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Exhibitions
Archives
Inspired by Nature: Art Quilts by Dottie Moore
In the Spirit of Sankofa: Art Quilts by Marlene O'Bryant-Seabrook
In Praise of Our Mothers: Carved & Painted Gourds by Michele Tejuola Turner
January 8 through February 29, 2004
Since 1980 Dottie Moore has created over 500 quilts. Inspired by Nature: Art Quilts by Dottie
Moore brings together 29 of those made since 1997. Moore was born in Decatur, Georgia and raised and educated in
Tennessee. In 1980 Moore produced her first art quilt, primarily using self-taught traditional techniques and some
innovative methods that just came naturally. Her daily walks in the rolling hills and forests provided inspiration
and subject matter. By 1987 she was quilting full time. From the beginning, her quilts have reflected multiple
layers and paradoxes of nature's symbols. Moore notes, "I stitch layers of cloth and images into visual conversations
about the mystery of earth and sky. Nature speaks the soul's symbolic language and I discover layers of meaning in
each tree and mountain that I quilt."
Today, Moore lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Her work has appeared in many publications including American Quilter and Art Quilt Magazine. Moore's quilts have been displayed in many private and corporate collections in the United States and abroad. Moore is the founder of "Piecing a Quilt of Life," a national project dedicated to documenting the creation process among women quilt artists over the age of 50.
In the Spirit of Sankofa: Art Quilts by Marlene O' Bryant-Seabrook and In Praise of Our Mothers: Carved & Painted Gourds by Michele Tejuola Tuner focus on the visual medium of storytelling.
Sankofa is the African bird known for looking backward as it moves forward. To the Akan people of Ghana, West Africa, the Sankofa
symbolizes learning from the past in order to understand the present. Marlene O'Bryant-Seabrook's retrospective exhibit is one
artist's reflection on her personal and creative journey. And that journey has been two-fold. O'Bryant-Seabrook learned the
rules of hand quilting, hand applique, and counting the number of stitches per inch. However, she also lives fully in the
present where she embraces available technology such as computers and printers in creating her quilts.
Marlene O'Bryant-Seabrook is a Charleston native and a third generation educator. An ardent student, she holds BS, MAT and Ph.D.
degrees and has over 30 years experience in education.
Her life-long quest to create eventually led to a 1982 eight-week quilting class. O'Bryant-Seabrook approaches quilting from the dual focus of educator/artist. Within each quilt, there is a subtle or overt life "lesson." Within each of O'Bryant-Seabrook's quilts the viewer senses her love of God, family, children and heritage. This 13-piece retrospective exhibit serves as testimony to one woman's continual quest to learn from the past in order to create a lasting legacy for the future.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Michele Tejuola Turner spent her childhood nurtured in family, church and community life. Her fascination
with art began when she enrolled in the visual arts program at Cass Technical School. She continued her art education at the
Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio.
A visit to a community center in her new hometown of Atlanta introduced Turner to traditional African performances, crafts, storytelling, music and dance and her future husband. After her husband's initiation into the Yoruba priesthood in 1986, she began to carve images on gourds as a way of remembering and understanding African myths and folktales. In 1991 Turner received a Folklife Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council to complete a series of gourds documenting Yoruba "power myths." In 1993 she had her first one-person exhibition and was awarded an Arts International Travel (AIT) Grant to study calabash carving in Nigeria and Ghana. Her subsequent studies with native African master carvers expanded her visual vocabulary bringing her work into sharper thematic focus. In Praise of Our Mothers: The Carved and Painted Gourds of Michele Tejuola Turner is the culmination of Turner's discovery of the nine-day Gelede Festival held annually by the Yoruba people of Nigeria and Benin.
The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum
3100 South Ocean Boulevard Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
PO Box 1124 Myrtle Beach 29578
phone 843.238.2510
fax 843.238.2910
artmuse@sccoast.net