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Kyra E. Hicks, quilter

Kyra E. Hicks is a self-taught, skilled crafter who uses cotton to explore political, religious, family and romantic themes. Her original story quilts document her experiences as a young, black, single woman.

Her work has been shown in such prestigious venues as the American Craft Museum in New York, the Smithsonian Institution’s Renwick Gallery in Washington DC, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, and is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Arts & Design in New York City, the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York and Michigan State University Museum. Her work has also been featured in Essence, Folk Art, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and O Magazine.

She loves historical, investigative research and rediscovering the lives of quilters past. She is the author of Black Threads: An African American Quilting Sourcebook, the children’s book Martha Ann’s Quilt for Queen Victoria , This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers’ Bible Quilt and Other Pieces and other books.