Many pieces to make a whole

Patterson-Petty enjoys telling stories with her work and sometimes does it by combining colors, photos, collages and embellishments.

"I have always been a quiet person, and when I first started creating it was just for me. It was something that brought me joy and comfort and solace," she says.

"Along with jazz, quilting is the uniquely American contribution to world art that bears the legacy of our African heritage and carries it into our common future," wrote the 82-year-old African-American artist Faith Ringgold, who is known for her painted story quilts. She wrote the preface to the book, Spirits of the Cloth - Contemporary African American Quilts, which included Patterson-Petty's work.

Emancipation and memories are central themes in her works. They also function as testaments to the inventiveness of African-American culture.

The quilt, Blues in the Night, which was created in 1996, celebrates the development and evolution of jazz as an African-American art form. And Still I Rise is for black women who have survived adversity and oppression.

With a master's degree in fine arts, Patterson-Petty is also a registered art therapist.

"Art doesn't make the pain go away from a bad situation or loss," she says. "It just allows a way of releasing negative energy and working through the pain. Sometimes, when people can't find the words to express themselves, they can speak volumes when they create."

For years, Patterson-Petty's creativity has been breaking the boundaries between media. Her home is a big laboratory for her artworks.

Her husband, Reggie Petty, is used to finding their stairways covered with a new mosaic, a grotto added to their bathroom and their yard filled with recycled materials.

Two of her grandchildren are up-and-coming artists.

Before the workshop in Beijing, her works were on show at an exhibition, The Sum of Many Parts, which has been touring China since 2012 and included works by 25 quilt makers from the United States.

"I don't know as much as I would like to know about Chinese art," she says. "But the little I do know is astounding. I love the spirit of it. I love the delicate brushstrokes in the paintings. I love Chinese gardens. I love the aesthetics."