Above: from The Quilts of Gee’s Bend by William Arnett, Alivia Wardlaw, Jane Livingston, and John Beardsley; quilts by Loretta Pettway. Photograph by Abraham Rowe. The 2023 Project Threadways Symposium will be held April 20-22 in Florence, Alabama. ORIGINS AND VOICE OF THE 2023 PROJECT THREADWAYS SYMPOSIUM Last spring, a group gathered in Florence for the 2022 Project Threadways Symposium to explore textiles and activism. Among the presenters was Aleia Brown, an interdisciplinary scholar who studies ways that Black women—through collective making—have experimented with different models of freedom. Her talk drew on narratives from quilting cooperatives to show how Black...
Above: from Embroidery: Threads and Stories by Natalie Chanin, page 106-107; photo by Cliff Billingsley The April issue of Southern Living magazine includes an essay by Natalie titled, “How The Singing River Inspires The South’s Creativity.” Read the full article below, explore our #travel series on the Journal for more on The Shoals, and find upcoming events here. “How The Singing River Inspires The South’s Creativity” The Tennessee River runs right through the region of northwest Alabama known as The Shoals—encompassing Florence and the cities of Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. The river has shaped the landscape and the...
Pictured above, Embroidery: Threads and Stories, pages 74-75: (from left to right) Piney Creek, Tennessee River backwater, Limestone County, Alabama, photo by Abraham Rowe. Spiral screen print design, photo by Robert Rausch. County Road, Limestone County, Alabama, photo by Abraham Rowe. The Tennessee River has shaped the human experience in northwest Alabama for over 12,000 years. Native Americans gathered sustenance from the river’s waters in the form of fish, shellfish, and waterfowl. They moved further from the river’s banks during the seasonal floods and then moved closer to the river when the waters receded. They left behind huge shell mounds—evidence...
Photo above from Embroidery: Threads and Stories, pages 104-105 From Embroidery: Threads and Stories, by Natalie Chanin, page 102: The Tennessee River cuts a path right through the center of The Shoals—splitting Florence from the cities of Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. Before the construction of Wilson Dam as part of the National Defense Act of 1916, the river flowed wide and shallow, and was prone to flooding and rife with shoals. Muscle Shoals is named after one of these shallow shoals. Heading downstream, boats and rafts had to be carried with “muscle” over or around the obstacle. Below the...
Pictured above: Kinlock Falls, photographed by Abraham Rowe The landscape of the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area (MSNHA) moves from the flat valley floor of the Tennessee River to the hills of the Highland Rim and the Cumberland Plateau, creating a variety of hiking experiences. Many of our favorite sites—such as Bankhead National Forest—have rich cultural stories to learn. Bankhead National Forest also has an astonishing degree of biodiversity in plants, animals, and trees—a reminder that Alabama is one of the most biodiverse regions of the United States. Bankhead National Forest, known as the “land of a thousand waterfalls,” is...
Pictured above: A south-bound dirt road leading toward the swampy backwater and hidden landscapes of Mooresville, Alabama, photograph by Abraham Rowe The National Heritage Area program began in the 1980s and includes 55 National Heritage Areas today. The program is funded through the National Park Service and carries their mission outside of park boundaries into lived-in landscapes. In 2009, Congress designated the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area (MSNHA), recognizing the historical, cultural, and natural significance of the six counties of northwest Alabama. The MSNHA is housed at the University of North Alabama and partners with programs on campus as well...
Dianna Settles was born in Los Alamitos, California in 1989. She grew up in Blue Ridge, Georgia and received her BFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 2014. Settles currently resides on an urban farm in Atlanta, Georgia, where she lives and creates in the company of a large community and co-runs Hi-Lo Press, a print studio and art gallery. Settles has exhibited at Institute 193 in Lexington, KY, the High Museum in Atlanta, GA, the San Francisco Art Institute, and the Zuckerman Museum of Art in Kennesaw, GA, among others. This interview was conducted on the eve of her...
There are times when you meet someone and immediately think, “Oh, there you are. I’ve missed you.” You feel as if you’ve known that person forever: dreamed, traveled, laughed, cried, and grown up together. Such was my first conversation with April Gargiulo. Our talk meandered seamlessly between subjects such as the meaning of craft, how to run a business, books we’re reading, raising children, and, of course, skincare. April is the founder of, and creative force behind, Vintner’s Daughter. If you’ve not yet heard of April or experienced her brand, you need to know that her family’s background in producing...
