In May of 2016 I was invited to attend a 2-week residency at Caldera Arts as a Ford Family Golden Spot Award Fellow. During my residency I worked for one afternoon with a team of under-served youth and other residents to design this 68" x 68" reversible raw edge applique quilt. The prompt for this activity involved just the words "the dark side" and "the light side" and participants were given complete freedom to interpret the prompt as they saw fit. The quilt was then machine quilted, arduously (this was before I had an industrial sewing machine, and just in case you try to quilt double-sided spray glue applique on a consumer machine, please stop before you start), with 1/4' wonky vertical and horizontal lines. The quilt was then submitted to the 2016Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show, an un-juried first-come first-serve quilt exhibition less than 5 miles from where the quilt was created. Sadly, it was rejected, with show organizers claiming, "Its too heavy to hang" (I've hung four years of quilts with only sewing needles, so I'm not sure about that one) and, "It doesn't fit the definition of a quilt," (Last I checked, the definition of a quilt was at least three layers of textile, sewn through, and bound, so this fits the bill in my book). Fortunately, Paulina Springs Bookstore hosted the quilt during the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show so the at-risk youth who designed the quilt could take pride in seeing their finished work contextualized within the quilt community.
This project would not have been possible were it not for the support of Elizabeth Quinn and Maesie Speer, who encouraged me to come to Caldera, Diana Jackson, who drove me and all my supplies to Caldera because my car wouldn't make it in one piece, the phenomenal youth and fellow residents who contributed and to Minka Wallace, who put in two grueling back-breaking days assisting me in pushing and pulling this quilt through two not very happy sewing machines.
This project would not have been possible were it not for the support of Elizabeth Quinn and Maesie Speer, who encouraged me to come to Caldera, Diana Jackson, who drove me and all my supplies to Caldera because my car wouldn't make it in one piece, the phenomenal youth and fellow residents who contributed and to Minka Wallace, who put in two grueling back-breaking days assisting me in pushing and pulling this quilt through two not very happy sewing machines.