Welcome to Sister Artists 3!

We are pleased to announce the launch of our third Sister Artists quilt challenge linking fiber artists from the Global South with art quilters in the Global North.

Ten artists from Uganda are participating in this challenge and they are indeed profiles in courage. All survived kidnapping and sexual slavery by rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which terrorized the north of Uganda between 1987 and 2008. Read about their experience here.

The artists have formed an association, Women in Action for Women, to help their reintegration into society and embroidery has helped the process. In 2021, they stitched powerful stories for the Uganda War Survivors Quilts. The following year, they made ten more stories about the pandemic, for our COVID story-telling project. These too were assembled into a quilt and exhibited. On a more quirky note, they have also made blocks for a quilt about African breads.

Nancy Hershberger is well known in quilting circles for her dazzling designs and innovation. Nancy produced an art quilt for the first Sister Artists competition in 2019. (“Under the Tree”). In 2022 she helped two quilting friends, Judith and Yvonne Miller, to assemble the Third Kenya COVID Quilt. Nancy is active in several guilds in Pennsylvania: the Pieceful Patchers Quilt Guild; the Log House Quilters Guild; the Salix Stickers Guild; Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA); and the American Quilter Society.

In the process, the WAW have become skilled stitchers and earlier this year they asked to participate in a Sister Artists quilt challenge. As our quilting friends will know, we launched this initiative in 2020 to turn embroidered village scenes from Mali into art quilts which we then auctioned. Profits from the sales were invested in women’s initiatives in Mali.

We launched a second Sister Artists challenge in 2021 to produce art quilts from Kenyan embroidery. The result was 40 splendid art quilts which brought in over $10,000 for the Kenyan artists.

We profiled both groups of artists and their stories in catalogues, and exhibited both sets of quilts at the prestigious Textile Museum in Washington. 

The Sister Artists model is deeply rewarding for the artists at both ends. The African artists, who live under constant pressure, have the chance to express themselves and see their good work appreciated. Quilters in the North are always on the lookout for a good cause that will test their talents and not surprisingly, several have built personal relationships with their African sisters. We encourage this by organizing virtual events for those who cannot attend the real-time exhibitions in person.

The butterflies and birds for this latest Sister Artists challenge were stitched by the WAW artists in Uganda this past summer, with help from Julia Davatzes, a Peace Fellow from George Washington University. Nancy Hershberger, a well known-quilter from Pennsylvania who has participated in several of our quilt projects, kindly offered to make a sample quilt. The result – “Transformation and Freedom” – can be seen at the top of this page and speaks for itself.

Bobbi Fitzsimmons, our quilt coordinator, has prepared 36 packets, each with four blocks – three butterflies and a bird – made by one of the ten Ugandan artists. To participate, please email Bobbi with your shipping details and donate the entry fee of $25 through the donate button on our home page. Bobbi will send a packet with the 4 blocks and information about your artist. The quilts should be quite small (no bigger than 30″ x 30″) and will be used as wall hangings. They should not be bed-size. Applications will be accepted on a first come first served basis. 

Once you complete your quilt, please return it to Bobbi (by registered shipping) no later than February 8. We will then produce a catalogue profiling your wondcrful quilts and hope to exhibit them at the Textile Museum next spring. Based on past events we would expect a good turnout of participating Sister Artists, friends of the Museum, students and diplomats including from the Ugandan embassy. We will also organize an online event for those unable to attend in person to meet the Ugandan artists.

Ultimately this is as much about generating an income for the Ugandan artists as it is a celebration of textile art. The Ugandan sister artists emerged from years in captivity impoverished – with their education cut short, socially isolated, and without marketable skills. The COVID pandemic knocked them back even further.

They are well on the path to recovery and recently launched a successful appeal on GlobalGiving to launch a tailoring business. But most are single mothers and still in need of an income. As with the two earlier Sister Artists challenges, the finished quilts will be auctioned and all profits invested in WAW.

Thank you!

All queries should be directed to Bobbi Fitzsimmons – bfitzsimmons@advocacynet.org; tel 401 559 3733.

Scroll to the next tab to meet the artists and see sample butterfly blocks