The Alliance for American Quilts is going to have an exhibit of 15 quilts from people who were interviewed for Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories this fall at International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas. I was thrilled to discover that Rosa Angula's quilt was selected. I interviewed
Rosa. Her quilt was originally for a special exhibit for Sacred Threads. Rosa is in the Ohio Reformatory for Women for drug possession and drug trafficking. She is a citizen of Mexico. This was her first quilt. I was hoping her quilt was still at ORW and that Rosa would agree to lend the quilt. I discovered that Rosa had sent it to her daughter. And while Rosa agreed to loan the quilt is expressed that she was ashamed about where she was and that her quilt did not deserve to be included. To that I said, "Nonsense!" as did the Administrative Assistant to the Warden. I was able to connect with Glenda who was delightful. She has agreed to send the quilt. I can only hope that this opportunity will help Rosa's self esteem and quiltmaking will continue to provide her with opportunities once she is out of prison and back in Mexico.
How fascinating to read your interview with Rosa!! :) I had wanted to ask you about your work there b/c I'm from Ohio. Do you go there to teach them yourself or is it because of your alliance membership or ?
ReplyDeleteOutstanding quilt! Very expressive.
ReplyDeleteI did not teach them how to quilt. Actually from what I understand, no one had much instruction. Rosa is now working in the Stitching Post where she is making quilts for different charities. Not much creativity is allowed which is too bad. BTW, I paid my own way to do the interviews at the ORW. No money from the Alliance for American Quilts was used.
ReplyDeleteActually the credit for the quilting activity goes to Chaplain Jami Burns. She visited the Sacred Threads show in 2007 and then invited Founders Vikki Pignatelli and Wendy Bynner to visit the reformatory and share some of the sacred threads pieces with the women inmates. Chaplain Burns then started the quilting activity group. Vikki and Wendy included the sixteen resulting quilts in the Sacred Threads 2009 show.Readers can learn more and see all the quilts at http://beyondthebarrier.org/.
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