Interview with Linda Cooper, February 14, 2008

Partial Transcript: This is Karen Musgrave. I am conducting a Quilters' S.O.S. - Save our Stories interview with Linda Cooper. Today's date is February 14th, 2008. It is 12:05 in the afternoon, and Linda is in Burke, Virginia, and I'm in Naperville, Illinois, so we are conducting this interview by telephone.

Segment Synopsis: Cooper says she found out about the project by chance. Since both her mother and grandmother had Alzheimer's, she decided to make a quilt. She feels that, in comparison to some of the other quilts, hers is understated. Copper describes the quilt in more detail. It includes images of day lilies, which both her mother and grandmother liked. Cooper also drew on her background in neurophysiology to represent nerve cells and amyloid plaques with beading and stitching.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece; Ami Simms; Embellishment techniques; Fading Memories; Family; G Street Fabrics; Phil Beaver; Quilt design; Sue Nickels; Techniques

Partial Transcript: So, how did you feel when your quilt got accepted into the exhibition?

Segment Synopsis: Cooper describes herself as amazed and pleased when her quilt was accepted into the exhibition. Having the quilt included in the exhibition led to other opportunities for Cooper, like teaching workshops. She was also pleased to have her name appear in the and share her family's history of Alzheimer's disease. Cooper does not know what she will do with the quilt when she gets it back, but she will be glad if it continues to travel with the exhibition. She had trouble recording her artist's statement, both for technological reasons and because she left out part of the statement. She found it difficult to listen to all of the artists' statements, because they were all so emotional, but Cooper enjoyed looking through the exhibition book.

Keywords: Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece; Ami Simms; Artist statement; Quilt Purpose - Exhibition; Quilt shows/exhibitions; Teaching quiltmaking

Partial Transcript: Have you seen the exhibition?

Segment Synopsis: Cooper was a white glove volunteer when the exhibit was in Hampton. She says that seeing the quilts in person is a different experience than seeing them in the CD or the book. In passing, she mentions her fear of getting Alzheimer's. When asked about her favorite quilt in the exhibit, Cooper mentioned "That Heart One," which Musgrave identifies as being made by Liz Kettle. She mentions the imagery in several other quilts and adds that she also likes Ami Simms' quilt. Cooper describes other people's reactions to the exhibit.

Keywords: Ami Simms; Family; Liz Kettle; Mothers; Quilt shows/exhibitions

Partial Transcript: So tell me about your interest in making quilts.

Segment Synopsis: Cooper says that she had little exposure to quilts in early life. After she moved to her current location, she found a Quilters Newsletter Magazine in the local library. She then read all the old copies the library had archived, as well as a lot of books donated by the local quilt guild. She made a quilt after that and later joined the quilt guild. Cooper works part-time, which frees up time for quilting. How much time she spends varies, but at the time of the interview she is working on a project that needs to be finished soon, so she has been quilting five to six hours per day.

Keywords: Fabric - painted; Quilt guild; Quilt guilds; Quilters Newsletter Magazine; Time management

Partial Transcript: So, is "Fading Memories" typical of your work?

Segment Synopsis: "Fading Memories" is typical of Cooper's latest work. She learned a "very wet method" of painting fabric from Phil Beaver. Laura Cater Woods suggested using her painted pieces for the quilt background. Cooper describes Beaver's techniques, her own adaptations, and her method of making flowers in some detail. Cooper has a large bedroom where her studio is. She has a sewing machine and a large fabric stash, including pieces she has painted, dyed, or marbled. Her favorite parts of quiltmaking are the design and color, but she likes most aspects of quilting, except for hand piecing. She used to not like binding, but Cooper isn't as bothered by it now.

Keywords: Binding; Cedar Lakes; Fabric stash; Hand piecing; Home sewing machine; Laura Cater Woods; Phil Beaver; Techniques; West Virginia; Work or Studio space; quilting retreat

Partial Transcript: So, you mentioned your son. How has quilting impacted your family?

Segment Synopsis: Cooper's family believe she is obsessed with quilting. When she bought her Pfaff sewing machine, they were shocked at the cost, but Cooper points out that the machine has worked well for eighteen years. She believes that having the right tools is important. Now that the last of her children has left home, Cooper's work is no longer corralled in the studio. She has a quilt hanging in her bedroom, but does not sleep under one. Her children and grandchildren all have quilts that she has made.

Keywords: Family; Home sewing machine; Quiltmaking for family

Partial Transcript: So you mentioned, you mentioned Phil Beaver. Whose, whose work are you drawn to, and why?

Segment Synopsis: Cooper prefers quilts that are representative and not too abstract. She likes quiltmakers including Jane Sassaman, Caryl Bryer Fallert, and Karen Stone. Cooper describes a work of her own, "Quilting the Heart of the Matter," which, at the time of the interview had been sent to a quilt show, and the techniques she used to make it. She also talks about a quilt that shows evening primroses.

Keywords: Ami Simms; Caryl Bryer Fallert; Jane Sassaman; Karen Stone; Quilting the Heart of the Matter; Techniques

Partial Transcript: What advice would you offer someone starting out?

