Bijagos Warrior

In the summer of 1982, I worked as a volunteer on the island of Bubaque, in the Bijagos Archipelago off the coast of Guinea-Bissau, under the auspices of Operation Crossroads Africa. Guinea-Bissau is a former Portuguese colony nestled just south of Senegal, on the westernmost part of the bulge of Africa.

One day, a boat was leaving to go to a neighboring island-not a common occurrence. This man was on the boat and immediately caught my eye. Even then, when Bubaque had only had electricity for two years, it was unusual to see men dressed in a traditional manner. To me, he represents a vanishing way of life, and I wanted to capture that as well as his physical beauty.

Bijagos Warrior was one of only three quilts in the 2005 statewide Maine Quilts show to receive an "Exceptional Merit" ribbon. Quilts are judged on a scale of 0-100; blue ribbon quilts are those earning 90-96 points (average of the 3 judges' scores). Exceptional Merit are those earning 97-100 points. This year's judges were Elly Sienkiewicz, Pepper Cory and Joyce Becker, so I'm especially thrilled to receive this recognition.

Size: 40 x 60 inches; completed June 2004.
Available for sale after December 2017.  $12,000.

Juried into the Pacific International Quilt Festival, Santa Clara, California, 2004. Juried into the American Quilter's Society (AQS) 2005 show in Paducah, Kentucky. Maine Quilts 2005; Exceptional Merit award winner. Juried into The Best of New England Quilt Guilds, The New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, Massachusetts, January to April 2006. Published in the Janome International Digest, Fall/Winter 2004, and in various quilt show publications in a Janome advertisement, 2005. Also included in the on-line video promoting Janome's new 11000 sewing machine. Art Quilts Maine show, Saco Museum, Saco, Maine, April to July 2007.  The National Quilt Association show, Columbus, OH, June 2009.