Rise and Shine, Inner City has come home!

Rise and Shine, Inner City has come home! I shipped the quilt to SouthArts in November 2012 for its trip to six venues in China with the exhibit "The Sum of Many Parts--25 Quiltmakers in 21st Century America." It was my privilege to attend the opening of the exhibit in Dalian, China in 2013. At the end of this two-year odyssey, Mid-America Arts Alliance picked up a dozen of the pieces for a US tour entitled "The Sum of Many Parts--Quiltmakers in Contemporary America," which traveled to Oregon, Arkansas, Nebraska, South Carolina, Missouri, and Florida. Now after almost four years, the quilt arrived back in Hattiesburg. 

I love that so many people got to enjoy this quilt and think about its story. There have been many inner city quilts made with a variety of color plans and arrangements--my favorite, and the one which first inspired me--is by Jinny Beyer. She cleverly caused the viewer to see hexagons in a beehive pattern. 

by Jinny Beyer

After taking a scrap quilting class from Jinny in the early 90s, I began my quilt, using colors grouped as "neighborhoods" meeting and touching one another with the sun coming in to wake up the city. It is vital that neighborhoods work together to make up a successful and healthy city, just as it is for countries to work together to make a peaceful world. I hope my Rise and Shine, Inner City has helped to spread this message to the people who viewed it on its travels.

Large poster advertising exhibit at Dalian Modern Museum

In Dalian

At Crealdé School of Art, Winter Park, FL

Now the quilt is back at home in Mississippi; I will enjoy seeing it on my guest bed as it rests from its exciting adventures. Lucy Fazely helped me write a pattern for my version of this traditional Inner City block.

The Quilter Magazine article--March 2010

In November 2009 my good friend Lucy Fazely contacted me saying she was invited to write an article "about a talented machine quilter" for The Quilter Magazine. How thrilled I was that she considered me that person and interviewed me for the article. This took place just before I was to leave for a dream workshop at Caryl Bryer Fallert's Paducah studio and also just before my husband was scheduled for brain surgery for relief of his severe Parkinson's symptoms. So when the March 2010 article came out in January 2010, I was pleased that my rattled state was not apparent, thanks to Lucy's skilled writing. (The surgery went well and we think he shows some improvement.)

How exciting it is to see one's artwork in print and be able to share this news with friends and family. Events like this also give us a chance to think deeply about what we do and why we do it and put those thoughts into words. Our creative endeavors are essential to our emotional wellbeing, and having the fruits of our labors printed so colorfully--well, it is just too rewarding for words!