A master at her craft, Geneva Loewe made quilts for over 50 years. She learned to sew pieced and appliqued quilts from her maternal grandmother, Mary Porcher, who also practiced midwifery in the Awendaw area of Charleston County. A maker of traditional quilt patterns and designs of her own creation – some of which draw on African textile traditions – Loewe shared her skills with people throughout the state, including senior citizens in the South Santee community and children at the Charleston Housing Authority.
Believing that “machines just zip across the quilt without any attention to detail or without any feeling,” she insisted on doing all her quilting by hand. Drayton Hall, Middleton Place Plantation, and the Rice Museum in Georgetown are just a few of the places where Loewe exhibited her quilts. Loewe passed away in 2014. She received the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award in 1997.