William Rhodes
African-American quilt-making
William Rhodes is a mixed-media artist who blends fine art, craft, and design, infusing each piece with meaning and function. His artistic journey has been driven by a thirst for learning, leading him to explore diverse cultures and artistic disciplines. This exploration has allowed him to integrate non-Western methods into sculpture, furniture, and art. His recent endeavors in quilting are an extension of his commitment to storytelling, particularly focused on preserving the local African American history of San Francisco.
Living Cultures Grant Program
2026
Honoring Black Women Shipyard Workers
Funds will support two community story quilts honoring Black women who serviced ships at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard (1942–74). Across four workshops at Dr. George Davis Senior Center, William Rhodes and 15 Bayview elders will research these women, create family-history narrative quilt components, naming labor too long erased.
2024
Threads of Resilience: The San Francisco Black Heritage Quilt
Funding will support Threads of Resilience, a project that engages Black seniors in quilt-making and oral history recordings to document the stories of San Francisco’s Black community. The resulting quilt will serve as a living testament to Black San Francisco from the 1940s to the 1980s—a formative era in the city’s cultural history.
Related Programs
