She is known for creating totally out-the-box colorful textile art that ranges from landscapes to portraits and everything in between. She loves to push the envelope when it comes to the boundaries of fiber design.
In 2000 she began to quilt full-time, however, art quilting came to Ms. Lumumba in a roundabout way. She said, “I had no idea that quilting was an art form, as far as I knew-it was simply what my people did to keep warm.” As a young art student, she struggled to find her own style. For example, when asked to draw a still life-which is usually a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers) or human-made (drinking glasses, books, vases).of some pears on a plate. Ms. Lumumba muses that she certainly had seen those kind of Still Life paintings before. She said, the “still life” in my head featured pears in buckets and baskets on my grandmother’s back porch—food, not decoration.
She was unconsciously ashamed of the image in her head, so she did not allow her vision to manifest. Consequently, she failed to execute effectively what her teacher expected. Her art came to life when she gave herself permission to create what she saw in her heart and her heritage.
Ms. Lumumba strives to create artwork that gives a glimpse into the life and history of African American people. She started making quilts that are now known as “Heritage” or “Traditional” quilts, which led her to art quilts. The Art Quilt genre includes portraits, silhouettes, landscapes, nature, and other picturesque scenes, which Ms. Lumumba creates all of in her art. Through her art quilts, she shares the proud heritage and history passed down through the generations as she knows it.
Ms. Lumumba now proudly says that she creates art that reflects the human experience through the lens of African and African American lives.
With all her artistic accomplishments, she also tapped into her love of writing and became a new author. She now has 13 books to her credit.
Ms. Lumumba has appeared on TV One’s Living With Soul, WSB’s People to People, and interviewed by various other media affiliates. Ms. Lumumba has published two cookbooks, a novel, three exhibit catalog books, three short story books and a how-to-quilt book. She was featured in:
She has also been featured in many newspaper articles and magazines.
She has installed Quilt Exhibits in many places, namely five consecutive years at The Atrium on Auburn Art Gallery Atlanta, Georgia; ten consecutive years at the National Black Arts Festival Atlanta, Georgia, seven consecutive years at the National Black Arts Festival North Charleston, South Carolina, National African American Quilt Convention in Lawrence, Kansas, Birmingham Public Library Art Gallery Birmingham, Alabama. Ms. Lumumba has also exhibited in many quilt and art shows throughout the country: California, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, and of course Georgia.
Ms. Lumumba is very prolific as a quilter, fiber artist and author. She is a member of the Brown Sugar Stitchers Quilt Guild, Black Art in America and African Americans for the Arts. Her quilts are now a part of the collections of Ambassador Andrew Young, Mrs. Valerie Jackson, Dr. Stephanie Jolly, Ms. Brenda Banks, Ms. Woodie Persons, Dr. Jualynne Dodson. The Atrium on Sweet Auburn, President & Mrs. Barack Obama and many others.
Aisha Lumumba
Answers Your Questions
Fiber Artist, Aisha Lumumba, answers some of her most asked questions.
