Shashari Kiburi is a visual artist who now works in textiles. She says if she weren’t an artist, she’d be a historian. Each piece of work starts with researching history and comes to life in her hand-dyed fabrics.
How did you find yourself on an artist’s path?
My creative path started young. Definitely evolving over time.
My grandma taught me how to draw when I was little and I became fascinated with the idea that one can imagine or dream up an idea and use different tools to express that idea.
I continued to draw and expand on other mediums, studying Anthropology at UC Berkeley, I took printmaking classes, studying with artist Mary O’Neal.
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At the same time I would see art cards on the street when I was walking to class. They were prints of the Gee’s Bend quilters, their work printed by Paulson Press nearby. I thought they were stunning abstract paintings, I had no idea they were quilts!
The bold graphic lines, wonkiness, and well-thought-out compositions further inspired my interest in abstract work.
I always knew that art was a language that I felt comfortable with. It allows me to explore my identity and define my place in this complicated world. When making art, I feel like I am at the intersection of where the past meets the future, while also feeling firm in the present.
Why textiles? Where do you find inspiration for your designs?
I grew up in a sewing household and used to sit and take the pins out of fabric while my mom was sewing,
With that said, I gravitate more towards drawing and mixed media arts growing up, sewing did not feel as exciting for me but I always loved fabric and would often buy it when I was out or traveling.
I also have vivid memories of watching Faith Ringgold on PBS growing up. She talked about how easy it was to fold up her work, move it around, and install it. ”If I only worked with fiber like Faith Ringgold, it would be so easy to move my work around”. This is what I always told myself, in the back of my mind when I was trying to move a large canvas around or find a dark room to develop my photos.
It took about 12 years before I started down the path to fiber. My transition into quilting took hold after I had my fourth and final child in 2012.. I found it challenging to work as an artist with young children.
Although I became very good at utilizing my time and I found great reward in creating art with my children, I needed to have time to work on my own. I also have a love and background in photography.
I started looking at quilts with an idea of screen printing a “memory” quilt of my ancestors. To this day I have not actually made the quilt that set me down the path to quilting.
I started to dive deep into the history of quilting and quilt design on a multicultural level. I began to see the symbolic meaning behind specific quilt blocks.
I love the sculptural quality of textiles and a finished quilt, although flat, often reveals a sense of depth depending on the composition I choose to create.
When I started working with textiles, I found it was a way to spend time with my children while making art. My kids did not care about textiles, in the same way they would gravitate towards paint, and I could work freely in their presence.
Quilts are also an act of love and a functional art form that are often gifted to others. I use textiles to honor those I come across in history.
If art had not consumed me, I would have been a history professor. I do quite a bit of research and design quilts for both the seen and unseen in history, primarily those who are part of the African Diaspora.
My designs, as mentioned, come from the quilt blocks I explore with a mixture of my imagination, and the Indigo fabrics I dye are a big factor in my design process.
I like to use traditional blocks as a start, it helps keep me focused with my thoughts, in the process I make lot’s of changes as I’m working.
Do you plan your work out ahead of time, or do you just dive in with your materials and start playing?
I do some planning ahead, but as mentioned above, I make spontaneous changes.
I will often draw out an idea on graph paper and not add in color, choosing colors separately and not thinking too hard about how the final layout will look in terms of color placement.
Once I am close to midway through a quilt top I will begin to think more about how the colors I choose work together and often take a step back to look at the layout on my design wall and add in or take away fabric choices.
I guess you could say that I dive right in while also planning at the same time!
Do you use a sketchbook journal, etc. How does that help your work develop?
I use a sketchbook and a graph book for my work. I like to develop quilts in a series, thinking about how each quilt, if they were all in the same room, would “speak” to each other visually.
I have a sketchbook in just about every room of the house, using my graph book for my quilt designs and my sketchbook to draw out free-motion quilting ideas. My hours of drawing growing up come to good use for finishing quilts. This helps me develop my work by staying on track with my ideas, it supports my memory, and gives me a starting point. I never copy my drawings precisely when I am finishing a quilt. Rather, I look back to my drawing practice as inspiration for quilt finishing.
How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?
I am actively working on more than one quilt at a time.
I have quilts in different stages, so I have some that I may sit down at night and hand-sew binding on, I generally always have one on my long arm if I am not quilting a client’s work for them, or, I have “sew days” where I am cutting and sewing tops.
I tend to have at least 3 quilts I am working on at once, with a considerable stack of either quilt tops, fabrics arranged into color palette ideas, or blocks and scraps cut waiting to be sewn together.
Do you prefer the kind of project that is challenging and requires attention, or the kind where you get in your meditative zone and enjoy the process?
I prefer both, work that is both challenging and gets me thinking but allows me to get into a zone when I am working.
I am often thinking of other things when I am working, listening to a podcast about history and science, or music. The challenge itself is meditative.
I find myself definitely in a space where I am not always thinking consciously. Working with line, shape, and color is a process that reveals its own language. I I find that the process itself is the most interesting, and I put more of my attention into it.
Can you tell us about the inspiration and process of one of your works? How does a new work come about?
As mentioned earlier, I often create quilts to honor someone in history, sometimes it may be a specific person or movement that I come across in books. I do a bit of research finding out more about that person or time period and often think about how the quilt I design will connect with that story.
“Black Jacobins” is a quilt I designed to honor C.L.R James an historian who made a profound impact on studies of the African Diaspora. His book talks about the perils of Haiti during the colonial period and the Haitian revolution in 1791.
I often find my own identity through uncovering history and use art to share that identity with the viewer. This quilt has an unconventional color palette. I dyed all of the yellows using Shibori techniques.
The curvy movement in the Drunkard’s path block feels both organic and geometric at the same time. It was a good design motif to work with. The color palette imagines the people and their struggle, the rich colors of their ancestral lands in W. Africa, and the stunning sunsets often seen in the Caribbean.
I imagined what their journey through the middle passage must have been like, the horrors of that experience, enslavement, and their fight to freedom on a new land.
I contemplated the indigenous people to that land, the Taino and Ciboney people, and their struggle to keep their livelihood through European colonialism.
I must admit that my quilts often have an evolving story and I see them differently as I look back at them. Carving out memories of my own life experience as well. I feel proud of this work, and I was excited that it was on view at QuiltCon 2024.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?
The best advice I received over time was from my grandmother, “practice patience.”
When I was younger I chose mediums that allowed for more instant gratification, I think they all contributed towards the work I am doing now.
With that said, quilts are a slow, contemplative process, I had to develop patience with time and growth. When I was ready, quilts kind of, “fell into my lap” so to speak.
Dyeing fabric adds more layers to the process and will also slow down the finishing process. Many of my quilt backs also use large panels that I dyed, or I piece my backings with a mixture of solids and hand dyes fabrics.
The outcomes are worth the wait for me.
Working with fiber is just slow, and it is ok to hold onto or let go of quilts and ideas over time.
I am known to finish a quilt top that I started seven years ago! I finished a lot of quilts in between that time. I tell myself that a quilt finish that took years just wasn’t yet ready to be finished yet!
Where can people see your work?
You can see my work on Instagram @ulaludie. I also have a website ulaludie.studio where you can purchase small batches of my hand-dyed fabrics and view a gallery of some, but not all of my finished quilts!
If you’re a member of the Modern Quilt Guild you can view a release of my new video about improv quilting for their education resource library. I also designed a mini project associated with it, if you want to dive a bit more into how I create quilts.
Interview posted April 2025
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