THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 18, 1996 TAG: 9605180291
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: POPLAR BRANCH LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
Hundreds of stories have been shared this month at Griggs Elementary School, but none were shared with words.
The tales were told on fabric and paper quilts, and scattered around the Poplar Branch school's foyer, commons area and media center.
Days to decades old, the quilts pay homage to the 57-year-old woman who brought an already tight community even closer together - a woman who provided people with an opportunity to learn about their neighbors.
Asheville's Norma Bradley spent three weeks as an artist-in-residence at Griggs School - one of 25 schools statewide involved in a pilot program called A+ Schools, where the arts are integrated throughout the curriculum. The program is a public-private venture that now is in jeopardy because of funding problems.
Bradley's final day was Friday.
``Isn't it amazing?'' she said as she gazed upon more than a dozen quilts, all with different patterns, arranged throughout the media center.
``I think this is the perfect place to display them because every quilt tells a story,'' she said.
They were collected with the help of librarian Mary Simmons, who was host to Bradley during her visit.
``I think the community's really enjoyed bringing in their quilts,'' Simmons said.
One quilt, with a Dresden star pattern, was recently created at the media center by a group of local quilters, who talked to children while they worked.
Outside the atrium-like library, Matisse-inspired paper quilts, assembled by each of the school's 24 classes, K-6, were displayed.
Students constructed the quilts after Bradley showed slides on the art of quilting.
Bradley put a new twist on the art form 10 years ago when she decided to protest a proposed nuclear waste dump in her adopted home of Sandy Mush, in the mountains west of Asheville.
The petite mother of three, who grew up in a New York tenement, had moved with her husband to North Carolina for serenity and a strong sense of community.
Bradley wanted to draw attention to the impact a radioactive trash dump would have on the bucolic Buncombe County community, by some way other than posters or rallies.
That's how the earth quilt, which Bradley is known for in North Carolina, was created.
Bradley and her neighbors gathered natural materials - like soils, sticks and flowers - to create a formal garden resembling traditional quilt designs.
Sandy Mush was spared the nuclear waste site, and Bradley has since traveled throughout the state helping define communities through earth quilts.
One such quilt was done several years ago - a ``Cracker Quilt'' on Ocracoke Island.
A giant fish modeled after a native quilting pattern was created by the Ocracoke School using oxalis, pine cones, red pansies, marl, shells, lavender, verbena and fall crocus.
``They wanted me to do an earth quilt here, but really I'm having a lot more fun with this,'' Bradley said of her Griggs trip.
The Griggs children's carefully constructed squares have titles like ``Eyes of the World,'' ``Stuff'' and ``Death,'' and offer glimpses of what it's like growing up in Currituck County.
The most touching project stands on an easel at the main entrance. Squares done by ``special-needs'' students express the fear and frustrations of homelessness, abandonment and parental alcoholism.
``I am just so touched by this,'' Bradley said while admiring the work and creators' candor.
Bradley's visit to Griggs was made possible by a grant from the former Northeast Technical Training Center in Williamston, now known as the Regional Education Service Alliance.
``I love working in an A+ school because the teachers are beginning to use their own creativity,'' Bradley said.
Lisa Doxey, Griggs' full-time art instructor, was glad to have Bradley on board.
``It's good to have some new blood,'' she said during a fifth-grade quilting session.
``I'm amazed at what they've come up with, and I think it's given them a refresher course in creativity,'' Doxey said of the students.
Quilting is generally associated with adults. But it can be a strong tool for younger people, too, Bradley said.
``It connects them to history, and that gives us a sense of rootedness and stability, which children don't have today,'' she said.
``I think it helps fill a social need - a personal need to connect us to history and to ourselves,'' she added.
Quilting is ``in'' again, though Bradley insists it was never out of style, just out of sight.
``It's just that we're noticing it again, particularly in this part of the state,'' she said. ``I'm amazed at how many people I see quilting in tiny buildings, churches, meeting rooms, old schools. And in their homes, too, on a daily basis.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DREW WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot
Griggs Elementary School students gather recently to work on a paper
quilt. The three-week project, which ended Friday, was part of a
pilot program called A+ Schools that aims to integrate arts into the
school curriculum. Griggs is one of 25 state schools participating
in the program.
by CNB