Community quilt project at the Cameron Art Museum

NEW HANOVER COUNTY (WWAY) — A community quilt project is bringing art and togetherness to the Cameron Art Museum. 

People of all ages helped create a quilt for The Work of Their Hands: American Quilt Making exhibit.

People of all ages and skills gathered at the Cameron Art Museum to contribute to a unique community art project. 

They were handed supplies to create individual squares for a quilt, which was later assembled by local artists Anne Watson and Dr Bobbi Fitzsimmons. 

Their goal? To allow the community to have a hand in the piece. 

 “It was in discussion with people here at the museum. The Work of Their Hands is a major quilt exhibit, and we wanted to have ways of involving the community,” Dr. Fitzsimmons said.  

 The project wasn’t done overnight.   

“It took me a couple of days to do this because it was fairly simple,” Watson said. 

Seeing so many people involved, left Watson thrilled to be a part of it.  

“Oh, I think it’s wonderful, I mean to see the kid’s creativity and some of them were so excited, we had glue everywhere,” Watson said. 

Adults were also encouraged to let their creativity flow.  

“We gave them permission to experiment. There are no ways to do this wrong, if you do something that you don’t like, go back and try something else,” Dr. Fitzsimmons said.  

September Krueger, the director of lifelong learning, helped organize the project and even coordinated a remote location.  

“A whole group participated in this in their homes and then the squares came in and became part of the quilt. She recognized how important it is for well-being, for mental health, all of those things that art does for you, she wanted them to have an opportunity to participate,” Kruger said. 

One participant shared a powerful sentiment with Krueger. 

“Building a community is an art form and I think that is a beautiful sentiment that is here in this project,” Krueger shared. 

Fitzsimmons and Watson want to do a community event like this one again.  

Another part of the quilt exhibit that Dr. Bobbi Fitzsimmons took part in was the Advocacy Project. She emphasizes that at first glance you see a positive art project but when you look closer you see the story. There are numerous quilts from around the world that speak volume when you look into the details.

You can see this exhibit through October 20th.