Reception: Art Exhibition by Torreah "Cookie" Washington

This reception is free and open to the public. Torreah “Cookie” Washington is a fourth-generation needle worker and the first in her family to embrace art quilting. Based in Goose Creek, South Carolina, she is nationally recognized for her quilts, rag baskets, and fiber art that weave together African American history, ancestral memory, and the Divine Feminine. Born in Rabat, Morocco, and raised in a family of makers, Cookie’s earliest memory of stitching was fashioning a Barbie dress out of a cotton sheet at age four—a creation her grandfather purchased for fifty cents. That small spark has carried through a lifetime in fabric, from designing custom bridal gowns to becoming one of the country’s leading African American art quilters. For Cookie, quilting is never just about cloth. It is a way of honoring ancestors and preserving culture. “Whenever I hold a needle and cloth,” she says, “I feel my foremothers with me.” Her practice reflects the centuries-old tradition of African American quilting—an art form born of resilience and resourcefulness among enslaved people, who stitched together scraps into both warmth and memory. Cookie Washington is the Sam Doyle Artist in Residence for Culture and Community at the Penn Center National Historic Landmark District, a Mellon Foundation funded partnership between the UGA Willson Center for Humanities and Arts and St. Helena, South Carolina's Penn Center.