I was invited to join an exhibition organized by the Women’s Caucus for Art, Philadelphia entitled Black Lives Matter. The piece I entered is Harriet Tubman as a Superhero. Last night a Zoom panel discussion took place among the artists in the show. Here are my comments:
Harriet Tubman has long been my most revered American hero.
We visited the Harriet Tubman Museum and Education Center in Dorchester County, MD in 2017. This is where she was born, grew up, worked as an enslaved person, and from which she escaped.
She was the most successful Underground Railway conductor of all time, leading 70-80 enslaved persons to freedom, including her entire family.
In addition, she became a spy, a scout, and a military leader in the Union Army. She petitioned for years to be compensated for her three years of military service, and finally won a pension in 1899 of $20 a month (about $600 today.)
She was born in approximately 1822 and lived until 1913, despite suffering a condition that was probably temporal lobe epilepsy, caused by a head injury when she was a child. She was hit in the head by a plantation owner with a heavy metal object and was unconscious for 3 days. She was plagued by dizziness, fainting, visions, and in later years debilitating migraine headaches.
I had the idea of depicting her as a superhero because she already was one in my eyes. All she needed was the headband!
The artwork is an Art Quilt, 21 x 31”, framed. Art Quilts are 2-3 layers stitched together over the majority of the surface. They are art for the wall, not the bed.
I am a member of Studio Art Quilt Associates, SAQA, and you can go to their website to learn more about them.
I believe the organization will be putting a link to the entire panel discussion on their website.
