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Messenger photo by Dianne Garrett
Whitehall parent Charlotte Gladwell, left and Whitehall Yearling High School art teacher Kelly Solack stitch the community quilt that is being dedicated to the memory of librarian Carol Snowden. It will be on display at the Community Arts Festival March 19 in the high school auxiliary gym 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. |
Whitehall Yearling High School art instructor Kelly Solack, loves to quilt and teach. She also believes in bringing community together.
In January she started a new quilt project in the district, her fifth since 2004. This time she is not only involving students and teachers, but anyone who would like to take part in the project.
The quilt will be on display March 19 during the Community Art Fest, open to the public, in the WYHS alternative gymnasium 5:30-7:30 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to stop by and sew.
During the festival, the Ramettes, step team, theatre department and jazz ensemble will entertain. Also, art students will display mixed medium creations from ceramics to paintings and drawings.
The quilt is being dedicated to the memory of Carol Snowden, who recently died after a lengthy battle with cancer. Snowden was a well-loved children’s librarian at the Whitehall branch of Columbus Metropolitan Library.
Fellow teacher, Jane Moran, will be sewing on the binding. The "friendship" design by chosen by a vote through students and a web site.
In January the instructor delivered material pieces and instructions for putting a square together to Kae Avenue Elementary. Since that time, she has had so much participation, that the quilt became bigger than she anticipated. She took the quilt to Etna Road Elementary’s Winterfest, and asked attendees to help stitch.
On Feb. 12 Solack took the quilt and volunteers to Whitehall Manor where residents added their handiwork. They turned it into a little quilting bee party that delighted the seniors, probably bringing back many memories for some.
During parent-teacher conferences February 26 and 28 at WYHS, she again asked students, visitors, fellow teachers and a newspaper reporter to sit and sew a spell. The quilt was displayed on a table with needles and threads, and it didn’t matter if people were seasoned sewers or never sewed a stitch in their life.
Solack just wants the project to be a community-oriented work of art. She is keeping a sheet for names of everyone who has helped, even if they only made one little loop. Enthusiastic students sometimes stayed after school to sew.
Solack started in November with a core group making baby quilts. The teacher is working on her master’s degree in art education at Ohio State University, and this will be her thesis project.
