Wini McQueen

Wini "Akissi" McQueen (wey dem bon for 1943) na one American woman wey sabi how to do quilt work well well. She dey live for Macon, Georgia. Quilt na cloth wey people go join plenti pieces together, sometimes e dey tell story or sho picture. Di kain work wey McQueen dey do no be just ordinary quilt — she dey use hand dye di cloth, and she dey add story wey dey talk about di life of Black people, women, and society wahala. One special thing wey she sabi do na how she dey transfer photo and write-up put inside her quilt.Plenty museum for America don show her quilt work — places like di Museum of African American Folk Art, Taft Museum, Bernice Steinbam Gallery, and William College Art Museum. For 2020, di Museum of Arts & Sciences for Macon, Georgia, even do one big show wey dem dedicate to all di fine cloth work wey she don make.

How she take start life and school

McQueen born for 1943 inside Neptune Township, wey dey New Jersey. But na for Durham, North Carolina she grow up. She go school for Howard University, wey she finish for 1968. After dat, she come live for Washington, DC.

Di kind work wey she dey do

One of her most famous quilt wey she do na Ode to Edmund. Dis quilt na to respect one slave wey him name be Edmund G. Carlisle — di man teach himself how to read and write, even though dem no gree teach slave book. Di quilt get red, white and blue colour, and e get stories wey ex-slave dem talk, plus old photos of slave people wey dem snap for one plantation for South Carolina around 1850. Di design wey she use do di quilt na from West African cloth pattern. McQueen dey call her own style "urban kente", wey mean kente cloth wey get modern city style join. She sabi use one special style wey dem dey call photocopy transfer panel. E mean say she go carry photo or write-up, then she go transfer am put for di cloth. One example na her Family Tree quilt, wey she arrange di photo like rough cross shape, but di up-down and side-by-side line still dey straight.

Di Tubman Museum for Macon give McQueen work to make special quilt for dem. Di quilt wey she make, wey she call She, she finish am for 1994. E show di life of women wey don live for Macon since di 1800s. Di Museum of Arts and Sciences for Macon sef get three of her quilts for their collection. For 2014, McQueen join other two artists do one exhibition wey dem call Quilts, Textiles, and Fibers In Macon Georgia for Macon Arts and Sciences Museum. She don also show her work for many other big exhibitions like:

Stitching Memories: African-American Story Quilts for Williams College Museum of Art for 1989, plus di Baltimore Museum of Art. American Resources: Selected Works of African American Artists for Bernice Steinbaum Gallery for 1989.

Ties that Bind: A TransAtlantic Journey for Blackbridge Hall Art Gallery for 2009.

Black Artists of Georgia: Selections from the Tubman Museum for Arts Clayton Gallery for 2010.

For 2015, she do her own exhibition wey dem call If Walls Could Talk for di opening day of di new Tubman Museum for Macon. Dis one get 125 story panels, wey talk about people wey live for Middle Georgia and Macon. Di panels mix quilt, photo transfer, and other special style.

Ticha work

McQueen dey also teach people art and history for di Tubman Museum outreach program. She don give public talk for Lanier Center of the Arts. She also be Artist in Residence for di Georgia National Fair for both 1990 and 2014 — dat one mean say she be di special artist wey dem invite come show work and teach people.

Awards and big recognition

She don win di Georgia Council for the Arts Award two times. She win Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Grant — di grant help her go Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire) go study how people for Africa dey use cloth do story. She talk say dat experience na one of di most important thing wey she don do for her life. For interview with Macon Magazine, she talk say: "I sit down watch sunset for back of Mount Korogo for northern Cote d’Ivoire, while di women dey prepare dia thread wey dem go use spin cloth di next day — na dat kind experience be di real thing wey dey my life history. Dat na di real meat of di matter."

She don even help arrange two big exhibitions — one for Macon and one for Africa — wey show di kain craft wey African-American community dey do.