Multiple columns of rectangular blocks and bars

While its composition—long strips of colors assembled in parallel rows—derives from the “Lazy Gal” form, Essie’s manipulation of the multiple columns in this quilt achieves a spirit of movement and energy unlike the minimalist “Lazy Gals” of Helen McCloud and Arlonzia Pettway. Here, Essie has broken up the rows of color and scattered them across the face of the quilt like musical notes, forcing the eye to jump from color to color, in a point of view not dissimilar to those of Lola Pettway and Gearldine Westbrook.