Kindred Spirits Conference Director Kimberley Pierce Cartwright started quilting in 2006 when she joined the African American Quilt Circle in Durham, NC.   Learn more about Kimberley here.

Candace Thomas was born in Los Angeles, California and now resides in  Durham, North Carolina. She began working with fiber in the late 1960’s.  After going beyond the commercial pattern she expanded into wearable art,  home décor, contemporary art quilts, and 3-dimensional fiber sculptures, all  with an African Aesthetic. She has exhibited her work in exhibits from local  to international. Candace shares her love of textiles and fibers as she  teaches fiber art and creative process workshops. In addition to exhibiting  her own work she has curated and coordinated juried shows and exhibition  in North Carolina.

Judy Bowman is a mixed-media collage artist who was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Her art practice centers on exalting America’s Black culture. Bowman’s use of vibrant hues textured paper, and acrylic paint illuminates’ narratives that move beyond institutional racism and disparaged perspectives of the Black experience–a view in which America too often limits the full picture.  Considering herself a visual griot, she sees her job to tell stories that are reflective of her coming-of-age in Detroit’s Eastside and Black Bottom neighborhoods. Scenes in her vibrant collages depict love, community, and a type of fellowship that resides in jazzy nights, the sway of young Black women and the swag of young Black men, church on Sundays followed by family dinner, family outings, and cultural dignity and richness.  

Bowman’s work appears in private and public collections–nationally and internationally–including Institutional and Permanent Collections of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Historical Museum, and more.

Lynthia Edwards is a Birmingham, Alabama-based multidisciplinary artist best known for her collage works that present the complex emotions associated with Black girls’ experiences in the American South. Edwards sources images from her current life both to channel the racial and gendered isolation she experienced as a child and express the limitations of her strict, Pentecostal upbringing, with her collage subjects as distinctive versions of her younger self.

 Born in 1978 in Alexander City, Alabama, Edwards studied at the Art Institute of Atlanta (AA in Graphic Design, 1998), Auburn University of Montgomery (B.A., Art Education, 2002), and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (M.A. Art Education, 2012). She is the recipient of many awards, including the Purchase Award from the Alabama Art Colony in both 2005 and 2006, and “Best of Show” in the Montgomery Art Guild and Regions Bank Exhibition in 2019. In 2021, she earned the Alabama State Council for the Arts Fellow Award.

Torreah “Cookie” Washington is a fourth-generation needle worker.  Her mother, aunts, grandmother and great-grandmother were all experienced dressmakers, fashion designers and master tailors and she is proud to have learned at the knees of her mother’s family. Cookie is the first in this long line of needle workers to take up art quilting.  Yet she feels her connection very deeply to her foremothers, whenever a needle and bit of cloth is in her hands.

Cookie has been creating with textiles for more than five decades. Born in Rabat, Morocco, she has traveled extensively, and has made her home for the last 33 years in Charleston, SC.

April Anue Shipp is a multifaceted artist renowned for her poignant narrative quilts and evocative figurative sculptures that illuminate the African American experience. Born and raised in the vibrant heart of Detroit, April draws on her rich cultural heritage and personal history to craft her art, weaving together themes of resilience, identity, and community. Each quilt tells a story through intricate patterns and vivid colors, while her sculptures capture the strength and beauty of the human form, often portraying historical figures and contemporary stories. April’s work has been exhibited in prestigious galleries across the United States, forging connections between audiences and the powerful narratives that shape African American life. Through her artistry, April continues to inspire dialogue, remembrance, and reflection, using textiles and clay to bridge past and present in a profound celebration of culture.