From the Artist

This body or work includes two of four Yoyo Quilts I have completed. Yoyo Quilts were popular between 1920-1940 as a style of bedcover for warmer climates. The Yoyo's, once cut by hand, are portable enough to travel wherever they need to go before they are attached, by hand, to each other. My first circle was given to me by an artist at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1991. After admiring her quilt on display in the Craft Village she gave me the assignment to go home, cut my pattern out of sandpaper, stitch it up and return to show her my sample. When I returned with my completed Yoyo she smiled and said, “Keep going."

 

My approach to creating the top piece is a more contemporary one. I purchased a sewing machine in December 2023 and enjoy joining cotton fabric in an intuitive yet intentional way. My process begins with color and ends with the handstitching as my favorite part. While the pieces could be hung on a wall, they could also drape a sofa, swaddle an infant or cover an elder’s lap.

 

The title Kairos/Chronos is significant to me in this season. God’s appointed time (Kairos) and what we humans normally think of as hours on the clock, days on the calendar, and years in a life. Linear time. They are two separate measures. I keep learning, sometimes clumsily and sometimes gracefully, about God’s divine timing.

 

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About the Artist

 

Debra Harley is a Louisville based self-taught fiber artist who incorporates a distinctly African-American style in geometry, balance, fabric and color in her art quilts. She follows her intuition while continually practicing to master the techniques of handquilting. With over 40 years of experimentation in crochet, tie-dye, hand embroidery, fabric stamps and weaving she finds working with needle and thread by hand,  a balm for head and heart.

 

Her first public display of her work was in May 2024 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Most recently, Debra was a selected artist in the annual Celebrating the Black Experience exhibition at the Kentucky Center for African-American Heritage in Louisville, Kentucky. Kairos/Chronos will be Debra's first solo exhibition.

 

Debra is a retired educator from New Orleans and now an active aquatic fitness instructor and personal trainer in Louisville. She finds that art connects us to the human experience and can be used as a tool to deconstruct the things that keep us apart. Through a heart-centered vision her process begins intuitively with color and includes an original execution. "I am influenced by original designs and patterns in nature. I see my creativity as part and parcel of my spiritual journey. I want my creations to follow an ancestral continuity leaving behind something that will outlast me."

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Listen to Debra's Radio Interview with Ketih Waits of Louisville Visual Art on ArtFM WXOX