GENERAL MEETING: "My Quilting Habit" with Kena Tangi Dorsey (ZOOM)

Kena Tangi Dorsey

In this lecture program, Kena shares the story about how she became obsessed and fell in love with quilting! As she presents photos of the quilts from her beginning stages to present day, Kena talks about her journey of being a Broadway stage actress to the habit of nurturing an ever-evolving passion for quilting. Then she talks about how the two worlds collided and intertwined for her, demonstrated in a quilt that she still has in her collection today. Wrapping up the show and tell, Kena shares a few more quilt samples and speaks a little more about the deeper meaning in the works that she creates and reflects on how her culture, expression of self-love and the importance of community empowerment informs her design aesthetics, color palette and patterns that she visualizes into existence.

Kena is teaching a Zoom class, "Quilting With African Fabric" on Saturday, November 12, 2022.

More About Kena

Kena began quilting over 20 years ago while living in Harlem, NYC. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, Kena moved to New York City and lived there for 18 years before moving west to Los Angeles, CA.

Self taught, Kena started out by learning the basic techniques for piecing traditional blocks and patterns. Early on, she was influenced by many of the Harlem Renaissance artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Zora Neale Hurston, James Van Der Zee, and Langston Hughes, to name a few. Intrigued with portrait quilts, she quickly began making raw edge appliqué story and art quilts using images that reflect African American people.

Check out her website at kenaquiltstudio.com