Harriet’s Quilt, 2016-22

Contributors: Elizabeth Talford Scott (1916–2011), Lowery Stokes Sims (b. 1949), Amy Eva Raehse (b. 1974), Paul Daniel (b. 1950), Leslie King Hammond (b. 1944), Oletha DeVane (b. 1950), Coby Green-Rifkin (b. 1971), Grayce Johnson (b. 1948), and Karen Fitchett (b. 1945)
Plastic and glass beads, yarn, and knotted fabric
© Estate of Joyce J. Scott; courtesy of Goya Contemporary. Photo by Amy Raehse.

The celebrated sculptor, jeweler, performance artist, printmaker, and educator Joyce J. Scott is perhaps best known for her eclectic figurative sculptures and for her beaded jewelry—often also partly figural—made through free-form, off-loom weaving techniques. Harriet’s Quilt is one of several works that the artist made in homage to the formerly enslaved abolitionist Harriet Tubman (c. 1820–1913). Originally envisioned as a draped quilt over a trunk, the organically shaped assemblage of glass beads, found plastic beads, and yarn incorporates fabric knotted by Elizabeth Talford Scott, the artist’s late mother, that was left unused at the time of her death. Intertwined in a mutually beneficial dialogue, the pair continued to exchange creative ideas until the elder artist’s death. With the help of key community members in Baltimore, including Lowery Stokes Sims, Leslie King Hammond, and Oletha DeVane, the work was transformed into a wall-based quilt. Recalling her mother’s innovative and determined character, Joyce J. Scott said, “She had an improvisational spirit and rascally ways, which gladly came through in everything.”