Hello, I'm Deanna Springer live at the Great Wisconsin Quilt
Show with insights to this year's events. I'm standing in
the vendor mall and we are joined by Catrina Sparkman. And
we are in the creator's Cottage booth.
We're excited to be here. >> So tell us what the Creator's
cottage is. >> So the creator's Cottage is a
maker space for artists and writers. We have a fully
equipped fiber arts studio space. We have a writers cafe.
So every day that our writers are there, our members can come.
There's always going to be a tea of the day because we have an on
site apothecary, and there's always going to be a writing
prompt of the day so they can plug in their laptops and sit
and write. So we have the Writers Cafe we have, and we
also even have overnight retreat accommodation for visiting
artists. all get started?
>> Oh, man. This is something I think this has been in the works
for a very long time. I've been an artist in this city for over
25 years, and there's so many, so many. Just one of that's a
continual need, you know, women artists, particularly women
artists of color, saying, you know, we need spaces where we
can gather, where we can create, where we can let our hair down,
where we can just be our creative, beautiful selves, you
know? So, so, yeah. So the opportunity came along and it
says, okay, let's do it. >> You're full of great ideas.
Catrina you were you talked about you live in the city.
We're talking about the city of Madison. That's right. And
that's where we recorded sewing with Nancy. Yes. PBS Wisconsin.
And you were a guest on Nancy's Corner with Nancy talking about
black threads. >> That's right. Right in 2015,
we started a group called Black Threads, and it was an amazing
group of seven women who were all artists, all
African-American, all artists. fiber artist, but everyone else
were, you know, we had a we had a songwriter, we had a poet, we
had a genealogist, we had an international painter, and
nobody quilts it. And I said, we're going to get together and
we're going to make a modern day quilting bee. And they said,
Catrina, we don't quilt. I'm like, it'll be fine. So we did.
We met for a year. We told these wonderful family stories and we
created these quilts and we turned it into a theatrical
exhibition called The Stock I come from.
years ago was that? >> Oh my gosh. Well, that was
2015. And where are we right now?
>> 2024? >> Yeah.
Sure. And you brought a special exhibit along with you to the
Great Wisconsin Quilt Show? Yes. Your Black Threads quilt exhibit
is here. It is here. >> Yes. The gang is getting back
together again, and they're very excited about it. Wonderful
>> So let's talk more about what's in your booth. What
offerings do you have in your booth today? Sure, sure.
>> So everything you see here in this booth is. These are all
things that have been made by artists at the creator's
cottage. So we have these handmade rugs here. These rugs
are all made from recycled materials, all of the quilts you
see here are made by our own artists. And this spring, we
launched our own printing press at the cottage. And so these all
of these journals and the books, those are all made and bound on
our new printing press. >> What a wide selection of
gifts and quilts and woven rugs. These are recycled t shirts and,
sweatshirts. Yes. They're really heavy duty. I could see the
family pet really loving this too. Oh my gosh, it's a
beautiful rug by the kitchen sink too.
>> It is. It's like a it's like a massage for your feet. It is.
>> It's very tactile. Quilters are very tactile and so I don't
mind handling the rugs. And they're all for sale. All for
sale. You can buy these at the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show at
the Creator's Cottage booth. Your booth number 631. And let's
talk about the quilts behind you.
we're calling these our legacy quilts. And this is part of our
program. So we have a lot of programs happening at the
cottage. As you could probably imagine. But one of our programs
is the memory collector's storytelling project, Fighting
Alzheimer's with Art. And this is our health equity program.
It's totally free for all of our participants in the program. And
it this is our program. We say this is our program for grown
women. So ages 50 and up are welcome. We do have some younger
women. We call them the under 40s and they do all of our
techniques. I love it, they do all of our technical stuff for
us. But anyway, as part of a fundraiser for this program,
because it is our program that's totally free for our
participants, we have these beautiful legacy quilts that one
of our members who is also, an amazing painter, Alicia Riel,
and she's the one that's in this particular in the center in the
center. Okay, she has teamed up with each of the women in the
collective to create these portraits with fabric that is
very meaningful to them. So all of this, all of the fabric that
is chosen here is meaningful to that particular woman. So people
have things that belong to their parents or, for instance,
Alicia's quilt, they're the gingham in the those were the
curtains in her childhood home. You know, I think Miss Edith has
some fabric from her mother's, you know, from her mother's. One
of her mother's favorite dresses woven together.
>> Yeah. And there's a story below the portrait as well. Each
quilt has a little story. >> Yeah. So what's important to
her? It's her grandchildren. And so she has all of her
grandchildren's initials on there. And then she's got a
beautiful poem about her grandchildren in there.
>> So amazing. Wonderful. Well, Catrina, I appreciate everything
you're doing and all that. The Creator's cottage is doing and
makers want to make, and you're bringing it all together. So we
appreciate you being at the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show and
sharing all of this with our attendees.
having us. >> You're so very welcome, and
thank you for tuning in and to learn more about this year's
event and next year's event, head over to Quilt show.com.