SEAMSIDE: Exploring the Inner Work of Textiles

Victoria Gertenbach and I sit down a year later to catch up on where her work has taken her since we last talked. Have you heard our original conversation? You can listen to it here

Support SEAMSIDE alum Lou Gardiner who been re-diagnosed recently with cancer. You can find her Gofundme page here.

In this conversation with quilter Coulter Fussell, we explore:

① role community plays in her work

② maintains hope in the face of conflict and turmoil

③ the South and family history

You can learn more about Coulter on her website and instagram.

⤷ Get your free trial to the THE QUILTY NOOK

⤷ Theme music: Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops

I have wanted to follow up with Maura ever since she first joined us on SOFT BULK. Her candor and generosity radiate easily in this conversation as we discuss:

① the balance of tensions between art-making and parenthood

② the work and writings of sculptor Anne Truitt

③ how to build a sustainable commission process for yourself

You can learn more about Maura on her website and instagram.

Beverly Smith catches us up with where her textile work has taken her in the last year since we talked. Have you heard our original conversation? You can listen to it here

Kathryn Greenwood Swanson is the owner of Swanson’s Fabric and purveyor of secondhand fabrics. In this conversation, we discuss:
① the role of the communal stashhouse in a community of fiber artists
② the shame so often associated with our fabric stashes
③ and how to start your own secondhand fabric store like Swanson’s Fabrics

You can also watch that episode of Good Morning America from 1999 that Kathryn appeared on here. It’s incredible to see just what a powerhouse Kathryn already was at 15 🙆‍♂️

You can learn more about Kathryn and Swanson’s Fabrics on instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

You can learn more about Kathryn and Swanson’s on instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

Emma Freeman catches us up with where her textile work has taken her in the last year since we talked. Have you heard our original conversation? You can listen to it here

In this bonus episode of SEAMSIDE, Sara Trail and I have a little surprise for you. After we’d stopped recording the conversation you just heard in episode 1, I asked Sara if she thought her mom, Kay Trail,— who’s obviously played a key role in her life— if her mom would be interested in talking with me a little bit. Without skipping a beat— and this probably comes as no surprise to you now— Sara had her mom on the phone, and though Sara has to run off to go to work, Kay and I chat for several more minutes. What you’re about to hear is the unedited conversation that I had with Kay Trail. I hope you enjoy.

Sara Trail, director of Social Justice Sewing Academy, shares her story of getting folks to make their first stitch. A big part of the trick she says is not teaching people HOW to sew, but rather teaching them WHY to sew: namely, to tell their own story.

SJSA can always use your help. Click here to learn more.

Nick D’Ornellas makes life-size screen prints of daily moments with his family around home. He then cuts the screen prints into thin strips and weaves them back together, distorting the original image, both sharing it with the public but also reserving the privacy of homelife.

In our conversation, we discuss:

1 the role of family in art

2 exhibiting your work as a way to connect with the viewer

3 using the white cube gallery space as a tool

HELPFUL LINKS ♡

⤷ Get the companion zine for this conversation here

⤷ Learn more about Nick’s work on his website

⤷ Learn more about the inner work of textiles in a supportive creative community, THE QUILTY NOOK

⤷ Theme music: Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops

Michael Sylvan Robinson is a textile artist and a long-time activist with Gays Against Guns. In this pared-down episode recorded days after the shooting in Buffalo, Sylvan offers some hard-won wisdom from his years of activism that I hope are both a balm and an encouragement to you in doing the good work that needs to be done. I’ll update this episode page soon with further details.