Stars and Strips

Artist:

Kim F. Hall

quilted by Catherine Wooten in Baltimore, MD

Year:

Early 2000s

Dimensions:

104.25H x 80.5W

Materials:

Cotton

Techniques /Style:

machine foundation pieced

Quilt Story

Kim F. Hall: I was thrilled to win the white & black strip blocks at a Quilters of Color Network of New York (QCNNY) meeting. It was the first time I won their Block of the Month (where quilters all make blocks based on a common pattern) raffle. It’s a style sometimes called “black, white and bright.” I liked adding the bright colors to blocks that represent the labor and fabric choices of NYC quilt sisters.

Weaving Dreams, Section 1: Our Ancestors’ Dreams

Kim F. Hall’s creative practice extends from formative experiences as a daughter and granddaughter. Because of her paternal grandmother’s disdain for “idle hands,” she was taught early to assist in needlework and quilting projects as collective family work. Since childhood, quilting has been her primary creative practice. Hall emerged into social consciousness in the early 1970’s while accompanying her politically active parents, and took inspiration from her mother Vera P. Hall - a prominent Baltimore educator and local Democratic party leader, who has been determined to set the record straight about African American history through her quilts. Hall continues to share a decades’ long artistic bond with her mother – exploring new quilting practices together, researching and collecting historical materials, and experimenting with new storytelling methods.