Quilts by Rosie Lee Tompkins (part 2)

About five months ago, the art museum of the University of California, Berkeley learned that they had inherited three thousand quilts made by African-American quilters, many from the Bay Area. The museum immediately went to work to organize the first of several exhibitions of these vintage quilts. Please join us to see additional highlights below !

Untitled 2004 by Rosie Lee Tompkins , quilted by Irene Bankhead

Rosie Lee Tompkins was the pseudonym of quilt artist Effie Mae Howard. She made over 500 quilts in her lifetime, starting in the 1970's. She was a devout Christian and an active member of her church in northern California. In the quilt above, you can see that she embroidered her name "Effie" and the date of her birth, September 6, 1936.

On this quilt, Tompkins embroidered numbers that were important to her, such as her favorite Bible verses and other numbers. She created a large amount of free-floating yo-yo's in a number that was personally significant, like an age or a relative's birth date.

Untitled 1986 by Rosie Lee Tompkins (1936-2006)

Velvet and all its variations were Tompkins' favorite fabrics. This quilt is done with velvet, velveteen, velour, crushed velvet, printed cotton, rayon print, acrylic yarn, and pieced cotton backing.

Done in pinwheels, half-square triangles, and nine patch blocks, this quilt is tied instead of quilted. However, by using brightly colored yarn with long ends like a pom-pom, Tompkins incorporates the ties as part of the patterns of the quilt top.

Untitled 1970s by Rosie Lee Tompkins. Quilted by Irene Bankhead in 1997

Here's another pretty example of Tompkins' free-form improvisational approach to quiltmaking. It's comprised of re-purposed hand and machine embroidered fabrics, decorative trim, crocheted doilies, and velveteen, along with shisa mirror embroidery, cotton thread embroidery, and cotton muslin backing.

Tompkins expressed her deep Christian faith by incorporating many religious images, such as this vintage embroidery of Christ. For her, these images served as a focal point for prayer and meditations on her spirituality.

Untitled 2002 by Rosie Lee Tompkins (1936-2006)

This later work of Tompkins, which features a more contemporary or pronounced geometric motif,  is made of  cotton, printed cotton, polyester, canvas, knit velour, polyester fleece, wool, polyester double knit, cotton embroidery, and buttons.

Rosie Lee Tompkins' work was collected by writer, art scholar, and psychologist Eli Leon in Oakland, California. Throughout his life, he organized and presented several exhibitions of her work ; the first one was held at the San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum in 1987.

Untitled 1986 with "Christmas material by Rosie Lee Tompkins  (1936-2006)

Our camera photo really doesn't do justice to this quilt ! It's full of sparkly, glittery, shimmery fabric that reflects the festive, happy spirit of the Christmas season. It's done with silk brocade, woven and knit metallic fabrics, acrylic yarn, and satin backing.

Tompkins's quilts were not made from old clothes or other scraps but from fabrics she purchased for their textures and light-reflecting qualities, including velvet, fake fur, wool, silk and Lurex. She adhered generally to  the convention of the quilt block but she made it her own, with many variations in size, shape, and textures within the same block.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration with permission of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archives.