Intercession

2019 - ongoing, restorative social practice, patchwork, ritual, prayer, originally installed at the Joan Mitchell Center.

There’s a story here... in this collection of fabric remnants found, color-sorted, in plastic bags in Eli Leon’s attic after he died. His astounding collection of over 3,000 African American improvisational quilts was bequeathed to BAMPFA, The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in 2019.

Could these be the remnants of Rosie Lee Tompkins’s fabric stash or another quilt maker whose legacy Eli recognized, cherished and preserved?

I am patching together the remnants from each bundle, preserving as much as possible their original shapes, as an act of prayer honoring the African-American quilt makers and improvisers who have interceded and inspired my creative journey. Each ritual, collaboration with the unknown maker through her left over stash, is made in thanksgiving, celebrating the gift of her legacy.

This prayer is made on behalf and in appreciation of anonymous makers all over the world, mostly women, whose devoted labor and creative genius most often goes unrecognized, and for all of the expressive legacies that have evolved from traditional women’s work whose practitioners continue to be marginalized, appropriated and often forgotten.

Gift, The Remnants
2019, installed at the Joan Mitchell Center
Remnants inherited from collector Eli Leon, found color coordinated in his attic after his death, possibly from an unknown quilt maker in his collection.

Gratitude, Bundled
60 x 54 x 15 inches, 2019, installed at the Joan Mitchell Center
Cleaned, sorted, bundled remnants inherited from Eli Leon, possibly from an unknown quilt maker in his collection, ironing board, documentation print.

Intercession Purple
2019, 112 x 184 x 24 inches, installed at the Joan Mitchell Center. Patchwork made from remnants inherited from Eli Leon, possibly from an unknown quilt maker in his collection.