Hard: Strokes of Distinction

There is a unique art exhibit currently showing at the Arts Council (311 South Main Street) in Harrisonburg, VA. It is called “Strokes of Distinction” and spotlights the experience of having had a stroke. My piece is called “Hard.” Here’s the story:

Dorothy was a young mother when she learned to quilt, which she did for the next 50 years. I met her when she was 77 and lived in the assisted living facility into which I moved my father. Whenever I visited Dad, I found Dorothy in one of the day rooms or on the patio with an oval quilt frame on her lap. She cheerfully stitched quilt after quilt as she chatted with anyone around.

Dorothy missed the big birthday party we had for my father when he turned 90. She had suffered a stroke and was in the hospital. When I returned to the assisted living several months later her gross coordination was good but her vocabulary was stripped to basics and her sentences truncated. Everything, she now said, was “Hard. Hard.”

The most striking consequence of Dorothy’s stroke was that she could no longer quilt. She could hold the frame but the stitches did not come. She sat with a half-completed quilt on her lap and whispered, “Hard.” Dorothy’s brain had forgotten how to work it through the layers of fabric and batting.

For me, Dorothy exemplified the old adage “When life gives you scraps, make quilts.” You can see from the photos how stoneware “quilt squares” make the make the quilt “hard.” I encourage everyone to visit the exhibit. From August 5^th until Sept. 1^st, it will be relocated to Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC), Park Gables art gallery space.