Cecelia Tapplette-Pedescleaux

Occupy Wall Street
paint, cotton fabric
34.5 x 29.5 in.

Cecelia “Cely” Tapplette-Pedescleaux, a self-taught quilter born in the 7th Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Her passion for quilting bloomed when she purchased a quilted apron/dish-cloth kit she bought to make Christmas presents in the late 1960’s. Cely started to research quilting with old textbooks (cookbooks, wine making, agricultural, and architectural to name a few) that had comments on or mentioned enslaved people’s handiwork. Cely expanded her love for quilting through fashion when she created outfits for Worn Again (2009, 2010) a New Orleans, LA fashion show highlighting artist creativity. Worn Again organizers provide old clothing to local artists who create new life from recycled garments. The U.S. Ambassador to Paris, France and the French Patchwork Association sponsored nine of her quilts in a French exhibit, “A Patchwork of Cultures: Traveling Exhibit from Louisiana to France” (2008-2009). These nine quilts were also included in an exhibit titled “Honoring Lafayette Contemporary Quilts from France and America” at the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Museum in Washington D.C. (August 2010). Cely was one of 14 US artists in the Chinese traveling exhibit The Sum of Many Parts that expose to a side of American society not previously experienced.

© Cecelia Tapplette-Pedescleaux