RCWMS is so pleased to officially welcome Kimberley Pierce Cartwright as our artist-in-residence!
A quilter, folk art painter, writer, entrepreneur, and journalist, Cartwright grew up in Hallsboro, NC. She began her artistic career as a quilter and painter in 2006. As a child, she used her mother’s sewing scraps to produce hand-stitched dolls and clothes for them to wear. These early experiences nurtured her lifelong love for sewing. She now sews regularly, producing one-of-a-kind quilts, paintings, and mixed media projects that reflect her stance on topics of interest such as slavery, the African-American diaspora, the civil rights movement, and Afro-Southern life in general. She says of her work, “I have the power to create art in my life. I do that through my quilting. Sometimes I plan what I will do and sometimes I don’t. The result is always something I love. Everyone has the same power to create art in our own unique way.”
Due to the pandemic, Cartwright’s 2020 quilt exhibit, Faith, was presented virtually on NCCU Art Museum’s website. Faith is still available online. Cartwright’s work is also included as part of Reckoning and Resilience: North Carolina Art Now, on exhibit at the Nasher Museum in Durham through July 2022. She has shown her work locally and around the state. Her work has also been featured in the international magazine Quilting Arts and Quilt Mania.
Kimberley is the News and Public Affairs Director at NCCU. She’s a member of the African American Quilt Circle of Durham and has taught classes in quilting and sewing, including several fabric postcard workshops, for RCWMS. Her teaching style is warm and welcoming, and her art is brilliant, intricate, and timely.
The goal of the RCWMS artist-in-residence program is to create a platform that will help elevate the work of talented local artists. Kimberley has set a goal of making twelve quilts of notable African-American women in 2022. Her friend and mentor Jereann King, who helped to launch the African American Quilt Circle and the Heritage Quilters, will serve as Kimberley’s creative sounding board for this endeavor. She will also be working with prize-winning poet and novelist Darnell Arnoult, who will provide guidance to Kimberley as she finishes her novel. Kimberley also plans to teach several classes for RCWMS.
Previous artists-in-residence for RCWMS include Bryant Holsenbeck and Sue Sneddon.
Welcome Kimberley! We are so glad you’re here.
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