Fashioned for FLOTUS: Fussell to visit Columbus Museum to discuss making Michelle Obama’s quilt

Local quilt maker and arts advocate Cathy Fussell is set to speak at the Columbus Museum this week as a part of their Lecture Series.

Fussell will discuss her experience creating the “Apollo Revisited: Homage to Alma Woodsey Thomas,” a quilt for first lady Michelle Obama, and what it was like to attend the First Lady’s Luncheon last May.

Mercedes Parham, marketing and media director for the Columbus Museum, is looking forward to Fussell’s lecture this week.

“Cathy has been a quilter for nearly 50 years and a devoted arts advocate,” she said. “Her work and contributions to Columbus’ regional art communities will start some conversations that I hope will lend art appreciation to a broader audience.”

Fussell’s lecture is tied to the museum’s current exhibit entitled “And Still We Rise,” which focuses on black history. Parham said the lecture will further the exhibit’s reach.

“This gives us another opportunity to share the narrative of Columbus native artists who have represented us at national levels,” she said

Paraham said that Fussell’s quilt given to Obama at the First Lady’s Luncheon has a history with local ties.

“The quilt, ‘Apollo Revisited: Homage to Alma Woodsey Thomas,’ was made in honor of Alma Thomas, another Columbus native who rose to national recognition,” she said.

Thomas was born in 1891 in Columbus, and was a black painter and educator. In 2016, The Wall Street Journal described Thomas as “an underappreciated artist who immersed herself in a lifetime of learning and beauty.” She is known for her use of color and geometric shapes.

Thomas didn’t come into the spotlight until 2014 when Obama selected three of Thomas’ works for the White House. This event made Thomas the first female black artist to enter the White House Collection.

It wasn’t until two years later that Fussell was contacted about making a quilt inspired by Thomas’ work for the first lady. Fussell discussed this news on her personal website in 2016.

“I was asked, by Vivian Creighton Bishop, the wife of our U.S. Representative Sanford Bishop, to make an Alma Thomas-inspired quilt to be presented to the First Lady at the 2016 Congressional Club First Lady’s Luncheon, of which Mrs. Bishop was chair,” wrote Fussell.

The quilt is based on Thomas’ painting “Apollo Splashdown 1970,” which is an abstract painting of concentric circles of vividly colored rectangles emanating from a yellow center, with rings of blue, red, black, orange, aquamarine and other hues. Fussell was grateful for the request.

“To say I was honored to be able to do this is an understatement of enormous proportion,” she wrote in 2016. “I only hope that the First Lady likes the quilt, and that I have done honor to Alma Thomas and to our town of Columbus, Georgia,” she wrote.

The lecture will focus on the entire experience Fussell had during the process of creating the quilt. Parham said she expects the lecture to be well-received.

“Participants will get to peel back the layers of how this all came together,” she said.

Columbus Museum’s lecture series is made possible through a sponsorship by the 10”x10” Art for Education Fund. Although the cost of the lecture is free, participants can pre-order a $10 lunch by contacting the Columbus Museum by Monday. For more information, visit columbusmuseum.com.

This story was originally published November 11, 2017 at 9:30 PM with the headline "Fashioned for FLOTUS: Fussell to visit Columbus Museum to discuss making Michelle Obama’s quilt."