Story Quilts: A Touring Exhibition at Wave Pool Gallery

Learning Through Art, Inc., invites the community to gather for an Opening Reception – this time in recognition and celebration of the Story Quilts: Touring Exhibition’s extended stay at Wave Pool: A Contemporary Art Fulfillment Center, in Camp Washington!

On Saturday, January 13, 2024, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., you are invited to join LTA, their partners, sponsors, and contributing community artists at Wavepool, in Camp Washington, to view the largest number of our finished community Story Quilts ever exhibited together in fellowship with your Cincinnati-area neighbors.

Tasty treats and libations will be served next door to Wavepool at The Welcome Project – whose mission is to “empower Cincinnati’s refugee and immigrant population while connecting, assisting, and inspiring all through art and food.”

Learning Through Art’s Co-Founder and CEO Kathy Wade shares that “Wavepool and The Welcome Project are a perfect partnership with LTA for this special exhibition. Their locations have offered an ideal location for us all to share in the moving work and the beauty of the Story Quilts that have been created by our community. These warm and inviting works of art speak volumes about our individual truths as well as our shared experiences. What you will see is going to move you!”

Story Quilts have been created across the Cincinnati area over the course of the last two-and-a-half years – since the spring of 2021 – during small-group sessions across Cincinnati neighborhoods where community participants shared their truths in environments that promoted healing and restoration. During truth-telling, participants used various tools to create unique designs on quilt squares that were later joined into inspired community quilts, including a quilt that was created at the Findlay Market Night Market in July of 2023, and later presented to Little Amal as she took her rest at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center during Cincinnati’s Walk With Amal on September 29, 2023, presented in partnership with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra.

“We are so honored to be sharing this extraordinary collection of quilt art, which was created through the efforts of our many facilitators, partners, sponsors, educators, and neighbors,” shared Learning Through Art, Inc. Operations Manager, Kelly Asbury.

The Story Quilts Exhibition will remain at the Wave Pool Gallery from Saturday, January 13, to Saturday, March 2. This exhibition will feature a ceremonious closing whereby all of the Community Conversation constituents and partners will be invited to receive the completed quilts created at their respective hosting sites. During that closing on March 2, each quilt will be gifted to the organization’s representative in attendance, to return to its place of origin in order to hold space for and continue the conversations of our truths and reconciliation.

Learning Through Art, Inc. first organized Story Quilts Community Conversations in 2021 as part of a regional and national truth and reconciliation program in partnership with the Center for Community Resilience at The George Washington University. Community Conversation participants are citizens and neighbors from Cincinnati and beyond who join in a facilitated discussion, share their truths on systemic racism, and propose solutions that we must all seek for reconciliation.

Join us in celebrating our community patchwork quilts for resilience!