By Kathy Chouteau
A virtual exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) is looking back at the prolific work of a onetime Richmond resident now through Dec. 20.
The exhibition, āRosie Lee Tompkins: A Retrospective,ā was co-curated with Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow Elaine Y. Yau and displays nearly seventy of Tompkinās artworksādescribed by the museum as āan extraordinary range and number of quilts with inventive designs all her own.ā
BAMPFAās exhibition follows a recent gift from collector Eli Leon of more than 500 of Tompkinsā quilts to the museum as one facet of a larger gift of quilts by African American artists, per the museum.
According to BAMPFA, Rosie Lee Tompkins, who passed away in 2006, learned to make quilts as a child from her mother when they were living in Arkansas. After moving to Richmond, she went on to make her quilts professionally during the 1970s, her career spanning 40 years until her death.

Tompkinsā called her quilts āput-togethersā and didnāt intend them for household use. āMaking quilts was a way to experiment with colors, shapes and texture and to express personal ideas like her spirituality and family connections,ā per BAMPFA.
An article by The New York Times about the exhibition said it āconfirms her standing as one of the great American artistsātranscending craft, challenging painting and reshaping the canon.ā
While BAMPFA is currently closed, Tompkinsā work can be viewed on the museumās exhibition page.