![2009.07.Blog.Be Inspired008 2009.07.Blog.Be Inspired008](https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/2009.07.Blog.Be-Inspired008.jpg)
A few thousand years ago, the middle school principal here in Camden–Maria Libby–put out a call for artwork suggestions for the middle school (a little over a year ago it was). Among other things, she needed something big for a long, LARGE wall in a hallway below the big gym in the 7th/8th grade end of the school. My first idea, a seasonal series of panels about the area, was nixed as the kids had already painted something similar a few years before. Then inspiration hit…what about panels of people who inspire the kids…people from across time, around the world, all disciplines! So “Be Inspired” was born. I’m still totally amazed that she loves the idea of textile art, especially on such a big scale…way cool!
This picture is the modest beginning:![2009.07.Blog.Be Inspired004 2009.07.Blog.Be Inspired004](https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/2009.07.Blog.Be-Inspired004.jpg)
I dyed the “earth/sea” fabric (about 12 yards! enough for all six large panels plus one smaller panel) as well as the sky fabric. Each of the six panels will be 36 inches wide and about 50-56 inches long, with straight top, sides and undulating bottom edge. The seventh panel goes over a door in the middle of the wall and will read “Be Inspired!” or “Who Inspires You?” Then on the door I’ll make a poster that is a “key” to all the figures and places depicted on the panels. Overall, it will be 21 feet in length and about 4 1/2 feet tall!!!!
Next, after surveying the kids a year ago to find who inspires them most, Mrs. Libby and I selected a representative sampling of folks. The rules were famous more than 20 years ago, no naughty folks. In the end, we decided to make one exception: to include Barack Obama, since as the first non-white President of the US, he will clearly be a historic figure; plus, his inclusion dates the construction of the quilt(s) to 2009 and forward, which is kinda cool. By doing 20+ years ago, we avoided the sports or pop stars of the moment and confined it to truly historical figures. Here’s the tentative list for all six panels:
Panel 1:
Asia and Africa:
1. The Pyramid builders
2. Mother Theresa
3. Doctors (Medecins Sans Frontiers)
4. Jane Goodall
5. Gandhi
6. Nelson Mandela
7. Sir Edmund Hillary (might just do Everest w/ a small figure for that one)
Panels 2, 3 and 4:
The Americas
1. Martin Luther King
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. Rosa Parks
4. Jackie Robinson
5. Harriet Tubman
6. The astronauts
7. John F. Kennedy
8. Amelia Ehrhart (w/biplane for the Wright Bros)
9. Thomas Jefferson
10. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
11. The Incas / Machu Picchu
12. Sacajawea
13. Lucas / Spielberg / represented by R2d2 and 3CPO if they agree
14. ?? Lucille Ball (may be a licensing / $$ / copyright problem)
15. Obama
16. Teachers
Panels 5 and 6:
1. The Beatles
2. Albert Einstein
3. Beethoven
4. Anne Frank
5. Leonardo da Vinci’s vitruvian man
6. The Cave Paintings
7. Engineers (bridges, ships buildings)–Eiffel Tower?
8. The Spanish and Portuguese explorers–ships
9. Jacques Cousteau and/or the Calypso
10. Shakespeare
This first panel includes Sacajawea, Martin Luther King (the clear leader in voting by the kids), Jackie Robinson, Barack Obama, teachers, and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Chamberlain led the 20th Maine at the Battle of Gettysburg, where he and his troops played a pivotal role in the Union victory; he later became a governor and senator for Maine, president of Bowdoin college (in Brunswick, Maine). So he’s our Maine representative…. Here’s the somewhat “iffy” looking beginning…with the tracings/drawings on paper, pinned to the background. My first set of pin-ups were too small, so I enlarged them all on my all-in-one-printer until I thought they filled the quilt nicely.
![2009.07.Blog.Be Inspired005 2009.07.Blog.Be Inspired005](https://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/2009.07.Blog.Be-Inspired005.jpg)
At the top is the first person I made, Sacajawea. There are no known images of her, so this is based on a sculpture (in Iowa? or was it Idaho?). She looked a little lonely, so I added mountains.
The hard part is funding. The school and schoolkids raised enough to cover about one panel (I’m paid, as well as material costs), but the local quilt guild, The Pine Tree Quilt Guild turned down my request for funding (apparently the fact that I’m to be paid is a problem, tho that wasn’t clear in the guidelines… I said I’d use the funds only for materials, but I guess it just didn’t fit the criteria…however, the sweet soul who chairs the panel deciding what fit felt so strongly about the project, she sent a PERSONAL check / donation!!!!!! Thank you!). Anyway, I’m hoping that once this first piece is done, we’ll be able to generate interest and donations to cover the rest of the project.
Postings here will be scarce for a couple days, as I said I’d have this quilt DONE to enter in Maine Quilts…. it must be delivered on July 21, and as of this moment I am still making the fusible appliques. EEEEEEK! Gotta go quilt!