Quilt queen

Master narrative quilter Marla Arna Jackson’s exquisitely detailed and executed quilts, priced at $15,000 and up, have been exhibited in the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, the American Folk Art Museum and more than 35 other venues worldwide.

An author, educator and speaker, the award-winning Lawrence, Kansas-based artist uses each of her narrative quilts to tell a story. Some are personal, while others were inspired by Black celebrities, such as Louis Armstrong, Michelle Obama and Ma Rainey, as well as unheralded Black Africans and Americans.

Legally blind since childhood, with some sight recently restored through surgery, Jackson established the nonprofit Marla Quilts Inc. African American Quilt Museum and Textile Academy (marlaarna jackson.com). The academy is one of more than 695 sites in the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.—Irene Middleman Thomas