March Quilts photo by Jared RaglandOn Friday, Jan. 9, new community sewing days will begin for a new collaborative partnership among the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Department of Art and Art History, ArtPlay, and Bib & Tucker Sew-Op.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march, Bib & Tucker Sew-Op — alongside community partners including the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and Desert Island Supply Co. — has created “The March Quilts: A Community Project.” See details about the project on the group’s Facebook page.
Throughout January and February, volunteers are invited to participate in open sewing sessions and create 7-inch quilt blocks, which will be used to construct large, commemorative narrative quilts. In March, the quilts will be exhibited in Selma and Montgomery during the 50th anniversary observance and then return to Birmingham for a special celebration.
UAB art major Jonathan Niega of Moody designed the project logo and all collateral materials. Niega is a student in UAB Associate Professor of Graphic Design Doug Barrett’s Bloom Studio and is involved in Medium: The UAB Art Club. Other art club members have participated in the project, and the art club will host Bib & Tucker Sew-Op director and ArtPlay teaching artist Lillis Taylor on Feb. 4.
All UAB Department of Art and Art History sewing days will take place in its classrooms upstairs in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences’ Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts Room 260, 1221 10th Ave. South. For more information or to donate fabric or materials to The March Quilts project, facilitate an open sewing session, or volunteer at upcoming sewing sessions, contact DAAH Media and Outreach Coordinator Jared Ragland at raglandj@uab.edu.
The schedule of sewing days:
- Friday, Jan. 9, 4-7 p.m., at ArtPlay, 1006 19th St. South
- Saturday, Jan. 10, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., UAB Department of Art and Art History, Room 260 at AEIVA, 1221 10th Ave. South
- Sunday, Jan. 18, 1-3 p.m., at Birmingham Museum of Art, 2000 Reverend Abraham Woods Jr. Blvd.
- Monday, Jan. 19, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., UAB Department of Art and Art History, room 260 at AEIVA
- Friday, Jan. 30, 4-7 p.m., at ArtPlay
- Wednesday, Feb. 4, 7-9 p.m., UAB Department of Art and Art History, room 260 at AEIVA
- Thursday, Feb. 5, 5:30-8 p.m., at Birmingham Museum of Art
- Friday, Feb. 6, 4-7 p.m., UAB Department of Art and Art History, room 260 at AEIVA
- Saturday, Feb. 7, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., UAB Department of Art and Art History, room 260 at AEIVA
- Tuesday, Feb. 17, 4-6 p.m., at DISCO, 5500 First Ave. North
- Sunday, Feb. 22, 1-3 p.m., at Birmingham Museum of Art