Threads of Oak Spring

I just need to tell you about an experience that has changed the way I think about me as an artist. A few months ago I was accepted into the Threads of Oak Spring Quilters Competition. As a woman I’m always downplaying my achievements. “I am sure not a lot of people applied because it is kind of an obscure thing that not many people know about…” or “it is in an out-of-the-way location and I’m sure lots of people got turned off by it…” Nonetheless, I was accepted, so I went. It is an hour away from my house, so it wasn’t a bad drive.

When I got there, I was so surprised I was even invited. I knew some of the quilters in the group. Some are quilting celebrities. Some I didn’t know, but after looking them up, I was flabbergasted and humbled that I was included in the same group. So what is the competition?

Oak Spring was the home of Bunny and Paul Mellon in Virginia. Paul Mellon, at the time, was the fifth wealthiest person in the US. Bunny loved gardens. She had the resources to create an amazing garden. The Oak Spring Foundation invited 12 quilters to visit the home and learn about the history of the house and make a proposal for a quilt, and from those proposals, they will select two artists. Those artists are invited to come back and work on the premises to create a quilt with Bunny’s fabric scraps that will be acquired by the foundation.

We had a great time. The foundation gave us a tour of the property, food and lodging. I had never had so many vegetables 😂 (they also have an organic farm on the premises). There were some accessibility issues, as there always are in old houses, but they were very accommodating and helped me get around as much as possible.

Bunny and Paul were art collectors. In fact, Paul’s father started and donated a lot of art to the National Gallery in DC. There was art everywhere, whether done by nature outside or by famous artists inside.

By the time I left I had so many things in my head I couldn’t think straight. The only thing I knew was that I wanted to be one of the selected artists. I had no idea what I was going to do.

That night I got home exhausted with my brain going in all directions. I went to bed. They always say that your best ideas come when you are in the shower or falling asleep. When your mind is not thinking about your problem. Well, it happened to me. I went to bed at 7:30 pm. (told you I was exhausted) and around 11:30 pm I was half asleep and half awake. All of a sudden, the entire quilt showed up in my brain. Of course I couldn’t sleep after that. I had to do some sketches to get it all down on paper so I wouldn’t forget. Proposals are due at the end of April and we will get an answer by mid-May. Wish me luck!

Amy Sherald

This whole experience has made me rethink my art career. Two weeks ago I went to see Amy Sherald’s exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art. When I left, I kept thinking it would be so cool to exhibit your art in a big museum like that. Then I remembered one time a long time ago when I was just starting to quilt, I went to an exhibit of art quilts with my Mom. As we are leaving, I turn to her and I tell her, “This is what I want to be when I grow up” (I was in my 20s in college, studying hotel management). Here I am today, an art quilter for over 20 years. If my dream to become a pretty good art quilter came true, why wouldn’t my dream of exhibiting at a big museum happen? If I was included in a group of quilters that are so good in this competition, then I must be good too.

I have decided to take my art more seriously as an Artist with a capital A. I’m starting by not entering so many juried exhibits where my art is shown among a bunch of other artists and concentrating more on creating a more cohesive body of work, solo shows, and commissions. I think I have moved up a step in my art career.