Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton will be showcasing samples of the region’s “King Cotton” past with a special display from the Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum.
The pop-up exhibit will feature quilts from regional artisans who carry on the tradition from the area’s past.
“We are very excited about our partnership with Tanner,” said Marilyn Hubbard, Georgia Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum board member and local volunteer. “We think it will be fun to share our quilts with the community.”
Hubbard, who helped coordinate the pop-up exhibit of the two quilts that were displayed at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton during the month of February, explained how no two quilts are alike.
“Each quilt carries a different feeling and meaning,” said Hubbard. “These emotions and thoughts serve as an inspiration behind the artwork. Quilts always evoke a myriad of feelings and emotions. They serve as a reminder of love, comfort and home. ”
Although these two quilts will only be featured for the month of February, Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton will display quilts from the Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum every month for everyone to come and enjoy.
“We will have quilts on display at Tanner on a monthly rotating basis,” said Hubbard. “We will have two more quilts in for March and April. Our plan is to even feature quilts that correspond with themes, seasons and holidays.”
One of the quilts displayed was “The Red Diamond Star,” by Jeanne Lowery. The red quilt featured a series of stars, each with hearts in the center. The Red Diamond Star quilt came from the Helpful Friends Quilting Group of Jonesboro, Ga.
“Each of the guild members selected a piece of fabric from their own collections to incorporate into this quilt,” said Hubbard. “The guild chose the diamond star block for their group project and decided upon the color red to represent hearth and home. The red cornerstones represent their sense of community and connectedness and the keyboard border highlights the beauty of each individual member joined together in harmony.”
“Busy Needles Geranium Garden,” a quilt by Busy Needles Quilt Guild’s Regina Carter that also was on display at Tanner, embodied the creativity and the city of Jackson, Ga.
“Geraniums are a well-recognized symbol of the Jackson community,” said Hubbard. “It depicts their home’s bright geranium gardens and is interspersed with rows of heart blocks which were created around the spool to represent the heartfelt love the guild members have for the art of quilting, for each other and for their community.”
These quilts and many others can be seen at the Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum, a new museum located at the site of the historic cotton warehouse in downtown Carrollton. The museum gives tours of galleries that showcase quilts from all over the Southeast. The museum also hosts programs that embrace the heritage and preservation of quilting and provides visitors with an education in the artisan, meaning and history of quilting.
“These quilts are built with colors and patterns, but they each are interpreted differently,” said Hubbard. “Each quilt is designed to bring its own individual flair.”
April Moon Carlson, a graduate student at the University of West Georgia who received her bachelor’s in history and museum studies, works with the museum as an executive director and research assistant. The university’s Center for Public History paired Carlson with the Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum. Carlson helped coordinate the two quilts displayed at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton.
“The museum’s current exhibit features work from the Wiregrass Quilters Guild,” said Carlson. “We are looking forward to displaying the work from other guilds and artists in future exhibitions. The guilds we feature are from southeastern quilters who create these beautiful pieces of artwork. They loan us their quilts to feature in the Southwestern Quilt & Textile Museum.”
The museum has a growing collection of quilts and also features a rotating exhibit of quilts from the local community. Different quilting guilds loan their quilts to the museum to be displayed on exhibition but the museum has some quilts that stay out of rotation and primarily at this museum.
“Our museum has about 50 quilts in our permanent collection and we are excited to be able to share these quilts and others from around the region,” said Carlson.
Since Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum is the only quilting museum in the Southern region, they have had visitors from all of the neighboring states.
“We aren’t just exclusive to Georgia,” said Carlson. “I have been working here for a year and we have featured quilts from individual artists and entire exhibits from various guilds from all of the southeastern states. We have seen visitors from within the Carroll County area, as well as other communities in Georgia and numerous neighboring states.”
For more information or a schedule of tour dates at the Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum, visit www.southeasternquiltmuseum.com or call 770.301.2187.