Yvonne Wells (American, born 1939) is an African-American folk artist and quilter from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She is best known for her self-taught style and her story quilts depicting scenes from the Bible and the Civil Rights Movement. Wells describes herself as, “storyteller first, and a folk quilter second.” She defines her art by “the three H’s—what the head sees, what the heart feels, and what the hand can create.” She is recognized among the latter generation of African-American self-taught artists from the Southeastern U.S. who came to prominence in the last quarter of the twentieth century, and she continues to work daily on the creation of the appliqued narrative quilts for which she is known.
This exhibition features a selection of quilts from the MMFA permanent collection, which holds 18 significant works by this important Alabama artist. Among them will be the latest acquisition, Amistad, which tells the story of a rebellion aboard a ship transporting African captives in July of 1839, along other works that are central to the story of the Civil Rights struggle in the 20th century.