Washington, D.C. has a near embarrassment of riches when it comes to museums. And many of them are free, which only adds to the fun. One that isn’t free is the National Museum of Women in the Arts. It’s $10.00 well spent.
Works currently on display include this one from the show “Something Pertaining to God: the Patchwork Art of Rosie Lee Tompkins”. The show was orginized by the Shelburn Museum in Vermont, and originally hung there.
The works are completely in harmony with those African American quilters from Mississppi collectively known as Gee’s Bend; however, this artist lived and composed her works in Richmond, California.
Ms. Tompkins (a pseudonym) was born to share croppers in Arkansas in 1936 and moved to California 1958 where she enjoyed two marriages, raised five children and worked as a practical nurse in convalescent care. In the late 1970’s she suffered a “breakdown” that resulted in symptoms consistant with schyzophrenia. It was a condition that remained with her for the rest of her life and deeply influenced both her drive to create and the process by which her creations took shape. Voices in her head competed against her fervent faith in Christ and prayer life.
The show gives you only a briefest of possible dips into the pool of an amazing artist. There is a photograph of Tompkins in the exhibit taken in 1986. You see a woman of 50 who could pass for 30 without a doubt. It’s the photo a woman whose life tells you of struggle and hardwork, but who’s face testifies to a quiet strength and grace.
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