Jo-Ann Morgan bought a sewing machine at the beginning of the Coronavirus lockdown with the thoughts of drawing on fabric with stitching. She began thinking about quilts and now creates memorial art quilts that tell the stories of current events.
Tell us more about how you started quilting, after studying painting and sculpture?
For many years I was an exhibiting visual artist. First as a painter, after getting an BFA at the California College of Art in Oakland, and then as a sculptor during study at the University of Wyoming. While there I became enamored with the history of art.
I next went to UCLA where I got a PhD in Art History, then began teaching. During that academic career I filled my time with teaching and writing. Two books, The Black Power Movement and the Black Panther Party in American Visual Culture (Routledge 2019) and “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” as Visual Culture (Missouri, 2007), especially gave me creative satisfaction.
I was a Professor of African American Studies and Art History at Western Illinois University when I stopped teaching in 2019. After that, with time on my hands, I was open to making art again.
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This artwork attempts to find something hopeful from news of the endless Russian bombardment of women and children in Ukraine. The mother wears the colorful flower crown and traditional dress of a Ukrainian bride as she holds her children against the bleak gray landscape of her tortured country.
Honorable Mention, Palmetto Hands Fine Crafts, ArtFest, North Charleston, SC (May 2023). Juror: Karen Stock, Professor of Fine Art at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC.
What triggered the evolution to new media/kinds of work/ways of working? Why textiles?
I had seen a quilt exhibit at a local museum just before I began sewing. One reminded me of a ragged old quilt my mother had which had been a traditional style here in South Carolina, where she was from. During the Great Depression and into the 1940s, these free-form quilts were made of dark browns, greys, and green scraps of wool from men’s suits.
That quilt from my childhood wasn’t pretty, or designed in an orderly fashion, but I enjoyed imagining it as a landscape. Seeing this quilt show got me thinking about quilts.
How did the pandemic impact your art practice?
On March 19, 2020, at the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown, I bought a sewing machine (Janome Skyline). I expected to make linear marks in thread on fabric, more like drawing than quilting. My sewing skills were rudimentary, so I began with potholders and table runners.
As my competency increased, I thought more about how quilts are comforters which seemed an apt metaphor for the time.
Twenty-three-year-old Elijah McClain was walking home from a convenience store in August 2019, when an encounter with Aurora, Colorado Police resulted in his death. Friends recalled him as a “gentle spirit.” Self-taught on the violin, he would play for the kittens in the pet store next to the massage business where he worked, believing music calmed them in their loneliness. Lady Corona plays the violin in his memory.
Does your work have stories to tell?
After I learned to sew, I decided to create a figure that could offer comfort. I had long been inspired by the imagery of Mexican deities such as La Virgen de Guadalupe, Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte, and San Martin de Porres. Shango, of Yoruba origin, and Hopi Katsinas were also inspirations, as was the Mexican folk saint, Santa Muerte, especially popular with lower classes and the disenfranchised.
I called my figure “Nuestra Dama de la Corona” (or, “Lady Corona”), and provided her with attributes: 19 roses (symbolic of COVID-19), gloves, a face mask, and a small crown (“corona” in Spanish).
Like a deity or favorite doll, Lady Corona is a sympathetic presence, an intercessor or a spiritual connection. Rather than standing alone and aloft, I placed Lady Corona into interactive contemporary situations: at Black Lives Matter protests, comforting children at the US southern border.
Eventually, other figures have taken on a similar presence as my stories evolve in response to topical events. Almost everything I do now is a memorial.
On May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, 46-year-old Black father George Floyd was murdered by a policeman, igniting nation-wide protests. Later, his daughter Gianna told then presidential candidate Joe Biden “Daddy changed the world.”
Weyerhaeuser Juror Award, Great Northern Art Explosion, Grayling, MI (August 2021). Juror: Valerie Allen, Curator of Studio 23 in Bay City, MI.
Do you use a sketchbook, journal, or technology to plan or keep track of ideas? How does that help your work develop? Are you more of a planner or an improviser?
I don’t sketch in advance, although I do consult photos. I develop a piece with fabric, working much like putting a collage together, or a puzzle. I’ll have a general idea, then begin creating the parts.
Because a stitched fabric piece takes 4 to 6 weeks to complete, there is ample time to figure out the compositions, etc.
Lady Corona runs in an imaginary Ahmaud Arbery Memorial Run to celebrate the life of Ahmaud Arbery who was murdered on February 23, 2020, while jogging in his Brunswick, Georgia neighborhood.
Honorable Mention, Palmetto Hands Fine Crafts, ArtFest, North Charleston, SC (May 2023). Juror: Karen Stock, Professor of Fine Art at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC. Honorable Mention, A Sense of Place, Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Augusta, GA. September 2 – October 7, 2022. Juror: Erin Dunn, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Telfair Museums in Savannah, GA.
Describe your creative space.
