Lucinda Toomer

Lucinda Toomer (February 5, 1888 – September 1, 1983) was an American artist who worked in the African-American tradition of quiltmaking. Her quilts are known for their bold compositions, visual rhythm, and improvisational style. They were at the forefront of a surge of national recognition for the art form during the 1990s.

Early life Lucinda Toomer was born Lucinda Hodrick in Stewart County, Georgia. She was the oldest of seven children born to Orange and Sophie Stokes Hodrick, who made their living as cotton and peanut farmers. She married Jim Toomer in 1908, and moved with him to a farm near Dawson, Georgia.

Quiltmaking Toomer began quilting at the age of 12, under her mother's tutelage. To piece together quilt tops, she used scraps from her own sewing as well as fabric purchased in bulk from nearby textile factories.

Long strips of fabric play a major aesthetic role in her quilts, serving as an organizing and unifying element within the overall composition.

Legacy Toomer's quiltmaking came to national attention when she was featured alongside other quilters, including Martha Jane Pettway and Sarah Mary Taylor, in the 1983 traveling exhibition "Ten Afro-American Quiltmakers," curated by Dr. Maude Southwell Wahlman.

Her quilts are held in multiple museum collections, including the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. One of these, Diamond Strip Quilt (purchased in 1990) was the first piece acquired for the museum's quilt collection.

Lucinda Toomer received a 1983 National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.