[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 86 (Thursday, May 24, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E727]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       RECOGNIZING MARION COLEMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ERIC SWALWELL

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 24, 2018

  Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize 
Marion Coleman in honor of her being named a National Endowment for the 
Arts National Heritage Fellow for her work as a traditional African-
American quilter.
  Marion first learned to sew from her grandmother and her great aunts 
in her home state of Texas. The love of quilting she garnered from her 
family inspired her to pass the quilting tradition down to the next 
generation through teaching. She began making quilts professionally in 
2002 with her piece York in the Corp of Discovery, a quilt about the 
only African-American in the Lewis and Clark expedition. She went on to 
receive awards for her pieces, Neighborhood Watch and Ruby Bridges. 
These pieces all evoked narratives of the African-American experience.
  Her professional career has taken her throughout the United States 
and around the world. In 2012, she was a guest artist at Quilt Week in 
Yokohama, Japan, and in 2013, her work was exhibited in the U.S. 
Consulate in Jerusalem through the Art in Embassies Program. In 2016, 
her work was added to the Nelson Mandela Gateway Museum in Cape Town, 
South Africa.
  While Coleman's narrative quilt work has received national and 
international acclaim, she has been committed to helping her local 
community. Marion regularly spends time volunteering with local female 
detainees, and in 2008 she started the Minerva Project with the Alameda 
County Arts Commission. Through this project, Coleman taught female 
youth detainees how to quilt, and she led them in a creative exercise 
that emphasized the qualities of courage, strength and wisdom.
  The National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship is 
the nation's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts, it is only 
fitting, then, that Marion Coleman is one of nine fellows selected this 
year, joining the ranks of former honorees such as B.B. King and Mavis 
Staples.
  Marion Coleman has made an indelible mark on the quilting and fiber 
folk arts community. Her extensive body of work, and her commitment to 
education throughout the community is well deserving of the National 
Heritage Fellowship Award. I am honored to represent Marion Coleman, 
and I am grateful for her numerous contributions to the East Bay.

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