Cuyahoga Valley Forest Spirit

The Falls at Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Cuyahoga Valley National Park, located in Ohio, invites teaching artists to develop arts activities that connect with the Park Association's interdisciplinary environmental education curriculum. Artists live in a cottage in the forest for 6-8 weeks and besides teaching, have time to work on personal art projects. In 2001, I accepted the invitation and enjoyed the end of summer, fall and the beginning of winter. 

The children and I created a narrative, mural quilt depicting Ohio environments from the early 1800’s through present time; we wrote theater pieces that documented Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, and created structures in the forest using only material that had fallen to the forest floor. To see more, click images below.  

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staff member participating in quilt workshop

building structures in the forest

student forest structure

the quilt created by forest rangers

student forest sculpture

student forest sculpture

While I was there, the environment inspired me to create a quilt titled "Cuyahoga Forest Spirit." The surface design was created using a technique I call abstract positioning. It is the same technique used in Bebop in the Small of Her Back.

Other techniques include machine quilting, machine embroidery, beadwork, and stamping. Materials include cotton and synthetic fabrics, found objects, wood, paint, glitter, beads, sequins, and threads.

The stick included at the top of the quilt was waiting for me one morning on the steps when I went outside to drink my coffee. A gift.

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Our Name Is Memory is a reissue of my collection of poems (first published in 2013 as Wild Howling Woman). The new and improved second edition is available here.

I decided to use Cuyahoga Forest Spirit as the cover, and with a little manipulation with filters came up with the following image.

Purchase Our Name Is Memory here.