilt out of cotton panels and appliqued story pieces on them. Today she is considered the "mother of appliqued quilts." Two of her quilts are still with us in Boston and Washington  D. C. museums. These two quilts are the lone survivors of her work. Unless . . .

 Another quilt is known to have been created by Harriet Powers. The book This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilt and Other Pieces by Kara E. Hicks, provides the following information, "In 2009, a copy of an 1896 letter from Harriet Powers to a prominent Keokuk, Iowa woman surfaced . . . it (sic) describes a quilt made about 1882 that she called the Lord's Supper quilt. It is unclear if the presumably appliqued quilt still physically exists today. Given that two of Powers' appliqued quilts have survived for over 100 years, it is possible the Lord's Supper quilt could be in a collection." (Hicks)

"Wild and Wooley"
Pictorial Applique Wall Hanging Quilt
Creator -- Ms Betty

From the 1800s lets jump to a 2011. Here an appliqued wall hanging tells a contemporary garden story -- created by Ms Betty who is a member of the Berea Depot Quilters guild in Berea, Kentucky.  

Section of "Wild and Wooley"

Here we find the same idea of the Powers quilt of telling a story. The story appears to be about  gardening, home, food and insects all intertwined into a artistic blend of applique.

"Section of Wild and Wooley"

Pieced with many different colors and patterns the quilt does appear joyously wild with the use of wool appliqued pieces.

Section of "Wild and Wooley"

Such works of art such as the applique quilt reminds me of how women can avail themselves to artistically contribute their own personal stories.  

Harriet Powers truly was the "mother of appliqued quilts" who began a traditional art that she created over a hundred years ago. A traditional art that is still going strong today.

REFERENCES

Online Sources

The New Georgia Encyclopedia

Harriet Powers Quilt

Smithsonian National Museum, American History
Harriet Powers Quilt


Wikipedia Harriet Powers

Book Sources

Signs and Symbols African Images In African - American Quilts

by Maude Southwell Wahlman

This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilt and Other Pieces. by Kara E. Hicks,  Publisher: Black Threads Press