{"id":1619493,"date":"2025-07-07T15:56:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T22:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quiltfolk.com\/?p=1619493"},"modified":"2025-07-07T18:32:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T01:32:38","slug":"raw-edges-real-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quiltfolk.com\/journal\/raw-edges-real-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Raw Edges, Real Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Unicia R. Buster has created a body of work that stitches together beauty, protest, and personal healing. Not one to be boxed into one method of creating, she combines techniques like raw-edge appliqu\u00e9, fabric collage, thread painting, drawing, and free-motion quilting to convey her innermost thoughts and observations of the world around her. Her entry into quilting, however, wasn\u2019t conventional. Although she studied photography, she opted to make a quilt for her senior thesis. \u201cI\u2019d seen a quilt in a museum once that looked like a giant Parcheesi board,\u201d she joked. \u201cIt was made for someone\u2019s grandkids to play on and that stuck with me.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>

Her fascination with that piece, combined with an interest in Quaker quilts and the grid-like portraits of Man Ray, led her to explore quilting as a new medium. As a result, she constructed an ambitious family tree quilt\u2014measuring 8 by 11 feet\u2014without knowing how to quilt, sew, or use a machine. Sharing about her early days of quilting, Unicia said, \u201cI had no clue what I was doing. No one in my family quilted. My mom said, \u2018You just put some fabric together.\u2019\u201d Eventually, she found her way. She learned how to transfer photographic images onto fabric through her coursework and completed the quilt top, later finishing the quilting in grad school.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Unicia R. Buster with her quilts and photographic work hanging behind her.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Her artistic path transitioned from photography to graphic design and even to a two-year pre-med program after feeling unfulfilled as a designer. She was drawn to the thought of helping others through medical research, which led to the pivot. However, as Unicia reflected, the timing was difficult. \u201cI was a single mom, and by the time I finished the program, my son was four. I felt like I was missing out on his life,\u201d she said. Rather than pursuing medical school, she accepted a job at a local hospital, which became a turning point. Her two professional worlds merged within the hospital\u2019s art department, where Unicia found herself planning creative activities for patients.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Consequently, this time in her life would bring her back to quilting.\u00a0<\/span>But thankfully, the Sisters of the Yam African American Quilters Guild visited her church to offer demos during Black History Month. Inspired by the thought of learning more formally within a group setting, she joined the guild and later learned foundational skills in paper piecing and strip quilting. From there, her signature style emerged. \u201cOne of the members, Anita Holloway, introduced me to pictorial quilting,\u201d Unicia said. \u201cShe made portraits through appliqu\u00e9, and I was blown away.\u201d <\/span><\/p>

She began experimenting with designs she\u2019d sketched, gluing them down to get a feel for the technique. When Anita became ill, Unicia visited her in the hospital and brought her works-in-progress as a way to show her commitment to the process. Though Anita passed away, her influence remains inseparable from Unicia\u2019s growth as a quilter.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"Make Waves\" by Unicia is inspired by Misty Copeland, the first African American woman to be a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"Boldly Innovative\" by Unicia with her \"Green Goddess\" art doll in the foreground.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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What began as trial and error with glue, yarn, and improvisational handwork grew into a colorful and expressive form of storytelling. For example, Unicia\u2019s early works, like <\/span>Afro Clouds<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Afro Flowers<\/span><\/i>, celebrated the textures of natural Black hair. \u201cI\u2019d take yarn, wrap it in fabric, glue it, and try to stitch it by hand. It was a mess, but I was learning,\u201d she said with a laugh. Eventually, her work would turn toward protest. In response to the 2020 uprisings, she created a quilt in the style of an Italian Renaissance crucifixion, showing George Floyd and other victims of police violence, with mourners based on his family. Unicia shared that she also grieved while creating the work, stating, \u201cI wanted to make a stand through art. That was my first real protest piece.\u201d <\/span><\/p>

At this time, she was also concurrently mourning the loss of her father, who passed away just before the COVID-19 shutdowns. Succumbing to blood cancer, his loss hit Unicia hard. She went on to share how she had to navigate depression and the COVID-19 shut down simultaneously, ultimately finding peace in making. That period of mourning and reflection embedded her work with even more depth. \u201cThere\u2019s something about stitching through that kind of pain,\u201d she said. \u201cIt helped me process what words couldn\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t

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Unicia's quilt \"The Unforgettable Past: Elvatrice Belsches\" was part of the RVA Community Makers 2024, which addresses hidden histories and imaginative storytelling by honoring members of the community who strive to uncover and share stories of Black life. <\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Unicia's \"Second Street\" began as a design for the poster of the annual Second Street Festival in Richmond, a music festival that celebrates the rich Black history of the Jackson Ward neighborhood.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\"Uplifting the Overlooked: J. Dontrese Brown\" by Unicia.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Unicia\u2019s current series, <\/span>“Beautiful Contradictions<\/span>,” continues that exploration of quilting the unspoken. Through hand-drawn and linocut imagery, she embeds symbols of beauty and death into each quilt to explore the things that society attempts to sweep beneath the surface. From afar, many of the works in this series deceptively resemble floral quilts. However, upon closer examination, you might see smoke from bombings, tombstones, and even lynched figures. When discussing the concepts, she explained, \u201cI want viewers to confront discomfort. The prettiness invites you in, but then, you\u2019re forced to reckon with what\u2019s underneath.\u201d She has even developed a spreadsheet to help her track motifs for <\/span>“Beautiful Contradictions<\/span>,” with the goal of creating additional pieces that encourage viewers to confront the injustices that continue to take place before our very eyes.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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About the Author<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Sharbreon Plummer, PhD, began writing for Quiltfolk in 2021. She is an independent researcher, curator, and writer with 15 years of experience in the arts and culture sector. Her research focuses on textile traditions, artistic production, and folkways connected to Black life, especially within the South. She has facilitated and presented work at institutions such as Project Row Houses, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Rhode Island School of Design, Americans for the Arts, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Princeton University, and several others.\u00a0Find more of her work on her\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0and her\u00a0instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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About the Photographer<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Azuree Holloway has been photographing for Quiltfolk<\/em> since 2019 and has contributed to many other projects. Check out more of her work on her\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0and her\u00a0Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Click the image to preview or purchase Issue 35: Virginia! <\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unicia Buster\u2019s quilts are bold acts of storytelling\u2014layered with beauty, grief, protest, and personal reflection. Though her path to quilting was unconventional, her work now seamlessly blends raw-edge appliqu\u00e9, collage, thread painting, and fine art techniques to process both memory and injustice. From tributes to natural Black hair to deeply emotional protest pieces, Unicia\u2019s work invites viewers to look closer\u2014and then deeper. Her latest series, Beautiful Contradictions, uses floral forms to draw the eye in before revealing the hard truths hidden just beneath the surface.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45177,"featured_media":1619521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[232,235,85],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-1619493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-off-the-pages","category-quilters"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRaw Edges, Real Stories - Quiltfolk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quiltfolk.com\/journal\/raw-edges-real-stories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Raw Edges, Real Stories - Quiltfolk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Unicia Buster\u2019s quilts are bold acts of storytelling\u2014layered with beauty, grief, protest, and personal reflection. 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