Stitched Work

Mount Ida Quilt Reconsidered

In this work, I introduce the idea of enslavement as I consider the Mount Ida antebellum quilt now in the Alabama Museum and Archives and in the Pieces of History exhibit, outlining each square with an embroidered chain with tufts of cotton from Wallace cotton. The original quilt was made by my ancestral kith and kin. In my interpretation, I include both the houses of the principal quilt makers (that are also in the Coosa Bend painting) and the outbuildings of the enslaved who made the life of the quilters possible. The original Mount Ida quilt was a group effort and my quilt is as well. Two of my granddaugters and two friends assisted in the embroidery. The Mount Ida Quilt Reconsidered is within the sightline of the antebellum Mount Ida quilt in Pieces of History (see image below).

Stitched Recollections

The cyanotype images in Stitched Recollections are primarily of images from my childhood: my grandmother and I ready to travel standing in front of the Wallace House (lower right), my cousin and me playing with the dirt of the driveway in front of the Wallace House (lower left); my baptism in Logan’s Creek (second row left); and my standing with John Mallory holding an Easter basket (top right).