Blogging from Eurasia- The Alliance for American Quilts and Gee's Bend Quilts in Georgia, Armenia and Kazakhstan
2006
On her third trip to the Republic of Georgia, Karen Musgrave is continuing on her quest to revive quiltmaking in that country. Her amazing stories can be followed on The Alliance's exciting new blog (weblog) at
blog.allianceforamericanquilts.org/.
Karen Musgrave, a member of the board of The Alliance for American Quilts, is travelling this time with a small Gee's Bend quilt exhibition to Georgia, Armenia and Kazakhstan, all three former Soviet republics. Serendipity is always part of what makes those of us passionate about quilts keep going. News of Karen's energy and quiltmaking work with the women of Georgia spread throughout the region, resulting in the interest of two additional countries.
Also thanks to another Alliance board member, Harry Arnett of Tinwood Alliance - the force behind the Gee's Bend project -Karen was entrusted with a group of Gee's Bend quilts to create with the U.S. embassies and the quiltmakers an exhibition in the three countries. This part of her work began with a query on her first trip by our embassy in Georgia, asking Karen if she knew of any quilts like those of Gee's Bend and would she be able to put together some kind of exhibition for Black History Month. One thing led to another...
In Georgia, as a result of all of this quilt publicity, previously unknown historic and contemporary quilts are coming out of the woodwork. Karen's next goal is to bring an exhibition of the quilts from Georgia to the United States.
We don't know yet what Karen will both discover and inspire as she travels to the other two countries for the first time.
Karen Musgrave is a quiltmaker, teacher, lecturer, writer and co-chair of The Alliance's project Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories.
You can follow Karen's adventures, learn of her discoveries including quilts, and send her comments by visiting the Alliance's weblog at blog.allianceforamericanquilts.org/. She would love to hear from you. She returns to the U.S. on the 3rd of April.
###