Students Stitch “Blessing” for Quilter
By Evie Maddox Email
Down a long stretch of Highway 14 near Waverly, Ala., a dirt driveway leads up to a cluttered yard. On the left side of this yard, the remnants of a home cover the ground like a puddle of old wood. Nearby a garden, filled with violet flowers and vegetables seems lonely.
This was the home place of 73-year-old Mozell Benson, one she had to leave as “the wind came and took it all down.”
On the right side sits a brand new wooden building that looks like it doesn’t belong. It isn’t a home, but a modern building designed to honor an old Southern art. It is a quilting studio.
Benson will be able to go home soon, bringing her artistic talent back to the community where she grew up. When she comes home, she will work and teach others in the new studio that Benson calls calls “a blessing.”
Benson’s quilts have been displayed at The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art in Auburn and even The Smithsonian. She worried that the art of quilting was a treasure that was being lost. and dreamed of passing along the tradition to younger generations.
She said she learned how to quilt when she was a child and had nothing to do. She doesn’t use patterns like most quilters, but pieces together fabrics however she wants.
“Back then, everybody was quilting. While my mom and my grandma would sit and quilt, me and my sisters were under the quilt playing. One day, mama handed us the needles and said ‘It’s time for y’all to learn’,” Benson said.
Learning by Doing
The idea for a quilting studio came about in the fall of 2005 after Benson spoke at a seminar for Auburn University architecture professor Magdalena Garmaz and mentioned her dream of having a place where she could teach children how to quilt. Garmaz mentioned this idea to a fellow architecture professor Sheri Schumacher, and the wheels started turning.
“I was flabbergasted when Magdalena told me about this idea,” Benson excitedly said.
Between January and May, while teaching other classes, Garmaz and Schumacher wrote many grants to get money for this project. Most of the $11,000 donated was from the Auburn University Outreach Program.
The idea for the project was publicly announced to the summer design-build students, and first-year architecture students who studied quilt designs and began designing models for the studio. The next semester, fall of 2006, third-year architecture students took those ideas and worked with the budget of $11,000 to make the final design. Then the students secured materials through donations and discounts on other materials.
“Mrs. Benson participated on the critiques and was really an important voice in the design of the studio. She was overwhelmingly supportive of their [students] creativity and expertise in architecture,” Schumacher said.
The deadline for the studio was set for December 2006 but wasn’t met because of various reasons including the timing of donations, the students’ schedules and even the weather. So the project was continued to one of Schumacher’s studios, which included fourth-year architecture students.
Along with their time, the students did many other things for the studio. Groups of students worked on graphic designs and a video about the studio. There was even a publication on the studio, which was sent out all the way to the New York Times and even to Oprah.
“The students were very instrumental in obtaining materials. They got free toilets from Lowe’s and discount lumber from Spencer Lumber Company. We had individual donations from carpet designer David Oakey, and Todd and Elizabeth White donated their old home windows,” said Schumacher.
Students had different jobs like handling the donations, obtaining the materials, transporting the materials and working on the studio itself.
“We spent about half the semester working on it,” said Tyler Broome, a fourth- year architecture student in Schumacher’s studio. “And I think the bathroom is the best part of the entire thing because I did it.”
Schumacher’s students worked on the interior of the building, which includes a bathroom, shelves covering two walls to hold fabrics and materials, storage space and tables to showcase Benson’s quilts.
The studio took eight weeks longer than expected and opened March 7, 2007, to a full crowd.
The commitment and insight the students have contributed has been a memorable part of this experience for Schumacher. “The students have poured their heart and soul and every ounce of creative energy into the project and that gives me great joy,” said Schumacher.
“I don’t know how to express how I feel about it all. I’m amazed, happy, jubilant, and beside myself with joy,” Benson said.
Now Benson has a place of her own to teach “anybody who wants to learn” her passion. The best part is that the studio is located on the same land that Benson has known all her life.
“I have learned so much from Mozell Benson, a woman of great wisdom and experience, about the world, people, gardening, about economy of means. Not just about quilting. And I think the project wouldn’t be the same without her.” Schumacher said.
“I feel like this is the least I can do. She gives quilts to everyone as gifts. My gift to her is helping build a place so she can make her quilts,” Broome said.
“I’ve been blessed with this craft, and my blessings to other people are my quilts,” Benson said.
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Last updated May 03, 2007