Kim Newton, Installation view of “Sacred Seams” exhibition at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center, 2026
“Sacred Seams,” the first solo exhibition by nationally known quilt artist Kim Alexis Newton, truly lives up to its title. Newton’s vibrant and masterful quilts, along with an impressive wall of historic family photographs, fills the gallery of the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center, in an exhibition worth viewing multiple times.
Newton, an alumnus of the legendary HBCU Fisk University and former corporate marketing specialist, is a generational quilter. “When I was 21, I spent a summer with my grandmother in Washington D.C.,” she said. “She taught me how to quilt the traditional way. We made a quilt together, all by hand. She had seven sewing machines but we still did everything by hand.”
That was more than 30 years ago. Today, Newton’s vibrant work is a masterful intersection of traditional quilting methods with the experiences of Black women in today’s society. Curated by Sonié Joi Thompson-Ruffin, the exhibition is divided into six sections: power, hope, origins, endurance, reclamation, awakening. “Kim operates through restraint, stillness and intentional construction rather than visual noise,” Thompson-Ruffin said in her curatorial statement “Every seam, fragment of fabric, tonal shift, and compositional gesture reflects intentionality.”
All the works are striking. Sit With It, a 42 x 62″ quilt made of Indonesian batik and cotton, depicts a woman sitting plaintively in a bright blue dress with large puff sleeves against a patterned background. The piece evokes thoughts of peaceful resilience and focused determination. While the dress catches the eye, it is the deeply absorbed expression on the face that steals the show.
“Quilting to me is storytelling. It is more than artwork,” says Newton. Venus, a 36 x 58″ quilt also composed of cotton and Indonesian batik is visually commanding. Against a black background, the subject gazes into the soul of the viewer before a full moon as a single tear streams down her face. There is a story here, maybe of survival, maybe of deep Black joy.
The inclusion of reference materials add context and stress the historical dimensions of this exhibition, which includes quilts more than 100 years old created by Newton’s paternal grandmother. The origins section of the exhibition includes a wall of historic family photos, bringing to life the familial references that inform Newton’s work.
This is the latest in a series of compelling exhibitions by artists from the African American Artist Collective at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Center. “We’ve been working with the collective for several years now and all the exhibitions have been well received,” said Emiel Cleaver, executive director.
“Kim Alexis Newton: Sacred Seams” continues at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center, 3700 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., through Aug. 30. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday- Saturday. For more information, 816. 513.0700 or www.brucewatkinscenter.com.
