Textile Artists Who Expanded What Their Medium Could Do

Butler makes life-size portraits entirely from quilted and appliquéd fabric, layering kente, Dutch wax, vintage lace and velvet so that skin glows in purples, blues and greens. Many begin from historic photographs of Black Americans, from Harriet Tubman to anonymous sitters in old studio portraits, and the patterned cloth gives each a presence the original snapshot could not. She learned to sew from her mother and grandmother and trained as a painter at Howard University. Her 2020 touring exhibition, which reached the Art Institute of Chicago, brought her to a wide audience.