Cecelia Tapplette Pedescleaux, also known as Cely, (born August 6, 1945) is an African-American quilter of traditional and art quilts, inspired by historians, other African-American quilters, and quilt designs used during the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

to communicate messages to slaves seeking freedom. Her quilts have been shown in China, France,

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

American slaves, her designs became Afro-centric. She has created quilts based upon African art, like the bright, beaded quilt with the Ashanti Adinkra symbol

Gye Nyame GYE or Gye may refer to: People * Gye of Baekje (died 354), king of Baekje 344–346 * Gye of Samhan, king of Mahan confederacy 33 BC–17 BC * Frederick Gye (1810–1878), English opera manager * Harold Frederick Neville Gye (1888–1967), Aus ...

, meaning "accept God", from Ghana that was shown at the Inspiration Exhibition curated by Don Marshall and Sara Hollis at the Contemporary Arts Center. The book, ''Hidden in Plain View'', by Jacqueline Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard, Jr., a

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

professor, tells of how quilts were used to document secret messages and routes used by slaves to navigate the

. This book served as an inspiration to Pedescleaux, who researched African-American quilters and quilt designs related to the

and reproduced many of the designs. She has been inspired by the work of

Mary McLeod Bethune Mary Jane McLeod Bethune ( McLeod; July 10, 1875 – May 18, 1955) was an American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, womanist, and civil rights activist. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935, established the organi ...

and the books of David C. Driscoll,

Carolyn L. Mazloomi Carolyn L. Mazloomi (née Carolyn Louise Stewart; born August 22, 1948) is an American curator, quilter, author, art historian, and aerospace engineer. She is a strong advocate for presenting and documenting African-American-made quilts. Her own ...

Faith Ringgold Faith Ringgold (born October 8, 1930 in Harlem, New York City) is an American painter, writer, mixed media sculptor, and performance artist, best known for her narrative quilts. Early life Faith Ringgold was born the youngest of three child ...

, Cuesta Benberry, Roland Freeman, Gladys-Marie Fry, and Maude Wahlham. Pedescleaux has also been inspired by the multicultural city of New Orleans with people of African, Caribbean, Hispanic, European, and Native American heritage. She says that her quilts are "made up of 75 percent research, 15 percent cloth, and 10 percent heart". She has created traditional and art quilts, using thread painting,

beading Beadwork is the art or craft of attaching beads to one another by stringing them onto a thread or thin wire with a sewing or beading needle or sewing them to cloth. Beads are produced in a diverse range of materials, shapes, and sizes, and vary b ...

, trapunto,

patchwork Patchwork or "pieced work" is a form of needlework that involves sewing together pieces of fabric into a larger design. The larger design is usually based on repeating patterns built up with different fabric shapes (which can be different colors) ...

, wax batik, photo transfer, cloth collage, three-dimensional cloth flowers and figures, and traditional African American quilting techniques such as strip quilting. About her work, she said, She lectured, demonstrated, and taught quilting throughout the United States and established a quilting group at Beecher Memorial United Church of Christ in New Orleans that made more than 100 quilts for Child Welfare agencies in 2013. A quilt that she made of the revolt on ''

La Amistad ''La Amistad'' (; Spanish for ''Friendship'') was a 19th-century two- masted schooner, owned by a Spaniard colonizing Cuba. It became renowned in July 1839 for a slave revolt by Mende captives, who had been captured and sold to European slave ...

'' is held at the Amistad Research Center. Nine of her quilts were shown in "A Patchwork of Cultures: Traveling Exhibit from Louisiana to France," an exhibition sponsored by the French Patchwork Association at the U.S. Embassy in Paris in 2008 to 2009. The DAR Museum in

exhibited the quilts in 2010 at the "Honoring Lafayette Contemporary Quilts from France and America" exhibition. Her work was included in "The Sum of Many Parts: 25 Quilt makers in 21st Century America" held in Beijing at the U.S. Embassy (2012–2013) and later at the

State Historical Museum of Iowa The State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI), a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, serves as the official historical repository for the State of Iowa and also provides grants, public education, and outreach about Iowa history an ...

(2013–2014). A one-person show, "Why I Believe: An African-American Perspective of Quilting" of 75 of her quilts were shown at the Le Musée de Free People of Color (2013–2014). ''Jewels of Faith'', representing "the complexity and simplicity of the people of the world, and their faith", was shown at "Imago Mundi—Reparation: Contemporary Artists from New Orleans" exhibition (2014–2015) at the

New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans. It is situated within City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton Avenue and Esplanade Avenue, and near the terminus of the ...

. Drawings made by children at the Reliance Center in

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

, Texas were used in ''Katrina Kids Quilt'', which was displayed at The New York Arts Club in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. Her work has been shown at galleries and museums, including

Ogden Museum of Southern Art The Ogden Museum of Southern Art is located in the Warehouse Arts District of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. Established in 1999, and in Stephen Goldring Hall at 925 Camp Street since 2003. The building The Ogden consists of two main buildin ...

(NOMA), New Orleans African American Museum,

Ashe Cultural Arts Center Ashe may refer to: Places * Ashe, Hampshire, England, a village * Ashe County, North Carolina, United States People * Ashe (name), a given name and surname, including a list of people so named *Ashe (singer), American singer and songwriter ...

, Jazz & Heritage Foundation Gallery,

Contemporary Arts Center The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) is a contemporary art museum in Cincinnati, Ohio and one of the first contemporary art institutions in the United States. The CAC is a non-collecting museum that focuses on new developments in painting, sculptur ...

, and Stella Jones Gallery. Her work has also been shown at

Southern University Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is the largest historically black college or university (HBCU) in Louisiana, a ...

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pu ...

Southeastern University Southeastern University is a private Christian university in Lakeland, Florida. It was established in 1935 in New Brockton, Alabama, as Southeastern Bible Institute, relocated to Lakeland in 1946, and became a liberal arts college in 1970. It ...

, and

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 stud ...

See also

References

Further reading