On the trail: Building barn quilts

The Sampson County Art Council’s special program Artists in the Schools concluded with a visit by Virginia Maier, who brought her talents to Roseboro-Salemburg Middle School last week.

Maier was with the young Leopards throughout the entire week as they worked toward creating barn quilts. Art teacher Rebecca Wolf’s art classroom was filled with the smell of fresh paint as her students worked diligently to complete their projects. They were working hard and with good reason as their projects weren’t solely for learning, as all 90-plus quilts are expected to be featured as part of the Sampson County Barn Quilt Trail.

Growing the trail has been a long running goal of Sampson County Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Executive Director Sheila Barefoot. She visited the school during the week as well, sharing details of how important the students’ work will be in helping her achieve that goal.

“As many know, Sampson County, we’re the barn quilt capital of North Carolina and we’re trademarked by the US Patent Office,” she said. “Currently, right now, we have a little over 180 barn quilts that are on the Sampson County Barn Quilt Trail.”

“Miss Rebecca reached out to me because she knew we had the trail and asked if we displayed the barn quilts that the kids are doing and asked would that go towards being recognized on the trail,” Barefoot said.

Unfortunately, they wouldn’t count due to some stipulations, but Barefoot said that didn’t stop Wolf from trying to make it happen, and they ultimately may be able to include them with the right approvals.

“When I told her that, she got up with the mayor and the mayor has agreed to find spots for them at the community garden,” Barefoot said. “They are going to display all 90-plus barn quilts in Roseboro downtown so that’s going to be 90-plus added to our trail.”

“I’m so excited about that because I wanted to reach the 200-plus mark,” Barefoot continued. “As I mentioned earlier, Sampson is patented as the barn quilt capital of North Carolina and we’re trademark for that. But, I also want Sampson County to be officially known and recognized as being the barn quilt capital of North Carolina. That’s my ultimate goal and this would definitely get us well on our way.”

“In doing that, I have to get our North Carolina Congress involved,” she added. “I briefly spoke with the senator that represents Sampson County and he told me, a good number would be over 200 for him to try to work to get that accomplished.”

This is where Maier’s expertise came in and part of why she was asked to visit Sampson as one of the artists in the schools.

Maier is an artist and art teacher living in North Carolina. She graduated with a B.A. in Art Education from the University of Arizona. She has a passion for teaching and using art as a way to connect the community. She has worked with diverse populations and age ranges, from infants to the elderly. She produces her own artwork and has exhibited in several local galleries and craft markets as well as participating in community art projects.

She shared her thoughts on being able to be a part of Artists in the Schools and helping the students with their very important community project.

“I do artists in residency programs, mostly in Wake County, because I live in Garner, so I work a lot in Wake and Johnston County through the United Arts Council,” she said. “This is a new program for me and I did not realize this, but when Kara Donatelli (executive director of Sampson Arts Council) invited me, she said this is the barn quilt capital of North Carolina. I didn’t know that.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to be helping them out with this amazing community project,” she said. “There’s a lot of publicity coming around this which is important for an artist and it’s all just very exciting. I’m hoping that I can do some more business with everybody here because I’m really excited about this project. I really appreciate it, like it and I want to continue adding to the history of it with this community.”

For Wolf, this was not only a great sense of collaboration but an excellent opportunity for her students to experience what it means to be taken seriously as an artist.

“I think it’s been great because we’ve had a lot of collaboration coming from all different sides to make this happen,” she said. “We’ve had the Arts Council coming to help us, Virginia, she’s driven from Garner to come help us, the Mayor of Roseboro was here and also Sheila Barefoot — each pitched in to make it all happen. It’s taken a lot of people coming together to give the kids this opportunity. I’m glad I could make this happen for them as well.”

”I think it’s great they have other artists to come show them that you can do something different, professionals, other than what you normally see around here,” Wolf said. “I think it’s great, also, that they see artists besides just me, which I think will have a big impact on them. I say that because this’ll help them take themselves seriously as an artists. They need to experience that so they can see art isn’t just something to do for fun.”

Barefoot also made a request from the community to help her achieve her goal. For anyone that may have a barn quilt on display that isn’t part of the trail Barefoot said reach out to her. She can be reached by phone at 910-592-2557 or by email at sbarefoot@visitsampsonnc.com.