Weaving Dreams

The Quilts of Kim F. Hall

Weaving Dreams presents a journey through the creative life and work of artist Dr. Kim F. Hall (1961 – ), a professor of English and Africana Studies at Barnard, scholar of race in Renaissance and Early Modern Literature, and author of The Sweet Taste of Empire (2025). This collection of quilts and textile works selected by Dr. Hall includes quilts by her mother, retired teacher and Baltimore civic leader Vera P. Hall (1937–), a close friend, mentor, and collaborator Catherine Wooten (1932 – 2023), and recent Barnard alum Carter Watts ‘25.

Inspired by Zora Neale Hurston’s description in a 1925 letter to Alain Locke of “our business of dream weaving that we call writing,” the exhibition is organized by overlapping dreams. Hurston’s use of “dream weaving” to describe the act of creating as a communal endeavor prompts us to think about the ways Black creators, particularly in academia, move between the quotidian activities that sustain Black community and their personal moments of creativity: our “weaving,” whether it be writing or textile arts, is the manifestation of our dreaming, both collective and individual.

In honor of Zora Neale Hurston’s legacy and the College’s commemoration of “100 years of Black Students at Barnard,” the quilts in this exhibition are complemented by an array of textile works that weave together the experiences of Black women on this campus across many generations – exploring themes of ancestral legacy, cultivating “home-place,” and making new worlds alone and together. Four figures, wardrobed by Exhibitions Assistant Tomisin Fasosin ‘25, evoke a timeline of iconic styles throughout the College’s history, putting Professor Hall’s creative imprint in dialogue with many other noted Black women who have developed their voice, vision, and a network of support at Barnard, and whose legacies extend far beyond campus. Embedded video portraits shed light on the complex and layered processes by which dreams and notions become material culture, and how quilting practices are shared across generations, time and space.

Curated by Miriam Neptune

Guest Artists and Contributors:

Kim F. Hall

Vera P. Hall

Dindga McCannon

Catherine Wooten

Carter Watts

Tomisin Fasosin

Khepera Lyons-Clark

Art Handler’s Collective