Quilting Community (Winner of CFDA x Crystal Bridges Heartland Scholar Award)

Growing up in rural Appalachia is foundational to how I view and experience the world. I was raised in Berea, Kentucky, a working class rural town in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, a community with a vibrant arts, crafts, and story-telling culture. These garments were influenced most strongly by the traditions of quilting and woodworking. This collection and my perspective as a designer and person have been shaped by relationships with artists and people I grew up around, many of whom I got to know through my parents’ work as community organizers. This collection seeks to be a bridge between a passion for well crafted, intentional, and immediately functional clothing and the artistic, whimsical, and expressive attitude that typifies rural Appalachian art. These designs are crafted by my experience as a young Queer person raised in the rural South; they invite others to reckon with the complexities of the places we call home and the crucial work of quilting community.