Just before the pandemic, my husband and I were in process of relocating to Surfside Beach, South Carolina. Fortuitously, the house we found that had a sunny room at the back, what realtors here call a “Carolina Room.”
This ideal studio has skylights and three walls of windows from which I can see birds at feeders and a seasonal range of flowering plants- now azaleas, soon scores of hybrid tea roses.
My husband built a plywood cover over the pool table we were having trouble selling, making for a perfect sewing table.
Tess Marie Mata had a Siamese cat named Oliver. Perhaps that was why she wanted to be a veterinarian. She was an athlete at heart and enjoyed softball, soccer, and gymnastics.
How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?
I work consistently. One at a time. Somehow there is always something in the news that compels my commentary. I immerse myself in the topic through images found online and news reports.
Between projects, I’ll take a break of several days. Since June 2020 I have made 50 stitched fabric artworks.
Can you tell us about the inspiration and process of one of your works? How does a new work come about?
Like the whole country, I was horrified by news of the shootings at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, May 24, 2022. Nineteen children and two teachers. I began collecting news reports, images, and obituaries, with thoughts of making one artwork as a memorial. But as I read their individual stories, I kept getting ideas for portraits. Eventually, I was embarked on a series.
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriquez and Xavier Lopez died together in Uvalde, Texas. Annabell’s Aunt recalled how she had noticed a boy in her class who “smelled nice.” The two became close to the point where their families planned communal cookouts. At the end of each day they would text each other “I love you” as goodnight.
An early one of the “Fabric Memorials – Uvalde” portrays “Annabell and Xavier,” two children who always texted each other “I love you” good night. Their families had taken comfort knowing they were together at the end.
Jose Flores, Jr. had just made the honor role on May 24, 2022, when he died in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. He wanted to be a policeman and had been told good grades were required to get the opportunity.
Honorable Mention, A Sense of Place, Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Augusta, GA (September 2023). Juror: Jeffrey Richmond-Moll, Curator of American art, Georgia Museum of Art; faculty, Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia.
Another was “Josecito” who wanted to be a policeman. He’d been told he needed good grades to get the opportunity, so he worked hard and made the honor roll for the first time that day of the shooting.
Neveah spelled backwards is “heaven.” Her cousin Emily called her a princess and said, “now she flies with the angels.”
For “Neveah,” which is “heaven” spelled backwards, I stitched a pretty tiara and wreathed her with pink roses. Her cousin Emily called her a princess and said, “now she flies with the angels.” Each child was unique and precious.
What advice would you give to emerging artists?
Make your own rules. Schools are there to provide instruction in techniques, using tools, knowledge of the field, and a supportive community.
Also, it is important to know the history of art. Not so you can sculpt like Michelangelo, paint like Leonardo, or think like Picasso, but to learn how artists used the technology of their era to create a relevant visual language for their moment.
After that, follow your instincts. Be honest with yourself and express what is important to you.
What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work?
I keep up with events in the world. I view artmaking as my form of activism.
My earliest work was in response to police killings- memorials to Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Elijah McClain, and others. Sadly, there never seems to be a lack of these subjects.
News from the Front (triptych) is not about the heroics of war, nor the political intrigue. Here are no grand ideals, no promoted ideology of superiority or righteousness. Wherever the battle lines, one thing they all share is grieving women who’ve lost loved ones and whose lives are upended. This three-part stitched fabric construction showcases the reality of war, and its impact on Ukrainian (left), Israeli (center) and Palestinian (right) women.
Recently I am responding to the tragedy of endless war and its impact on women in a series called “News from the Front.” My last artwork on this theme is titled simply “Gaza, March 2025,” a young woman holds a collapsed child in her arms.
Artmaking is a way to have a voice and be involved in the contemporary moment. Being included in group shows and having solo shows gives me the opportunity to attend receptions and interact with people. I find this very rewarding.
I don’t usually sell my work to private individuals. I want it to be seen by as many as possible. But I would like to place artworks in public collections. I would very much like to find a home for the 16 “Fabric Memorials – Uvalde” so that the full series could stay together and be available for viewing.
Where can people see your work?
My artwork is currently on display at College of the Sequoias, Visalia, CA through June 11, 2025. Upcoming shows include Crary Art Gallery, Warren, PA (June 7 – July 5, 2025) and Black Creek Art Gallery, Hartsville, SC (August 4 – September 5, 2025).
Online sites:
Personal website– http://www.picturingblackpower.com
Lunch Ticket– https://nextissue.wpengine.com/archive/issue-archive/winter-spring-2025/
Studio Art Quilts- Juried Artist Member– https://www.saqa.com/art/juried-artists/jo-ann-morgan
Foundwork– https://foundwork.art/artists/jo-annmorgan
NOT REAL ART 2022 Grant Winner Jo-Ann Morgan: The Fiber Artist Paying Tribute to Victims of Violence [Podcast]-https://notrealart.com/jo-ann-morgan/
Interview posted April 2025
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