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.

Gulf States Quilting Association Quarterly Meeting

Packing for the trip

I was privileged to be the speaker for GSQA's quarterly meeting in New Orleans April 30. The meeting was hosted by Mes Amis Quilt Shop and The Stitchy Fingers and Cotton Pickin' Quilt Guilds. These groups furnished delicious breakfast snacks as we arrived, as well as a huge spread for lunch of meats, sandwiches, salads, and even Cajun Gumbo.

We had equipment failure which prevented the PowerPoint pictures, but I had lots of real quilts and fiber art to show. I told the group that I owed a debt of gratitude to GSQA for hossting the many educational seminars and bringing in great national teachers I had learned from over the years. It was after GSQA's first seminar in 1984 at USM Long Beach that four of us in Hattiesburg formed Pine Belt Quilters. . . and the rest is history.

In spite of thunderstorms moving across the area, there were about 165 quilters present. 

Lunch at the GSQA Quarterly Meeting

In addition to the pieces I brought with me to show, I told them about my 2013 trip to China as a guest of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, South Arts (Atlanta), and Arts Midwest (Minneapolis) for the opening of The Sum of Many Parts: 25 Quiltmakers in 21st Century America. The exhibit visited museums in six cities, and I attended and gave talks in Dalian and Beijing. My quilt, "Rise and Shine, Inner City," was one of the 25 pieces in the exhibit and was shown on the cover of the catalog. This large poster in front of the museum is a replica of the catalog. Mid-America Arts Alliance picked up about half the exhibit and toured locations in the U.S. following the China exhibits. My quilt is scheduled to come home this summer.

Poster outside Dalian Modern Museum

Among my favorite pictures are the ones of the crowds getting up close to see the quilts after I spoke.  I had an interpreter with me at all times, but many of the students asked questions in English and understood much on their own. I donated one of my pieces, "Butterfly Crossing," to the Dalian museum and enjoy thinking that the people will enjoy seeing it and remembering the exhibit.

Gift of "Butterfly Crossing" to Dalian Modern Museum

Students getting close

   

Rise and Shine, Inner City in Florida

Rise and Shine, Inner City, 79 x 99

I shipped my Rise and Shine, Inner City quilt to SouthArts back in November 2012 for the exhibit The Sum of Many Parts, composed of 25 quilts by American quilters, organized by the US Embassy in Beijing. I even got to go to Beijing and Dalian for the opening of the exhibit in Dalian in April of 2013. After the exhibit toured six museums in China, Mid-America Arts Alliance picked up and extended the exhibit with 15 of the 25 quilts traveling in the U.S.
My friend Ellen Lindner, an expert quilter in Florida, sent me a photo she took while attending an exhibit at Crealdé School of Art in Winter Park, FL. I had not kept up with its schedule, so it was a happy surprise to see someone enjoying viewing my quilt! The exhibit is open September 2015 through January 19, 2016. I think my quilt is due to return home the end of April 2016.