Rochester Hills fiber artist doesn't just sew portraits of her subjects. She listens.

Rochester Hills — Nearing what she thought was the end of a quilt portrait she was creating of famed late Detroit artist Gilda Snowden, April Anue Shipp, a local fabric artist and sculptor, heard Snowden speak to her. 

"Gilda said, 'No, you're not done. Add more color, add more fiber, add more texture,'" said Shipp, standing in her Rochester Hills studio. "She said 'You're being too cautious, too careful.'"

As quirky as it sounds, listening to her subjects is part of Shipp's creative process. And perhaps it's why her portraits are so moving. A fiber artist for more than 40 years, the Detroit native's nuanced, intricate quilts aren't just pieces of fabric sewn together but art.

Shipp's pieces depict female blues singers, politicians, actors, even her children. An art quilt of Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o hangs in her living room. Inspired by everything around her, from history to a crack in the sidewalk, Shipp said with all of her work, "I know it's done when it tells me it's done."

"When it goes, 'We've had enough,'" said Shipp, 60, who also has led fiber demonstrations throughout Detroit, including the Detroit Institute of Arts and Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. She started sculpting about four years ago as well.

Shipp's detailed portrait of Snowden — which now includes silk flowers, gingham, satin and a gold-leaf appliqued cloth she added after she says Snowden told her to have fun with it —will be part of this year's "Gilda Snowden Memorial Exhibition" at Detroit's Scarab Club. It opens Friday.

Treena Flannery Ericson, the Scarab Club's gallery director, said Shipp's Snowden piece "captures the beautiful spirit of Gilda perfectly."

Shipp also has three quilted portraits, including a gorgeous one of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, along with Nina Simone and Pearl Bailey, on display now in a new exhibit, "Where We At," at Irwin House Global Art Center and Gallery on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit.

The exhibit, held in honor of Women's History Month, which just started, and Black History Month, which just ended, shines a spotlight on Black female artists (see box for more details).

Shipp hopes that when people see her work that they'll recognize the quilts aren't just craft but fine art. That's an issue in the fiber art community, she said.

"People often don't see it as fine art," said Shipp, who just retired last year from her job in the auto industry. "They'll say, 'It's a quilt. It's for the bed.' But it's more than that, so much more than that. They're portraits."

Shipp grew up sewing. Her mother and siblings all sewed their own clothes as did Shipp. But it was after seeing something on TV about quilting, she started to make quilts.

"I thought I should try to do that. I haven't looked back since," she said.

Shipp's timeline for each piece she creates depends on the subject matter. She uses a Viking sewing machine in her upstairs studio to do detail work and a massive Millennium Quilting Machine in her basement to sew background patterns.

On a recent morning, Shipp stood at her long-arm machine, called Millie, using its levers to sew patterns into the background of quilt of entertainer Josephine Baker. A needle dipped in and out of the fabric as Shipp guided the machine's arms.

She doesn't follow a pattern: "It's whatever I feel," she said.

Her Franklin piece is part of a series of art quilts Shipp created in 2014 about women who sang the blues. Inspired by a special she saw on HBO, she started to do her own research and ended up creating 14 quilts of different artists, including the Queen of Soul, Pearl Bailey, Etta James and Nina Simone.

"When I was working on those pieces, I would play their music," said Shipp. "... I wanted to honor them."

Shipp's most powerful and emotionally demanding piece is one she created nearly 20 years ago, a 10-foot by 10-foot quilt called "Strange Fruit." Named after the Billie Holiday song, it bears the names of roughly 5,000 people who've been lynched in the United States since the mid-19th century. It was exhibited in ArtPrize last year in Grand Rapids and has been displayed all over the country. A future stop is the Detroit Historical Museum.

Shipp said she felt called to create "Strange Fruit" after being in a bookstore, flipping through a book, and seeing a horrifying image of a mother and son who'd been lynched in 1911. She had no idea women and children were also the victims of lynch mobs.

"I began to cry and pray. I said these crimes are horrible. What can I do? What can we do?" Shipp remembers. Her faith told her "find their names and make a quilt. That's what I heard."

Already juggling a full-time job and two kids, she admits she didn't want to do it. But she kept having visions of lynching victims. So she started doing her research and began to sew. It took three years. 

The massive black quilt lists thousands of names embroidered in gold thread. The names are divided by state. Two names are listed from Michigan; it also states 27 are unidentified. Two nooses are sewed near the top of the quilt.

"I debated whether to put them on or not," said Shipp. "It's such an ugly image. But the people here wanted you to not see their bodies, but see their humanity."

And even after all that she's created, Shipp, who also does commissions, said there's so much more she wants to do. 

"I have tons to do," she said. "I have a lifetime of work I have to create. I'm 60. I have to work fast."

mfeighan@detroitnews.com

Two Shows

Irwin House Global Art Center and Gallery's "Where We At," presented in partnership with the National Conference of Artists of Michigan, features the work of 22 Black female artists, including Shipp, in Michigan. "The exhibit really pays tribute to a group called 'Where We At' which was a group of Black women artists formed in 1971 in response to feeling like they were not being seen and heard as part of the larger Black artist movement and feminist movement," said Misha McGlown, Irwin House's gallery director. The show, which runs through April 16, was juried by renowned Detroit artist Shirley Woodson. Irwin House is at 2351 W. Grand Boulevard. For details, go to http://irwinhousegallery.org/.

The Scarab Club's "Gilda Snowden Memorial Exhibition," juried by Michelle Perron, opens Friday and runs through April 15. A variety of mediums are featured, including Shipp's Snowden quilt. No admission fee. The Scarab Club is at 217 Farnsworth Street. For details, go to https://scarabclub.org/gilda-snowden-memorial-exhibition-2022.