Mentor Series 3

The Visual Artists

The defiant and rebellious women joined hands,

and held the line.

We protected our still-damp newly born creations,

just cut from their umbilical cords

orange red purple green electric blues

taking their first breath in the summer wind.

He said that we shouldn’t be birthing tie dye on his sabbath,

and we were evil women to disobey.

“Listen to me, for I speak for the Holy Trinity.”

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

Male, of Men, and Male Voiced

But we, the Mary’s, of Virgin Birth and Magdalene

Held the line, as his hand reached

to abort our birthings

and stomp them in the ground

“Hail Mary, full of Grace!”

We are women who know our place!

This quilt honors Megan White and Lauren Austin, past Directors of the Community Folk Art Gallery, and the Women of the Beauchamp Library Sankofa Piecemakers Quilting Circle

“As Directors of the Community Folk Art Gallery, Megan and Lauren created a place for women to gather on Saturday mornings and birth art; sometimes under opposition from those who wanted to control women’s expressions. It was there I created my first art pieces. And as a member of the Sankofa Piecemakers, Lauren taught me to find my own voice in Quilt World...to break all the rules!”