Collages inspired by Rosie Lee Tompkins

Rosie Lee Tompkins

We learned about the tradition of the patchwork quilt, born of scarcity and resourcefulness, and arising in times and places where the shortages of cloth called for the inventive salvaging of fabric scraps and remnants. Rosie Lee Tompkins, (Born Effie Mae Howard in 1936 in Arkansas), lives in Richmond California. She is a widely-acclaimed African-American quiltmaker and fiber artist. The New York Times called her "one of the great American artists," and her work "one of the century’s major artistic accomplishments." We also looked at the Quilts of Gee's Bend. First graders designed their own quilt collages with printed papers. All work was submitted online.