Contributed Photo / Jessica Wohl is pictured at her studio at Stove Works with with an in-progress artwork made using hand-pieced quilt blocks and used men’s T-shirts.A few years ago, Sewanee, Tennessee, artist Jessica Wohl had an idea for an art exhibit.
The University of the South associate professor of art pondered the question: “What would the world feel like if, from the beginning of time, it had been run by women?”
Using this concept of matriarchy as her guiding light, she settled on an exhibit of vibrant, handmade quilts, a project that blended her love of textiles with the traditional quilting art form. Wohl said using fabric as a canvas for art suits her. She likes the feel of sewing materials and thinks it might be genetic.
“My great-grandfather was a tailor, and my mother crocheted,” Wohl said in a phone interview. “There were always needles and thread around in my family.”