She has created story quilts, such as Black Barbie, which is in the permanent collection of the Fenimore Art Museum[3] in New York City.
It includes the names of prominent American black women Lani Guinier, Joycelyn Elders, and Anita Hill.
She addressed issues of body image, western society's obsession with beauty, and the neglect of the African American when creating toys and other ephemera for children.
Powers used traditional appliqué techniques to record local legends, Bible stories, and astronomical events on her quilts.
Hicks was one of four African-American women quilters profiled in a PhD dissertation by Yolanda Woods, New World African Conjurers Who Edify and Heal the Community.