And that goes for both sides of any issue, and so I wanted to sort of attack this empathy problem and be able to highlight people as three dimensional, textured, and full of emotion, and not just an idea-not just seeing someone as a BLM Movement poster, but as a real human who has experienced real things. But there was clearly an empathy problem-people were seeing others as the issues that they discuss, not as people with stories that are complicated and the reasons behind why they may feel a certain type of way about an issue. I was really moved by the January 6th events, the BLM Movement, these sorts of things-I kind of felt frustrated, especially being confined at home second semester, I couldn't really contribute or do anything about it.
If you can tie those fond memories to real people, then you can start to have sort of an unarmed conversation about empathy and people. Quilting, especially in the South, is an interesting medium that is kind of disarming because a lot of people have intimate relationships with quilts, or people in their family have heirlooms with quilts, so there’s fond memories there.
I found the artwork of Bisa Butler, and I was completely blown away that you could create these sort of photorealistic portraits using fabric, so I created a piece that was about a collective American identity for class, and it was successful. Ĭan you tell me about the inspiration for your series, “A Walk in Their Shoes”? So I kind of went from there, and then my neighbor donated me their sewing machine, and that’s the machine that grew up with me and created all of the pieces. I got a sewing machine and got into replicating what I would see online, and I was about eight or nine when I got my first sewing machine. As the YouTube rabbit hole works, I landed on quilting, and I really loved watching it-it was just a whole new field. I made some blankets for her church, and just sort of naturally through YouTube, I was looking up some other techniques.
#Blown away raleigh how to#
I wanted to be her little helper, so I would sit there with a ball of yarn and watch her, and that turned into her showing me how to crochet. She worked quickly-so that was kind of fascinating to me as a six- or seven-year-old. I grew up really close with my grandmother, and she was into crochet. How did you first discover your talent for art, and specifically quilting?