Quilts and Barn Quilts - Mural Project 2025

Radiate Art Space murals are the result of a collaborative process. This year's theme of “Quilts and Barn Quilts” was met with creativity by many artists, including students from Richmond area school programs. The quilts are a vibrant addition of color to our Town Center building. We hope that the creation and viewing of the quilt murals evoke an appreciation of their beauty and perhaps even a sense of nostalgia for this time-tested craft.

Catherine Conant, Vivi Milles, Lila Candido & Lane Dicocco

**CC’s Quilt**
Designed by Catherine Claire Conant
CC took part in an afterschool arts and agriculture program learning about barn quilts. She was inspired to make this mural design because it reminded her of a checkerboard, but with soft, calm colors like the ones you see in ﬂowers. CC wanted it to feel peaceful and nice to look at, like a quiet moment in nature. She hopes it makes people feel calm and happy when they see it.

Sally Vargo Bailee & Montgomery-Noel Kyle Montgomery

**Sunﬂower**
Designed by Tim Schonholtz
This is an adaptation of a very popular, traditional and familiar barn quilt reminding us of the beauty of nature.

Kathryn Wysockey Johnson & Judy Bush

**Gee’s Bend quilt by Annie Mae Young, ( 1928-2013)**
Suggested by Kathryn Wysockey-Johnson. Kathryn’s ﬁrst experience with the captivating quilts of Gee’s Bend was at the exhibition at the Corcoran Museum of Art in Washington, DC, in 2004. She was studying sculpture and ceramics at the museum school, and was fortunate to spend her free time in the galleries. The bold, improvisational style of these quilts that used worn work clothes, such as denim pant legs, and ﬂour sacks, was like nothing Kathryn had seen before. She learned that the Gee’s Bend quilters are a group of African American women (and their ancestors) from a community on a deep bend in the Alabama River. The town has a population of 208 and began as the cotton plantation of Joseph Gee in 1816. Later it became a community on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement. These quilts are an historic and artistic legacy drawn from rural lives, that has been recognized nationally and internationally, and is in the permanent collection of more than 40 museums world-wide. Their use of color and asymmetry as well as the personal nature of their worn fabrics mesmerizes Kathryn.

Beth Whiting Bryn Hennessey & Chi Chi Barrett

**Blue Jay**
Suggested by Judy Bush
This is a very traditional and well loved barn quilt choice. The blue jay was chosen by the group from a whole ﬂock of colorful birds: blue jays, cardinals, blue birds, gold ﬁnches and chickadees.

Rachel Lohia, Darcie Rankin & Judy Bush

**Rainbow Star**
Designed by the Rankin Family
The Rankins have been lucky enough to work on several of the mural projects over the years. For them, this project is a chance to reﬂect on the values of our community and through shared art communicate things that they care about in a tangible and visible space on the Town Hall. Inclusivity and belonging are important messages and they wanted their quilt square to reﬂect this feeling through the use of rainbow color choices. We hope that this square will make visitors and members of our community feel that all are welcome.

Robin Hadden & Connie Carpenter

**Bright Star**
Designed by Robin Hadden
Robin has been enjoying the barn quilts on barns, garages, and houses in the Champlain Islands for several years. She got out a ruler and a box of colored pencils and tried her hand at designing one for her place in North Hero. The paint never made it to plywood until Radiate put out the call for designs! She likes the community nature of painting on the panels at the town hall and loves that fact that these beautiful works will be enjoyed by so many.

Judy Bush & Nate Kenney

**Log Cabin**
Suggested by Laura Brennan
This is a well loved traditional quilt pattern used by the Underground Railroad to denote a safe house along the journey. The center block is traditionally red to denote the hearth.

Deb Sharpe, Jen Kenney & Judy Bush

**Tree of Life**
Adapted and Designed by Deb Sharpe The Tree of Life represents unity and the idea that all things are connected. It's a symbol of nature's cycles, the changing seasons, and the continuous process of growth and renewal. The Tree of Life image appears in many cultures and spiritual traditions, often representing wisdom, growth, and resilience to the storms of life. Deb especially enjoyed when folks stopped to watch, chat, and observed the project in process.

Alison Lane, Lara Atkins & Chi Chi Barrett

**Flying Sailboats and Geese**
Suggested by Raechel Barone This is from a contemporary children’s book, “Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt”. Two competing groups make quilts (“Flying Geese” and “Sailboats”) for the county fair. On the way to the fair they have an accident and both quilts are partially ruined. They work quickly together and create one quilt from the two and win the blue ribbon for their effort.

Judy Bush & Deb Sharpe

**Contemporary Circles and Curves**
Suggested by Ellen Falsgraf
Ellen has never done any traditional quilting, but she has always admired quilts and now has a special appreciation for what goes into the making of a barn quilt. When she was looking for a quilt design she wanted to do something that was different from the angular geometric style in most

Christian Sealy, Sydney Sealy, Meg Freebern, Enoch Freebern, Linden O' Connor Juno Pfeil, Willow Pfeil, Maya Pfeil, Sally Vargo, Robin Hadden & Ellen Falsgraf

**Crazy Quilt**
Suggested by Ellen Falsgraf
The word "crazy" conjures many meanings—erratic, jumbled, insane, bizarre—which at ﬁrst makes sense when looking at the random patches of a late 1800s crazy quilt. Irregular shapes, haphazard fabrics, and meticulous embroidery compose these beautifully busy works. Historians are not sure of crazy quilts' precise beginnings, but they do agree that their popularity soared in the last quarter of the 1800s, becoming icons of the Victorian era. In truth, crazy quilts are far from erratic. These one-of-a- kind treasures are intentional statements reﬂecting a turning point in American history. People walking by were invited to help paint the crazy quilts and they used left over paint to complete quilt squares much like using leftover scraps of fabric to create a crazy quilt.

Show your support for this artwork by donating to Radiate Art Space!

Radiate Art Space is a 501 (c) (3) that relies on your support to produce this community artwork at no cost to taxpayers. Volunteers and artists freely give their time on this project, but your money will help pay for the paint and other supplies!

Donate to Radiate here!