Mary Catherine Lamb, Quilt Artists, International Quilt Museum (IQM) Records

Born in Oakland, California, in 1949, Mary Catherine Lamb's quilts sought to reframed traditional Roman Catholic iconography. Lamb saved mementos from her childhood and years later stumbled upon them when clearing out her family home. By this time a disaffected Catholic, Lamb began to make art quilts and, as she said, "embrace the images in a completely different way, on my own terms." Lamb made at least a dozen quilts that re-interpreted religious art produced during the Medieval and Renaissance periods. She drew particular inspiration from The Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the Gospels drawn by monks in Britain or Ireland around 800 C.E. Using mid-twentieth-century domestic linens and clothing discovered at thrift stores and garage sales in Portland, Oregon, Lamb transformed the images into textile works. Lamb died in Portland, Oregon, in 2009.

Source: Medieval Imagery in the Quilts of Mary Catherine Lamb, International Quilt Museum. Date accessed: December 1, 2022.