Virginia Harris
From Provisions
About the Artist
"Virginia R. Harris, quilt maker and master fabric artist, challenges the stereotypes of quilt making and the stereotypes of subject matter. Her work is as direct as a Toles or an Oliphant cartoon appearing on editorial pages. Harris says fabric is her palette, stitching is her brush stroke. Harris' images are particularly relevant during these politicized times."
--From the press release for an exhibition at the InterCultural Center at Sonoma State University
"In Trust, The Sun Will Rise, Harris combines traditional African fabric design with sun imagery from the Chumash Indians to express human faith in the cycles of nature."
--From ProvisionsLibrary.org
"Santa Rosa fabric artist Virginia R. Harris shows a small swathe of her rebellious, jewel-toned, hugely patriotic and man-she's-mad work on the adjacent walls. A quilter recently moved to the North Bay from the San Jose area, Harris uses the gentle, homely medium of the quilt to rip the Bush administration, reconsider the hateful rhymes of racism, reclaim an American vision that makes sense to the disenfranchised left and to craft small hangings that make no statement other than as deeply pleasing artifacts to the eye. A former chemical analyst and nonprofit executive who took up quilting as a third career, Harris' work is rooted in African textiles and traditions but might feature such terrifying images as the face of Dick Cheney. Among the many great things to look at within Quicksilver, Harris' quilt art is nothing short of riveting."
--From MetroActive.com
More on Quilting
The Quilts of Gee's Bend, collected by William Arnett of Tinwood Media and curated by Alvia Wardlaw at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, have inspired and impressed museum-goers and art critics alike since 2002 in museums around America.
The Quilts of Gee's Bend: A Showcase of Distinctive Work by African-American Artists - NPR
There's a brilliant, improvisational range of approaches to composition that is more often associated with the inventiveness and power of the leading 20th-century abstract painters than it is with textile-making," says Alvia Wardlaw, curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts.
History and Cultural Impact of Quilts
Web sites compiled by the University of Arizona provide insight on the history and cultural impact of quilts.
