Harriet Powers, American Artist and Quilter
The religious themes and images of Harriet Powers’ work discussed in this blog post do not reflect the views or beliefs of the Fiber Artist Collective of Athens. This content is presented for informational purposes and to highlight Powers’ artistic contributions to the fiber art world.
It’s easy to overlook everyday things, especially when you pass them regularly. That was the case for me and the bus stop art shelter on Atlanta Highway - until recently. I glanced out the window and noticed the inscription “Tribute to Harriet Powers’ Quilt.” This moment of discovery sparked my curiosity, revealing how this shelter does more than just provide cover for commuters; it also shares a piece of local fiber art history.
Tribute to Harriet Powers' Quilt - Bus Stop Art Shelter - Athens, Georgia
Photograph Raiana Kelly
Harriet Powers was born an enslaved woman in Clarke County on October 29, 1837. An essential skill for most enslaved women, Powers learned to sew at an early age. Though Powers was never formally educated, the oral transmission of stories and the technical knowledge and traditions passed to her from her community equipped her with the skills and creativity to express herself through “subversive stitching,” a means to demonstrate her intellect and agency while documenting her knowledge and lived experience.
Harriet Powers, 1901
In this portrait of Harriet Powers, she is wearing an apron that is believed to have been made by her. The appliqué symbols are similar to those that appear in her other designs.
By Unknown author - Photo of Harriet Powers in 1901 obtained from Southern Quilting via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Powersin_1901.jpg - original uploader en user Jreferee. Noise and dirt removed, and slightly tweaked the levels., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1377798
In Powers’ two surviving quilts, she uses traditional African-style appliqué techniques with European-style stitching to create “story quilts” that depict Bible stories and natural phenomena.
In 1886, Powers created what’s now known as the Bible Quilt (pictured below), an 11-panel hand and machine-stitched quilt that depicts various biblical scenes. Proud of her work, Powers displayed the quilt at a local Cotton-Fair, where it was seen by a white woman named Jennie Smith, an art teacher at the Lucy Cobb Institute in Athens, Georgia.
Bible Quilt by Harriet Powers, 1886
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6835686
“I have spent my whole life in the South, and am perfectly familiar with thirty patterns of quilts, but I had never seen an original design, and never a living creature portrayed in patchwork…”
Smith was so enamored with the quilt that she tracked down Powers and offered to buy it, but it was “not for sale at any price.” Over the years, the two artists kept in touch. When the Powers’ fell into hard financial times, Powers offered to sell the quilt to Smith, but Smith could not afford it. A year later, nearly five years after the two women met, Smith sent word to Powers that she would now buy the quilt “if she still wanted to dispose of it.”
“She arrived one afternoon in front of my door in an ox-cart with the precious burden in her lap encased in a clean flour sack, which was still enveloped in a crocus sack. She offered it for ten dollars, but I told her I only had five to give. After going out to consult with her husband she returned and said ‘Owing to the hardness of the times, my old man allows I’d better take it.’”
As I read the excerpts written by Ms. Smith, I couldn’t help but notice the juxtaposition between Smith’s language regarding the quilt and Powers’ care when handling it. Powers by no means wanted to “dispose” of her treasured possession; she parted with it out of necessity.
Smith’s recollections indicate that Powers was quite attached to the Bible Quilt. She provided a full description of each panel, recorded by Smith in her personal diary, and came to visit the quilt on numerous occasions.
The Bible Quilt was also treasured by Ms. Smith, who entered it at the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, where its display would be the catalyst for the creation of another quilt by Harriet Powers. If it weren’t for the efforts of both women, the art and its narrative could have been forgotten.
The Bible Quilt is now part of the African American Folk Art Collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; for more detailed photos and a complete description of each panel, please visit the Smithsonian website.
Pictorial Quilt by Harriet Powers
Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
It was at the Cotton States Exposition that the faculty wives of Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University), saw the Bible Quilt and commissioned Powers for a second narrative quilt, now known as the Pictorial Quilt. The Pictorial Quilt, pictured above, is a 15-panel quilt depicting biblical scenes, legends, natural phenomena, and events in American history.
According to family stories, the Pictorial Quilt was given to Reverend Charles Cuthbert Hall, a white minister who championed higher education for African Americans, as a gift from a group of “faculty ladies” at Atlanta University in 1898. With the quilt were descriptions of each panel and a small portrait of Harriet Powers.
The Pictorial Quilt remained in the Hall family for several decades before it was sold to folk art collector Maxim Karolik, who then donated it to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, where it remains today; for detailed photos and a complete description of each panel, visit the MFA Boston website.
Powers married at nineteen, had nine children, and died an emancipated woman on January 1, 1910. Powers is buried beside her husband in the Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery in Athens, Georgia. In 2009, Powers was inducted into the Georgia Women of Achievement Hall of Fame and a series of events with the theme Hands That Can Do: A Centennial Celebration of Harriet Powers was held in Athens, Georgia. Former Athens Mayor Heidi Davison issued a proclamation naming October 30, 2010 as Harriet Powers Day.
Harriet and Armstead Powers' headstone at the Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery in Athens, Georgia
By Nicolet1327 - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=141797201
Harriet Powers’ art and her careful description of the details in each panel of her work, by all rights, make her not only a fiber artist but also a historian. As we pass by the bus stop art shelter, let us remember Powers’ remarkable ability to turn ordinary materials into extraordinary stories, proving that even the smallest details can hold the greatest significance.
BONUS: Experience the Pictorial Quilt in person!
Presented to the Athens Clarke County library by Mrs. Pauline Hartford in 2002, a replica of Powers’ Pictorial Quilt is hanging on the wall of the library, above the stair set. Through October 2024, The Heritage Room of the ACC Library will hold various programs focused on the themes of Textiles, Labor, and the Law. You can learn more about the programs and remaining events below.
Industrial Athens: A Virtual Tour and Stories of Working People
Stitching Stories with the Cotton Patch Quilters
