Herstory:
The Heritage Quilts of Veronica Mays
On view March 16 – April 30, 2023
Reception Thursday March 16, 2023 from 6–8pm
Paper Nautilus Books, Wayland Square
19 South Angell Street, Providence, RI 02906
Shop hours:
Sun–Tues 12pm–5pm; Wed–Sat 11am–7pm
Creating art quilts that reflect her culture and heritage, Veronica Mays embraces the use of bold colors, batiks, and African prints to create empowered female figures, historical characters, and family images. Working from source photos, Mays artistically reimagines clothing and backgrounds through a process that combines machine quilting with free motion quilting to embellish her finishing stitches.
Mays’ quilts exemplify the joy of living; her practice celebrates peace and tranquility. As a bona fide night owl, she creates into the wee hours of the morning, completing works at the rate of about 75 pieces per year. Although she loves traveling, Mays basically considers herself a homebody who is fond of saying, “I’d rather be quilting.”
Mays has received a Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Grant (2018), an Assets for Artists grant from the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (2019), and created work for the Dr. Martin Luther King Center, The Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, and others. Learn more about Mays and her work at conakysquilts.com.
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This exhibit is part of Permanent Collection, an ongoing series about things found, how they were found, and how what was found is shared. The series is produced by Ben Sisto. Learn more at pcpvd.com.
Thanks to our generous partners for all their support: Paper Nautilus Books, papernautilusbooks.com; Gallery Night Providence, gallerynight.org; Dye House, dyehouseri.com; Hudson Street Deli, hudsonstreetdeli.com; The Classic, theclassicri.com; and The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, rihumanities.org.
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Title image appears courtesy of the artist:
Mom and Dad Moye, 30" x 40", July 2022 (cropped)
Cotton materials, fabric, batting, and thread;
raw-edge applique, free-motion quilted