Legacy Project for Kerrick Elementary, Fall 2012

I was asked to collaborate with the Art Teacher, and her four 4th Grade classes, at Kerrick Elementary in Louisville, Ky. The teacher was interested in my proposal to construct four quilts in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the aquisition of thier wooded area next to the school. Each quilt was to represent a season. I first met with the teacher and a representative from The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, acting adminstrators of the project, in late summer of 2012.

 

 In fall of 2012 I conducted a series of four classes. On my initial visit we looked at a picture book together, The Leaf Man, where in the book various leaves are used to create woodland creatures. We then went out into the wooded area and collected leaves for relief printing on fabric, to create our own leaf creatures. In conjunction with this project the school held a Family Literacy night, where parents also previewed the book, The Leaf Man, collected their own leaves and relief printed them on fabric with their children. The last two sessions during my stay at the school included teaching the students how to embroidery on their printed quilt squares. 

At the conclusion of my stay at the school, I took all of the quilt squares home, both the students and their parents, and used them to create four legacy quilts for the school. The following pictures are the result of this project.

Working with a student.
 

Detail of Winter Quilt

 

Winter Quilt



Detail of Spring Quilt
 

 




Spring Quilt
 

Detail of Summer Quilt



Summer Quilt

Detail of Fall Quilt





Fall Quilt

Leaving KMAC

Moved out of the studio at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft in August. Here are a few pictures of the installation coming down.

Part of the experiment with this installation was to hang the strips of cotton muslin while they were still wet with dye to see what kind of effect I would get with the dye dripping down the walls and onto the floor. The concept was an abstraction of the muddy Ohio River flowing over the walls of the studio. The above picture shows what was left of the dye on the walls and floor, which of course I cleaned up when I de-installed.

One load waiting to go with my trusty coffee cup that mostly held water to drink while I worked.

The final load waiting next to the elevator.