Kena Dorsey

Kena Tangi Dorsey, is a quilt artist, teacher, designer, mentor and owner of Kena Quilt Studio which was launched in May 2021. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, Kena moved to New York City and lived there for 18 years before moving west to Los Angeles, CA in 2006 to go to film school and pursue a filmmaking career. Kena began quilting 22 years ago while living in Harlem. Although she still enjoys taking master classes and learning new techniques, She was originally self-taught and started out by learning the basic techniques for piecing traditional blocks and patterns. Early on, Kena was influenced by many of the Harlem Renaissance artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Zora Neale Hurston, James Van Der Zee, and Langston Hughes, to name a few. So, it’s no surprise that when she quickly became intrigued with portrait quilts, that she began making raw edge appliqué story and art quilts using images that reflect African American people. While living in Harlem, New York, Kena had an abundance of access to African shops and boutiques along 125th Street, so she began infusing African wax prints, kente cloth and mud cloth textiles into her quilting projects. She also loves working with Indonesian Batiks. Kena teaches both in- person and live virtual classes and workshops at Guilds and Conferences all over. Kena was the Showcase Presenter at The Quilt Africa Summit in Summer 2022, and her Self -Portrait Quilt “September 23rd” was published in this Summer 2022 edition of “The Art Quilting Studio Magazine” and some of her original quilt patterns using African print fabrics were published in Spring 2022, Issue 88 of “Today’s Quilter Magazine.” Her Art Portrait Quilt “ Two- Spirit” was featured and Juried in the Pacific International Quilt Festival in November 2022. Another series of her portrait quilts were featured in the Winter 2023 edition of “The Art Quilting Studio Magazine.” When not designing and making quilts, Kena teaches filmmaking and television production to high school students and is also an adjunct professor at a local college where she teaches cinema and multi camera television studio production courses every semester.

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