Janet L. McCoy (mccoyjl@mail.auburn.edu)

ACCLAIMED FOLK ARTIST NORA EZELL TO SPEAK AT AU FEB. 25

AUBURN -- Nora McKeown Ezell, whose quilts provide a glimpse at the history of African-American culture in the 20th century South, will read from her new book at Auburn University on Thursday, Feb. 25.

Ezell's pictorial quilts are a testament to her individualism, rigor and vision, says Gail Andrews Trechsel, director of the Birmingham Museum of Art. Ezell's subjects range from the history of Alabama's Civil Right activists to the retelling of Bible stories and to Birmingham cityscapes.

AU's Center for the Arts and Humanities will host the reading and reception for Ezell on Feb. 25 at 4 p.m. Copies of her new book, My Quilts and Me: The Diary of an American Quilter, will be available.

Ezell's work has been exhibited at the Museum of American Folk Art in New York as well as in many one-woman shows. In 1992, the artist was named a National Heritage Fellow for the National Endowment for the Arts, which recognizes people who carry on U.S. folk traditions. In 1990, she received the Alabama Folk Heritage Award, the state's highest honor for achievement in traditional arts.

Trechsel says Ezell's technique ". . . expresses the essence of a quilting style that has brought her national attention and captures her personal spirit of individuality and self-confidence."

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CONTACT: Jay Lamar, 334/844-4946.