Marjorie Diggs Freeman

Marjorie Diggs Freeman, a retired New Jersey educator and administrator, is a self-taught artist skilled in many forms of needlework. She did not concentrate on fiber art until the 1990s, when she moved to North Carolina. There, she met sister African American quilters who encouraged her to move from the static traditional styles that suppressed her creativity to the free form expressive designs that she now creates, inspired by family stories, travel, music, exhibition themes, and often the fabric itself. Meticulous in her appliqué, details, and handwork, she is often slow to create her art, but the results of this manner of work are magnified by the amount of satisfaction that they bring to her and ultimately to the viewer. Diggs-Freeman’s works vary in appearance, illustrating that she is still on a creative journey that will never end. As she says, there are simply “too many blessings, stories, experiences, and ideas to share with the world, and more fabric than I can ever use!”