Description: Fortaleza Art quilt featuring 25+ strong women with an accompanying 10x10 coffee table book featuring biographies of all the known featured women. Dimensions: 38 inches x 38 inches Medium: Cotton with eco-friendly batting made from recycled plastic. Featured women: Alicia Keys + Amanda Gorman + Audre Lorde + Breonna Taylor + Cast of Pose + Elizabeth Choy Su-Moi + Frida Kahlo + Gogo Yubari + Hilary Clinton + Liz Cheney + Madonna + Mary Eliza Mahoney + Miss Piggy + Mona Lisa + Nancy Pelosi + Oprah + Princess Leia + Princess Diana + Queen Elizabeth + Ruth Bader Ginsburg + Rihanna + Shirley Chisholm. Artist statement: Fortaleza is the Spanish word for strength. This quilt celebrates strong women from all aspects of life. Everyday heroines, such as nurses, sit next to politicians such as Hilary Clinton and Liz Cheney and pop icons. In this highly polarized world, I find inspiration on both sides of the aisle. Strong women are everywhere. I started exploring them in my work during the 2016 election. I was horrified by the open misogyny displayed in the political arena and social media. I purchased a sewing machine in March of 2020 and taught myself to use it during the Covid lockdown. I joined multiple online forums to ask questions and seek advice from experienced quilters. I was surprised, shocked and disappointed to see online bullies, most of them women, wanted to ensure only traditional themes and methods were explored. There was little openness to ideas or people considered non-traditional by this matriarchy. My response was to start making strong women quilts. I posted first on Facebook, then Instagram (the_gay_church_lady). A following developed and women from around the world started sending me images and fabric to include in this project. A small, but exciting community of renegade, activist quilters is forming. A larger quilt, similar to this, was commissioned by Delinda Collier, PHD, Dean of Graduate Studies at Art Institute of Chicago. It will be displayed prominently in her office starting in September of 2021. I assert that traditional crafts are not the exclusive domain of the Christian right or those practicing in conservative faiths. They are a cultural heritage owned by all of us. My hope is to inspire others to see the humanness in each other and to celebrate the crafts and heritage which make us uniquely American. About the artist: Joseph Thatcher is an American mixed media artist. He explores themes including personal narrative, social justice issues, religious, cultural, and sexual identity. The fight for equal rights is a common topic. Thatcher was raised primarily in Asia, in a strict Mormon family. He lived in Guatemala as an adult, both as a missionary and an anthropologist. He left the conservative religion when he came out of the closet as gay. The influence of these experiences is expressed in his work in the form of patterns and choice of medium. There is a celebration of contrasting colors, designs and topics which clash perfectly to challenge the viewer to go deeper and examine the patterns in their own life. He is a registered nurse and holds a degree in medical anthropology. He lives in West Orange, New Jersey with his husband ChinParn and tiny sausage dog Choriza.