Toni Kersey

Using hand dyed, painted, commercial fabrics my quilts are rooted in explorations of my personal, spiritual and cultural identity. I use strip and scrap piecing as the basic design motif, to make a statement on the African American woman’s ability to transcend humble circumstances and create beauty from limited resources. Additionally, I freehand cut the textiles in order that the quilts maintain the quality of coming from the hand. Improvisation guides my inspiration through textiles and mixed media. I call this approach “spirit dancing” because I am following my intuition in the moment. By visually referencing percussive rhythms and movement, which is a thread that runs throughout the African diaspora, I am alluding to a shared cultural experience of African communities that reside throughout the diaspora.

My work is concentrated on developing a creative language using abstraction that translates pattern,  rhythm and movement into an examination of multiculturalism and identity. My goal is to create pieces that explore color, pattern, rhythm and design using various techniques including dying, drawing, beading, embroidery.