Alan Kolodny learned to crochet at a young age from his grandmother. As an Orthodox Jew, she would make his kippah (head covering) and tried to teach crocheting to Kolodny’s mother, but it never took. “My mother could not do it to save her life, so [my grandmother] figured she better teach me,” says Kolodny. […]
Quilter Janice Mitchell was born in Texas, and grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In junior high and high school, she took home economic courses where she was taught to sew clothes. She loved the possibilities of creating and decorating with fabrics far beyond dressmaking. In 1988 she moved to Mississippi to attend college and
Born on a small Tennessee farm in 1923, Larry Armstrong soon looked for a way to get out from behind his father’s mule and embarked on a life that has taken him all over the world. His experiences included running off to join the circus at a young age, spending time on the southern railroads
As far as he knows, Jackie Woods of Kilmichael is one of the two active chainsaw carvers in Mississippi. Originally from Webster County, Woods’ father was in the sawmill business for a time. But it was not until work took him to the Great Lakes region that he was exposed to artists who used chainsaws
Edna White has had a life full of different experiences. She has worked as a florist, a furrier (fur salesperson), a cook on a Mississippi River towboat, and many other jobs. She has always sewn and done different kinds of needlework in her spare time. In the last ten years, she has become very active
It was in shop class in high school in California that Terry Tjader first employed a lathe, turning table legs. His family moved to Minnesota his senior year. He majored in industrial education at the University of Minnesota. He was interested in furniture design and really hoped to become a shop teacher. However, the work
Norma Thompson is a Choctaw basketmaker who lives in the Conehatta community in Newton County (Conehatta is one of the communities that make up the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians Reservation). She carries on the tradition of making baskets from swamp cane that has been an important part of Choctaw culture for hundreds of years.
Frank Stewart comes from a long line of potters. Members of his family have been creating pottery in Winston County since his grandfather, Homer Wade Stewart, began the business in 1888. Frank grew up in the pottery shop, learning to throw pots from his father (Winford Stewart) and working to fill orders with his five
Prize-winning quilter Judy Spiers was born and raised in Marion County and lives there now, on the western edge of Foxworth. Her family tree is packed with musicians and artists, many of them painters. She also has a great-great-great-great-great grandmother whose quilt is in a museum in Jackson. Most of these ancestors were farmers, though
Susan Rogers is the youngest member of the Tutwiler Quilters. Born in 1977, she first learned to sew at the age of sixteen, when she enrolled in a class at the Tutwiler Community Education Center. After a little bit of trial and error, she was soon able to gain confidence in her craft and was