Celebrating women in the arts: our past featured artists

To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting some of the extraordinary female artists we have featured in the past. This list represents a small sample of the women who have shaped and continue to shape the arts in our state.  

H Ju Nie and H Ngach Rahlan

Montagnard Dega weavers and North Carolina Heritage Awards honorees H Jue Nie and H Ngach Rachlan are culture keepers. Both women are masters of the ancient spinning, dying, and weaving traditions of their people. We learned more about these artists through a 2016 profile.

H Jue Nie learned to weave at age 15 from the women in her town, Buon Me Thuot, in Dak Lak province, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Prior to her death, in 2022, she honored her culture through weaving, using many of the colors and patterns that are traditional to her Rhadé people. She also taught in the traditional way of the Central Highlands. For additional information: Remembering H Ju Nie, North Carolina Weaver.

H Ngach Rahlan is known for kteh, a technique that twines two threads around warp thread when a textile is off the loom. This technique finishes the piece in a way that adds beauty and strength. This is a rare skill, particularly for women to learn. Both women settled in the Greensboro area in the 1990s.  

Victoria Lightfoot

Victoria Lightfoot is an A+ Schools of North Carolina Fellow and veteran elementary school teacher with a commitment to the A+ Schools philosophy and to the arts. We wrote about her in 2022, shortly after she won the Milken Educator Award. Through her years in the classroom, she has been nominated for the A+ Schools Educator of the Year award, and she received nominations for Teacher of the Year twice.  

Victoria recently gave the Arts Council an update. “Currently, I am a Coordinating Teacher for Teacher Support in Wake County Public Schools,” she explained. “In my current role, I provide ongoing high- quality professional development, mentorship, coaching, and support to teachers. I empower educators with high-yield instructional strategies that leverage student achievement. As an A+ Schools Fellow, I engage teachers in professional learning centered around arts integration and Howard Gardner’s concept of multiple intelligences. Educators learn strategies to leverage student communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity skills while boosting student engagement.”

Rhiannon Giddens

We profiled two-time Grammy Award-winning singer and multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens in 2018. She is a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, as well as a Pulitzer Prize winner, and a composer of opera and music for ballet and film. In that interview, she spoke about her upbringing in a musical home and her influences in school. She also reflected on the importance of public funding for the arts. Rhiannon’s current project is Biscuits & Banjos, a new festival dedicated to the celebration and exploration of Black music, art, and culture. Biscuits & Banjos will take place on April 25–27 in Durham, and details are forthcoming.

For more about Rhiannon Giddens: Rhiannon Giddens Pays Tribute To Victims Of The Wilmington Insurrection In Latest Installment Of Come Hear North Carolina’s In The Water Series. 

Tift Merritt

Tift Merritt, a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, started making music at an early age. In 2019, Tift spoke with Sandra Davidson in an interview that touched on childhood memories, and her early days as a songwriter. Tift also reflected on the impact mentors had on her art in her formative years, and her interest in collaboration with other artists. Currently, Tift is collaborating on a project with the visual artist, Thomas Sayre. Four Walls, Four Songs is a sound response to Thomas Sayre’s artwork, Four Walls. This multi-movement piece using voice, piano, and guitar explores the burned, brushed, rusted, and razed layers of Sayre’s visual work in the space. Tift performed Four Walls, Four Songs twice at the Cameron Art Museum, in Wilmington. The first performance was on September 12, 2024, and the reprise was on February 15, 2025.  

For more about Tift Merritt: Songs We Love: Tift Merritt On Townes Van Zandt's "Greensboro Woman."

Faith & Harmony

In 2022 we shared a profile about the eastern North Carolina gospel family group Faith & Harmony. This group of two sets of three sisters, are also the six granddaughters of Johnny Ray Daniels and Dorothy Vines, founding members of the celebrated gospel group, the Glorifying Vines Sisters. We learned about their deep roots in the Black gospel tradition, and the way they navigated the Covid-19 disruption of performing. Bible & Tire Recording Company released Faith & Harmony’s debut album, I Heard the Voice (produced by Bruce Watson), in October 2023, and these days the group is performing the music at live events.

Asha Bala

In 2018, we profiled North Carolina Heritage Awards honoree and N.C. Arts Council board member Asha Bala. She is a performer, scholar, and instructor of the South Indian classical dance tradition of Bharata Natyam. Asha began learning dance at a very young age. Her mastery of the form enabled her to perform as a professional dancer extensively across India. She began teaching after earning two graduate degrees—one in India and the other from American University, in Washington, D.C.  

“I have been very busy over the past few years,” Asha told us. “This year, I am celebrating many milestones: 40 years of teaching and 10 years of instruction through our school, Leela School of Dance. Watching the school grow alongside our students’ passion has been sheer joy. We are also celebrating the fifth anniversary of Leela Foundation, an organization dedicated to creating a vibrant ecosystem for South Asian arts in North Carolina. This year, we have great things on the horizon, including our Community Arts Exhibition [it was in January]; two professional performances, one in the spring and one in the fall; and a Master Warli artist residency in the summer.”

She reflected, “Life devoted to the arts has its challenges, but a recent moment with a five-year-old student reminds me why it’s worth it.

Student: 'Is Dance God?'
Me: 'What is God?'
Student: 'Magical.'
Me: 'What is dance?'
Student: 'Hmmm, magical.'”