I Am
Lula Williams
1987
Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan
Cotton with polyester filling
60” x 76”
MSUM 7422.1
Photo by Mark Eifert, all rights reserved Michigan State University Museum

Since completing her first Pinwheel quilt almost twenty-five years ago, Lula Williams has made more than 100 quilts. She has won numerous awards, including a Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program grant in 1992 to teach apprentices Kaye F. Robinson of Detroit and April Johnson of Hamtramck and the Michigan Heritage Award in 1997. Her original I Am quilt is a strong testament to the role of religion in her life. Illustrated in the quilt are the seven "I Am's" that Jesus utters in the Bible, as well as many of the "I Am's" that African American preachers often use at the end of their sermons.

By Marsha MacDowell