Page 38 - JOA August 2020

“You can find joy in anything you do. It makes me feel so good to make a pretty quilt and have Today, she is known for work like Yesterday:
someone enjoy it,” Ezell said in an interview. “A lot of people have asked me about my colors. I Civil Rights in the South, which presents her
don’t care about color combinations. I do what looks good, but I keep the pattern in mind.” remembrances of living in Alabama in the
turbulent 1960s.
LURECA OUTLAND
THE COLLECTION
Lureca Outland is another artist featured in the collection. The late maker learned to make
quilts from her mother as a teenager. Sometimes they filled their quilts with old clothing and Selected quilts from the Robert and Helen
sometimes with cotton left from ginning. Cargo Collection of African-American quilts
have been exhibited at the Museum of
American Folk Art in New York, The
National Humanities Center in North
Carolina, and the Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, D.C., and are featured in several
publications including Quilts: A Living
Tradition by Robert Shaw.
The collection came to the museum and
university as a joint gift from the Cargos as
well as collectors and philanthropists Robert
and Ardis James.
The International Quilt Study Center was
established in June 1997 when native
Nebraskans Ardis and Robert James donated
nearly 1,000 quilts to the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln.
In 2008, the IQSC opened a museum, now
known as the International Quilt Museum.
Located on the University of Nebraska-
Lincoln campus, the museum holds a number
of gallery and educational spaces as well as
Lureca Outland, Teacups, dated 1994 in Lureca Outland, Mule, dated 1990 in Greene County, state-of-the-art textiles storage.
Greene County, Alabama International Quilt Museum Alabama International Quilt Museum Robert and Helen Cargo Collection
Accredited by the American Alliance of
Robert and Helen Cargo Collection 2000.004.0091. 2000.004.0093.
Museums, the IQM’s mission is to build a
Lureca grew up working in the cotton fields and only was able to go to school when the harvest global collection and audience that celebrate
was over. As an adult, she continued to make quilts, and in her later years, she and her friend, the cultural and artistic significance of quilts.
Mary Maxtion, made quilts with a senior citizens group.
“I did not make fancy quilts until after I joined a senior citizens quilting group with Mary To learn more about the International Quilt
Maxtion,” Outland said in an interview. “Sometimes she quilts with me.” Museum’s collections, exhibitions, research, and
This was a fruitful time for her, as she created dozens of bold and quirky quilts. programs, visit internationalquiltmuseum.org.

YVONNE WELLS
Artist Yvonne Wells
was a Tuscaloosa physical
education teacher for
many years. She began
making quilts in 1979.
She started with tradi-
tional, repeating block
patterns but soon moved
into telling stories with
her quilts. She cuts figures
out directly from fabrics,
creating scenes and
imagery that reflect her
view of the world.
Her work came to the Yvonne Wells, Going Home, dated 1987 in
attention of folk art lovers Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
when she won a “Best of International Quilt Museum Robert and Helen Cargo Collection
2000.004.0146.
Show” award at the
prestigious Kentuck
Festival of the Arts in
Northport, Alabama, in
the mid-1980s.
“I still think what
I’m doing is just ‘plain
old Yvonne,’” she said
in an interview. “And
Yvonne Wells, Yesterday: Civil Rights in the South, dated 1987 in Tuscaloosa, when somebody else sees
my work, it touches
Alabama International Quilt Museum Robert and Helen Cargo Collection 2000.004.0142. Dr. Cargo and artist Yvonne Wells
my heart.”

36 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles