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Over the last 28 years, Tina Williams Brewer has personified the ideal of artistic expression. As a celebrated artist, she has defined the multifaceted influences of her life and has celebrated them in a style all her own.

“Growing up, I had two sisters, one older and one younger, who were quite academically inclined,” says Brewer. “As they reveled in their books, I too felt the need to find something that I could fully engage in. I realized that my natural creative abilities were another means of communicating.”

Brewer originally began to develop her interest in ceramics but quickly realized that she needed a more readily accessible craft to satisfy her insatiable appetite to create. “I turned to quilting because it was portable,” she says. “I could take bits and pieces of it with me anywhere and work when and where I so desired. I began with resources that I had readily available...materials that I had on hand.”

As with many artists who discover their true medium of passion, Brewer began quilting with the idea of channeling creative desire through familiar resources. As a former interior designer working out of Joseph Horne’s department store, Brewer had an affinity for fabric. “I carted home bags of discontinued fabric,” she recalls, ”and as if that wasn’t enough, I would go to furniture stores and ask them for their old fabric swatches. I began quilting with upholstery fabric so it was really challenging. I developed calluses and great determination. Needless to say, when I began to actually purchase fabric that was more traditionally used in quilting, it was a piece of cake.”

The off-the-beaten-path approach to quilting persisted with Brewer not only in her fabric selections but also in her non-traditional application to quilt assembly. “Being self-taught,” says Brewer, “my idea of what I envisioned quilting to be had originated with my own creative understanding. The subject matter through which my creative ideas began to shape was rooted in the celebratory reflections of my African heritage and life experiences. Storytelling quilts were the end result. When I did receive instruction, I naturally continued thinking beyond the bounds of traditional quilting methodologies.”

Brewer recognized early on that her quilts were works of art. Since many of the fabrics incorporated into her quilts were upholstery, they were non-washable, and, therefore, the finished product was inherently destined for wall hanging, something to be looked at and studied. Brewer’s inspiration for her quilts evolved as a blended passion that had roots in her African heritage and wings in her love of storytelling. Her “story quilts,” as they are widely known, have become her signature style for which she is internationally honored.

Throughout her 25 years as a fiber artist, Brewer’s work has received numerous awards and has been featured in over 50 major venues in the United States. She has done commissioned work for prominent individuals and art collectors, and her art is also a part of several permanent collections throughout the world, including the United States Embassy in Ghana and the American Craft Museum in New York City.