Pictorial Quilt 1898
Quilter --Harriet Powers
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Massachusetts
"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)
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.
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.
Online Sources
Book Sources
by Maude Southwell Wahlman
This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilt and Other Pieces. by Kara E. Hicks, Publisher: Black Threads Press
