Korhogo West African Textiles, Photograph Embroidery, and Great Depression Quilts

The Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum will open three exhibits that will run from April 15 through July 12, 2025. Each of these unique exhibits will take a different approach to reimaging textile art forms.

The Hubbard Gallery will display Korhogo of West Africa Textiles collected by Beth Ann St. George. Korhogo cloth is a West African textile made by hand painting designs on hand-woven and hand-spun cotton fabric. The paintings are done using a specially fermented mud-based and natural vegetal pigment that darkens over time. They are decorated with symbols of humans, natural elements like the sun, moon and stars and animals. Beth Ann St. George is a Folk Artist, who uses Korhogo cloth as central pieces of her modern textile art. While she is fascinated with the stories of Korhogo, she does not alter the Korhogo beyond the quilted stitching and an occasional button or bead. The ragged edges are left visible. She uses these pieces to educate people about the meanings of the symbols of the Korhogo cloth.

Myrtie Cope’s embroidered photographs entitled Nature Embroidered will be on display in Gallery II. As a quilter and photographer, Myrtie Cope has found ways to incorporate photography into quilting and embroidery. Her embroidery adds texture and interest to landscapes and nature photos and, on some photos, creates an abstract image. The stitches create focus on different areas of the photos; colors are added which are not in the original photo but can be imagined. In addition to the ongoing exhibit, the public is welcome to meet Cope and learn more about her work on Saturday, April 26th starting at 2:00pm, with brief artist remarks at 2:30 pm.

Great Depression Quilts from the permanent collection of the Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum will be on display in Gallery III. Each of the quilts on display will provide a different look into the times and lives of people who lived and quilted during the Great Depression.