My public artwork “Living Quilt for Sojourner Truth” was installed on Saturday, Nov. 21, at 2 pm, in Sojourner Truth Community Garden, 7365 Gloria Drive, Sacramento, California. This art installation consists of a “living quilt” of 20 20-inch handmade paper quilt squares in the North Star pattern with seeds for wildflowers in the pulp in the same colors and pattern. Over time the “quilt” will dissolve into compost and the seeds sprout and grow into a living blooming bed of wildflowers. The installation is placed on a raised bed with a headboard and footboard woven of trimmed branches and local grape vines. The installation ceremony included participation by a small mask-wearing and socially-distanced group of local officials and volunteers who each laid down a square of the quilt. Attendees include Mayor of Sacramento Darrell Steinberg, Councilman for District 7 Rick Jennings, Parks Commissioner for District 7 Devin Lavelle and Shannon Brown, Youth, Parks and Community Enrichment Assistant Director. Melissa Cirone, City of Sacramento Office of Arts & Culture Program Manager gave an introduction to the City’s 2020 Artist in Residency Program and introduced the speakers. For more information about the City of Sacramento 2020 Artist in Residency Program: https://arts.cityofsacramento.org/Programs/Sacramento-AIR

At the ceremony on Saturday afternoon, I gave a short presentation about my art project and how it connects to Sojourner Truth, a former slave and abolitionist as well as a suffragist. Then the participants helped to lay down the quilt squares in the prepared “bed.”

Check back here often to see how the “quilt” changes over time, and we hope the first blooms will appear about early March 2021.

Here are some photos taken by my husband Timothy S. Allen, one showing the finished art installation and one showing me ready to stake down one of the quilt blocks.