The Quilt Alliance is sad to learn of the passing of Bernard L. Herman, professor, writer, folklorist, and early Quilt Alliance board member. Bernie was one of the first champions of the Quilt Alliance (then called the Alliance for American Quilts) and served on the task force that developed the Quilters’ Save Our Stories (QSOS) project in 1999, animated by the question ‘if this quilt could talk, what would it say?’.  Georgia Bonesteel, interviewer Karen Musgrave, and Bernie Herman at a QSOS training, 1999 Bernie conducted some of the earliest QSOS interviews, including Jean Ray Laury, Ellen Danforth, and Valerie Goodwin. He also conducted more than 30 research interviews with quilters in Gee’s Bend, Alabama, for his ongoing writing about the quiltmaking tradition in the area, including an essay in the book Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt that accompanied the groundbreaking exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Listen to Bernie’s thoughtful 2006 interview with Jette Clover here. Bernie was endlessly curious about things, whether it was cataloging his fig library, championing quilts and their makers, or rebuilding the oyster population near his family home on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Bernie photographing quiltmaker Darlene Christopherson for her QSOS interview, 2000 Bernie’s death is a loss for the folklore, material culture and foodways academic communities, but it is also a personal one. I met Bernie in 2009, when I was an undergraduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill. I had signed up for a class called ‘Visual Culture’ on a whim – it covered everything from birthday cakes to Brazilian graffiti, with a healthy dose of critical theory and jargon. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what he was talking about half the time, but I loved it. I’d never considered that ordinary things could deserve such thoughtful analysis. The fourth week of class was dedicated to quilts, spotlighting the Sunbonnet Sue pattern and the satirical quilt ‘The Sun Sets on Sunbonnet Sue’. When he offered a class the following semester called “The Art of the Quilt”, I signed up. I was hooked on quilts, making my very first quilt in lieu of a term paper for the class. Bernie suggested I look into an organization he was part of – the Quilt Alliance – as I conducted research for my senior thesis about contemporary quiltmaking.  Fifteen years later (thirteen of them as the Quilt Alliance’s oral history project manager), I’m still hooked on quilts! Bernie’s infectious enthusiasm for everyday and overlooked objects, as well as the stories of people who make them, continues to be a guidepost for the Alliance’s work documenting and preserving quilt history.  –Emma Parker, QA Project…

The quilting community lost a bright light this month. Artist Carole Lyles Shaw passed away on August 4, 2024. Carole was a vibrant modern quilter and a beloved teacher and community leader. She was an inspiring role model to so many quilters and did an excellent job of documenting her work, her process, and her life. Carole was a longtime Quilt Alliance member who participated in many of our projects. Volunteer Karen Musgrave interviewed Carole for the Quilters’ Save Our Stories (QSOS) oral history project in 2009. She was interviewed again by QA Project Manager Emma Parker in 2023. https://youtu.be/ryCAMotosts?feature=shared https://youtu.be/Nq1a8qJuo34?si=MEaXAEYsrPBF73A5 In 2019 Carole spoke to Frances O’Roark Dowell and led viewers on a tour of her studio for the QA’s StoryBee web show. https://youtu.be/ejISlsjjGT4 Carole was a tech-savvy creator and recorded a Go Tell It video last year about a memorial quilt she made in tribute to her aunt Dorothy. https://youtu.be/G9zZ7KnD430?feature=shared We welcome your remembrances of Carole on this post.  …