How Quilt City USA®
Murals Began
The Quilt City USA® Murals project is the brainchild of former Mayor Gayle Kaler, who saw this as an opportunity to enhance Paducah’s reputation as an international destination for quilters and fiber art enthusiasts.
“With the UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art designation, the quilt murals are a perfect opportunity to showcase how Paducah is a catalyst for connecting cultures through creativity. There’s no better vantage point for a 24/7 public art attraction than the 19-panel concrete floodwall outside the Convention Center, where quilters attend workshops with internationally celebrated instructors and visitors from across the globe are immersed in their craft. It’s what makes us who we are.” ~Gayle Kaler
The Muralists
There are 19 floodwall panels that provide space for 19 to 38 quilt images. Fourteen local artists participated in an audition process by preparing sample "maquettes" of their work. Under the direction of Lead Artist Char Downs, each of the artists painted a specified section of Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry's 1989 award winning quilt Corona II: Solar Eclipse on a canvas. Artists were required to color match the image of the quilt to the colors used on the canvas, and to create a painting that fooled the eye into seeing a fabric quilt.
Jurors Bonnie Browning, American Quilter’s Society Executive Show Director, and Paul Aho, Director of Paducah School of Art & Design, reviewed and scored the entries on March 7, 2017, at Pinecone Gallery. Four local artists were juried as the most qualified to paint the next four murals.
Murals are painted on pellon in the artist's studio and applied to the floodwall when complete. This painting process has proved to be long lasting and weather resistant. Since the mural is being produced in the artist's studio, chosen artists can work year round as opposed to painting outdoors directly on the concrete floodwall during optimal painting seasons. Also, using different artists for each mural, more than one mural can be produced at any time.
Paducah Quilt Murals, Inc. is passionate about using local artists. This project adds another level of economic sustainability to the many relocated artists who moved here in the early 2000 as part of the City's Artist Relocation Program. It also demonstrates to our young and emerging artists that Paducah is a community committed to the arts and their future.
Stefanie Graves of Cowango Studios recreated Melinda Bula's quilt “…and Our Flag was Still There!” in her Paducah studio prior to its unveiling on Veterans Day unveiling in 2020. This actual quilt, as well as Corona II: Solar Eclipse, are part of the National Quilt Museum Collection.
Tanya Neitzke, Painting & FYE Assistant Professor at WKCTC's Paducah School of Art & Design, is currently engaged in creating British denim artist Ian Berry's "The Cheyenne Has Gone."
