Emma Alcazar

Artist Statement

I am a Virginia based quilter and fiber artist. Raised in Oklahoma, I earned a B.A. in Anthropology and a M.Ed. in Educational Leadership, and after 18 years teaching middle and high school, I began focusing on creating fiber art full time in 2022. I love the slow, meditative process of making with needle and thread, and creating works that invite and reward closer inspection. I’ve had a lifelong love of both the impact of language and color, and I focus on combining traditional quilting patterns and techniques with symbols and text. My work combines elements of modern traditionalism, my love of language, and my struggles with being Chickasaw but living neither in Oklahoma nor our traditional homelands in southern Appalachia and Mississippi.