Aly Senger - BFA Thesis

BFA Thesis

Piece by Piece: Quilting Collective Empowerment

Quilts are an art form stitched with intention. The medium can reflect a community's cultural history, socioeconomic

realities, and belief systems. Quilting groups can spark social change, as represented by five main areas of my research.

These styles and movements include:

• Lakota ceremonial quilts

• Suffragette quilting organizations

• The National AIDS Memorial Quilt

• Hawai'ian appliqué

• The Freedom Quilting Bee

Lakota quilters from the Great Sioux Nation changed quilting methods to express their tribal identity.

Women's suffrage groups turned quilts into protest banners. They included feminist symbols, such as sunflowers, in their designs.

LGBTQ+ volunteers fought against systemic oppression during the AIDS epidemic. They did this by creating the largest-scale community folk art project.

Hawai'ian quilters created a unique appliqué style. This means sewing fabric pieces onto a larger surface

to create designs. Their art supported the Hawai'ian Sovereignty movement during U.S. colonization. They

made patterns that reflected Hawai'i's landscape and leadership.

Quilters in Wilcox County, Alabama, came together to create the Freedom Quilting Bee. This was one

of the first Black women's cooperatives in the U.S. It boosted the local economy in an area long exploited by

white slave owners and tenant farming systems.

These communities highlight the social importance of quilts and their role in activism. Quilting remains a vibrant medium

that reflects diverse traditions and inspires creativity.

Gathering Stitch

2025

Oil & appliqué on quilted linen

4' x 4'

Named after a sewing technique that uses a length of thread to pull material together and create fullness, this quilt illustrates stories of community gathering and political resistance. This nine-patch quilt is a canvas for five historical quilting movements:

• Lakota quilting traditions and the cultural significance of the Morning Star, prominent in giveaway ceremonies recognizing births, naming, major life achievements, spiritual experiences, and memorials

• Suffragette groups that used quilts as a medium for public demonstration, radically subverting ‘feminine domestic skills’

• The space for collective mourning created by the National AIDS Memorial Quilt, with panels such as Duane Puryear’s (bottom center) confronting the devastation of the AIDS epidemic

• How Hawaiian quilters use the art form to retain their history, landscape, and spirituality

• Black quilters like Arlonzia Pettway (bottom center) participating in the Freedom Quilting Bee to bring artistic and political empowerment to Gee’s Bend, Alabama, and beyond

The patterns used for this quilt include the Eight-Pointed Star (top left), Three Fl’d Sunflower (top right), Pink Triangle (middle), ‘Ulu (bottom left), and Housetop (bottom right).