Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Ravin J. Hill - Jackson, Mississippi Quilter

I met Ravin J. Hill at the memorial service for quilter Gwen Magee. Gwen had been an artistic mentor to Ravin, a graduate of Tougaloo College (BA) and Florida State University (MS Art Ed). She's a bright, engaging, imaginative quilter. It was a delight to meet her - and especially as we spirited away to the parking lot to see two quilts she had in her car, including a pink and green memorial story quilt she made to honor a best friend.

In 2008, Ravin had a solo quilt exhibit at the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center featuring 11 of her quilts. The show was titled "Grandma's Hands: Celebrating the Quiltcode of the Underground Railroad". In the photo here is an image of the 18-page full-color exhibit catalog and one of her quilts. The show was dedicated to her grandmother, Lueberta Hawkins (1907-1997), who taught her to quilt.

Earlier Ravin titled her senior thesis on "Quilt of Life." I hope she continues to exhibit and write about quilting. Ravin is today engaged in art therapy. Do wish Ravin continued success in her quilting! Enjoy!

4 comments:

Tara said...

Thanks Kyra for exhibiting another Sister Quilter....and she's from my hometown of Jackson, MS! I enjoyed reading about the Tougaloo quilting circle. Ravin's story is so good to read about ....reminds me of the stories my mom would tell of how she learned quilting from my grandmom...thanks for telling us about Ravin.

Kyra said...

Tara - Happy to "introduce" quilters! I wish I had a photo of Ravin's memorial quilt - it is something else and should be seen by wider audience.

Anonymous said...

Kyra,

Thank you for sharing this wonderful story and tons of
other informationl.
Michael Cummings

Dee J. said...

Kyra, thanks for the article on Ravin J. Hill. It's wonderful to read about gifted young African American quilters. Does Ms. Hill have a blog or website?