Inspired by Of Salt and Spirit, which features fifty-one quilts from Black quilters across the South, MMA spotlights 3 local quilters here during the next several months (Ravin Lovett, January 4 and February 1 2025). During the months of the exhibition you will see a quilter at work and speak with them about their practice.
Ravin Lovett (born 1981)
Based in Jackson, Mississippi, Lovett is a “fifth generation quilter.” She came to quilting in 2000 when she revisited an unfinished quilt that her and her grandmother began at the age of 13 and finished it with her Aunt at 19. Growing up, she watched her Big Mama quilt and fell in love with the techniques and patience required to make something beautiful. Finding peace in the process, she now practices quilting as a meditation and healing practice. Her 2023 exhibition, Freedom, at the Smith Robertson Museum explored Lovett’s healing journey through an introspective series of quilts she made about her life. Themes like spirituality, faith, and reflection are ever-present in her work. As an art therapist and person of faith, she shares her quilting practice to help others connect with its benefits of self-discovery and healing.
Lovett often begins each session at her sewing machine with a prayer. As she works in her home studio, the artist is typically listening to a Paul Hardcastle jazz station while her two cats lovingly supervise her stitches. For Lovett, quilting is both a way to connect with the past, honoring the legacy of the women who came before her and taught her, and a way forward, as she sees quilting as a tool to heal and create.
To learn more about the artist’s practice in her own words, tune into the video playing nearby. Don’t miss the opportunity to attend the artist’s Demo Days on January 4th and February 4th from 11 AM – 2 PM.
* Turning Point shows a young woman in three panels, with a differing view of her head, as if she is in motion. The title Turning Point is a play on words, both representing the turning head of the figure and a turning point in the artist’s life. Lovett made this work to reflect on three phases of her youth and the uncertainty of that phase of life as she began to figure out who she was. Behind the figure and adorning her hair, flora appear, representing the artist’s love for flowers.
* In Hail Mary Full of Grace, three children with their hands clasped in front of them participate in a prayer. Two of the children have their eyes closed and lips parted as they recite a Hail Mary prayer, while the third child looks ahead with sharpened focus, perhaps towards the prayer leader. Behind them, a glittering fabric aligns with a rounded structure that appears like an arched window, giving the effect of light streaming through a church window. The artist, Ravin Lovett, is a deeply spiritual person who believes quilting to be part of God’s path for her. Her stained-glass-inspired quilts interpret scripture and reflect on the importance of her faith. About the series, she said, “God told me I was going to pictorially make his word come life.”
Based in Jackson, Mississippi, Lovett is a “fifth generation quilter.” She came to quilting in 2000 when she revisited an unfinished quilt that her and her grandmother began at the age of 13 and finished it with her Aunt at 19. Growing up, she watched her Big Mama quilt and fell in love with the techniques and patience required to make something beautiful. Finding peace in the process, she now practices quilting as a meditation and healing practice. Her 2023 exhibition, Freedom, at the Smith Robertson Museum explored Lovett’s healing journey through an introspective series of quilts she made about her life. Themes like spirituality, faith, and reflection are ever-present in her work. As an art therapist and person of faith, she shares her quilting practice to help others connect with its benefits of self-discovery and healing.
Lovett often begins each session at her sewing machine with a prayer. As she works in her home studio, the artist is typically listening to a Paul Hardcastle jazz station while her two cats lovingly supervise her stitches. For Lovett, quilting is both a way to connect with the past, honoring the legacy of the women who came before her and taught her, and a way forward, as she sees quilting as a tool to heal and create.
To learn more about the artist’s practice in her own words, tune into the video playing nearby. Don’t miss the opportunity to attend the artist’s Demo Days on January 4th and February 4th from 11 AM – 2 PM.
* Turning Point shows a young woman in three panels, with a differing view of her head, as if she is in motion. The title Turning Point is a play on words, both representing the turning head of the figure and a turning point in the artist’s life. Lovett made this work to reflect on three phases of her youth and the uncertainty of that phase of life as she began to figure out who she was. Behind the figure and adorning her hair, flora appear, representing the artist’s love for flowers.
* In Hail Mary Full of Grace, three children with their hands clasped in front of them participate in a prayer. Two of the children have their eyes closed and lips parted as they recite a Hail Mary prayer, while the third child looks ahead with sharpened focus, perhaps towards the prayer leader. Behind them, a glittering fabric aligns with a rounded structure that appears like an arched window, giving the effect of light streaming through a church window. The artist, Ravin Lovett, is a deeply spiritual person who believes quilting to be part of God’s path for her. Her stained-glass-inspired quilts interpret scripture and reflect on the importance of her faith. About the series, she said, “God told me I was going to pictorially make his word come life.”