Masie Love

Masie Love (b. Washington DC) seeks to tell the story of their ancestry through pattern and color. Her work explores the past and present state of personal identity through recollections of time spent in Tennessee. Being able to spend time on the land her ancestors came from provided an opportunity to learn more about herself and her family history. Growing up surrounded by quilts made by previous generations, Love came to know their great-grandmother through her quilting style, the fabric scraps she chose to work with, and the patterns she created. Although she never had the chance to meet many of their ancestors during their lifetimes, she feels a connection that continues to guide her toward exploring this part of their shared history.

Recently, Love has become interested in incorporating quilting techniques into her practice to emphasize the importance of storytelling and documentation. By integrating various quilting traditions into her process, Love can delve deeper into her family’s history, recognizing quilting as a practice that has been largely carried forward by Black women Through this work, Love hopes to document the moments that have shaped her life. As she learns more about herself, she simultaneously uncovers the stories of those who came before her. Whether using pages from personal journals as filling or deconstructing paintings and sewing them back together, Love creates in homage to both this tradition and her family. They view their process as a form of language; the patterns within the work become words spoken by her ancestors, symbolizing fragments passed down through stories of the past. Love sees it as her responsibility to piece these fragments together, transforming them into overlapping and interconnected designs. Love is currently an MFA candidate in Hunter’s graduate school program for drawing and painting.