Photo by Javier Romero

Ep. 265 | Through her dynamic, celebratory quilted portraits of people of African decent , Bisa Butler (b. 1973, Orange, NJ) investigates the purposes and potential of portraiture within the Black historical narrative. Butler’s influences range widely from personal family scrapbooks to American folk traditions and AfriCOBRA philosophies. Although her finished works are made entirely of textiles, Butler approaches the medium from a painterly perspective. Sourcing imagery mainly from photographs, she uses layered fabrics and quilting to create unique compositions , psychological depth and detailed textures that she found missing from her paintings. By returning to textiles, Butler has reconnected with her family’s history since it was her grandmother and mother who taught her to sew.

Bisa Butler lives in Orange, New Jersey and has a studio in Jersey City. Butler earned her BFA in painting at Howard University, Washington, D.C. in 1995 and holds a MAT in teaching art from Montclair State University, New Jersey.

Her work has been exhibited widely, both domestically and internationally at institutions such as The Art Institute of Chicago, The Newark Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Bisa was named an honorary doctorate or letters from Bloomfield College . This past fall her sold out solo exhibition at the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery was widely attended. She is preparing for a major museum exhibition opening in spring 2027.

Artist http://www.bisabutler.com/

Jeffrey Deitch https://deitch.com/artists/bisa-butler

Art Institute Chicago https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/9324/bisa-butler-portraits  | https://www.artic.edu/artists/116361/bisa-butler

Howard University https://thedig.howard.edu/featured-people/bisa-butler

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco https://www.famsf.org/events/talk-quilted-portraits-artist-bisa-butler

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture https://nmaahc.si.edu/events/afrofuturism-big-objects-big-stories-i-go-prepare-place-you-bisa-butler-34 | https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2021.38

Smithsonian American Art Museum https://americanart.si.edu/artist/bisa-butler-32332

Gordon Parks Foundation https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/exhibitions/gordon-parks-foundation-gallery/bisa-butler-materfamilias

Museum of Fine Art Boston https://www.mfa.org/video/bisa-butler-quilting-for-culture

Katonah Museum of Art https://www.katonahmuseum.org/exhibitions/exhibition/bisa-butler-portraits

Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design https://www.vasd.rmcad.edu/bisa-butler

Essence https://www.essence.com/art/bisa-butler-quilts-beauty-into-being/

New York Times – https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/t-magazine/jill-scott-bisa-butler.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
– https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/magazine/questlove-summer-of-soul.html?referringSource=articleShare

Time https://time.com/guardians-of-the-year-2020-racial-justice-organizers/

Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/fine-art/new-art-for-a-new-year-11609509601

Colossal https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/09/bisa-butler-hold-me-close-quilted-portraits-exhibition/

Artsy https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-bisa-butlers-enigmatic-quilted-portraits-draw-iconic-images-black-history

Juxtopoz https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/magazine/features/bisa-butler-stitching-history/

World of African Art United https://waau-art.com/highlights/artist-in-focus-bisa-butler/

Scholastic https://art.scholastic.com/pages/special-collections/text-sets/bisa-butler.html | Magazine https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/bisa-butler-quilts-portraits-vibrant-color-180982331/

Dear Black Women https://www.dearblackwomenproject.com/todays-affirmation/the-work-of-bisa-butler

ARTnews https://www.artnews.com/art-news/artists/how-i-made-this-bisa-butlers-quilt-portraits-1234614612/

NPR https://www.npr.org/2021/08/15/1025950962/black-lives-are-celebrated-in-bisa-butlers-extraordinary-technicolor-quilts

Culture Type https://www.culturetype.com/2021/04/22/bisa-butler-quilt-illustrates-may-june-cover-of-essence-magazine-dedicated-to-year-that-changed-the-world/

Craft in America https://www.craftinamerica.org/artist/bisa-butler/ | https://www.craftinamerica.org/short/bisa-butlers-influences/

Stir World https://www.stirworld.com/see-features-the-world-is-yours-a-visual-affirmation-by-american-artist-bisa-butler

Vogue Magazine https://www.vogue.com/article/bisa-butler-artist-interview

United States Artists https://www.unitedstatesartists.org/artists/bisa-butler

Print Magazine https://www.printmag.com/fine-art/inside-the-magical-technicolor-world-of-bisa-butler-and-her-revolutionary-quilts/

Art For Change https://artforchange.com/collections/bisa-butler?srsltid=AfmBOoplrXBKjg_FmK_J4drEK-StKPu_hX1KBveJtwZdvT_PHs0OQpwh

Papillon, 2026, after Woman in home near Norco, Louisiana by Russell Lee, 1938
Silk, netting, chiffon, beads and sequins
Quilted and Appliquéd
98” x 11”

Detail of Papillon
2026

Portrait of Tarana Burke, 2019
Silk, cotton velvet and appliquéd