Segment Synopsis: Cooper would advise a beginning quiltmaker to find a friend or a guild with whom to work. She acknowledges having read about a bad guild, but her own guild experience has been good. She thinks that the biggest challenge for quiltmakers is time. She adds that ideally a quilter's family will approve of their work. Her own children "always made fun of" her for quilting, but they still wanted her quilts. Cooper describes two quilts that she made for family members. She likes not knowing for sure what a quilt will look like when done, so she likes to use techniques that have somewhat unpredictable outcomes.

Keywords: Family; Jennifer Chiaverini; Quilt guilds; Quiltmaking for family; Techniques

Partial Transcript: Do you have a lot of quilts hanging on your walls?

Segment Synopsis: Cooper says that she does have quilts hanging from her walls, and other people seem to appreciate them. She adds, "Guys like the ones that turn around a lot." When asked what makes a great quilt, Cooper says, "you have to make it for yourself, first." She says that most guild members were still making traditional quilts when she joined, and she did projects she personally liked. Now, more people are experimenting. She describes teaching a skill in her guild the previous evening and credits the guild with having speakers who encourage new things.

Keywords: Modern quiltmaking; Quilt guild; Teaching quiltmaking

Partial Transcript: So why is quilting important to you?

Segment Synopsis: Cooper is not really sure why quilting is important to her, but she says that quilts have been important throughout her life. Her son took a quilt from her husband's side of the family to school, when assigned to bring something that his family had owned for some time. Cooper discusses this quilt and the circumstances under which it was quilted. Cooper describes another quilt that she received recently from her great-aunt. It has been evaluated as having been made during the Civil War era, but its history prior to being owned by the great-aunt is not know.

Keywords: Family quilts; Quilt history

Partial Transcript: So do you think of yourself more as an artist or a quilt maker or do you even make the distinction?

Segment Synopsis: Cooper is now more comfortable than she used to be identifying as an artist, but getting to that point was a bit of a struggle. She describes a challenge organized by Mary Kerr, whereby twenty quilters get the same quilt block every month and have to use it as the basis for a two foot square quilt. Those quilters include both traditional and more experimental quilters. Cooper herself generally prefers to do art quilts, although she will make traditional quilts occassionally. When asked what makes a quilt artistically powerful, Cooper said that it is the image, but also "putting some part of your life into the quilt." She prefers working on projects where she is not sure what the final outcome will be when she starts the project. Some years ago she reached the stage where she was pretty sure that she has the skills to take on any project she wants to.

Keywords: Mary Kerr; Quilt purpose - Challenge or contest entry; Traditional quilts

Subjects: Art quilts

Partial Transcript: So, what, what kinds of plans do you have for things for the future?

Segment Synopsis: For the time being, Cooper wants to continue painting flowers. She bases her work on photographs that friends give her of their flower arrangements. She does not currently garden herself. Cooper has not made priority quilts, but thinks that is something that she ought to be doing. She has a friend, Cathy Edwards, who is probably doing the $1,000 Promise. She has only once bought a quilt, which now functions as a bulletin board, since she pins things to it. When asked if she has a design wall Cooper says, "I have this, this pink stuff I sometimes put up, but I'm not, I'm not very good about doing that."

Keywords: Cathy Edwards; Design walls; Priority: Alzheimer’s Quilt Challenge

Partial Transcript: It's interesting how everyone's approach is different.

Segment Synopsis: Cooper discusses a number of techniques, including using digital photography, photo transfer, silk painting, and sun printing. She admits that sun printing is abstract, but Cooper says the abstract can be tweaked to be somewhat representational. She has made a number of fish quilts. Her academic background is in biology, specifically botany, with an emphasis on "plant physiology with rapid movement in plants." Primroses demonstrate rapid movement, which fits in with her rotating primrose quilt. She hoped to get that quilt into Quilt National, but it was not accepted.

Keywords: Biology; Fiber - Silk; Painting; Photography/photo transfer; Quilt National; Quilt shows/exhibitions; Sun printing; Techniques; Technology in quiltmaking; Yvonne Porcella

Partial Transcript: Do you enter in shows?

Segment Synopsis: Cooper occasionally enters quilts in quilt shows. At the time of the interview, two were in the quilt show in Hampton. Cooper's guild, Quilters Unlimited, does a large unjuried show. She likes the mix of ability levels that are exhibited in an unjuried show. She finds juried shows "a little off-putting" in comparison, but Cooper adds "it's also nice to see really cool quilts." Cooper submitted a number of quilts to the International Quilt Festival in Houston and one or two were accepted. Cooper has never been to the show in Houston, but Musgrave advises her to go at least once.

Keywords: Hampton; Hampton Quilt Show; Hazel Carter; Jinny Beyer; Judy House; Quild guilds; Quilt Purpose - Exhibition; Quilt shows/exhibitions; Virginia

Subjects: International Quilt Festival; Quilters Unlimited of Northern Virginia

Partial Transcript: Alright, so, let's go even more into, you know, quilts in American life, and in what ways do you think quilts have special meaning for women's history?

Segment Synopsis: Cooper points out that often "handwork" is all that remains from women, and that often artifacts associated with male gender roles are more valued than those associated with female gender roles. She is pleased, however, that quilts are now considered an art rather than as strictly utilitarian. Musgrave predicts that "the art and craft debate will probably go on for a long time," although she is "definitely in the art camp."

Keywords: Quilt history

Subjects: Art and craft debate

Partial Transcript: Is there anything else that, you would like to share before we conclude?

Segment Synopsis: Cooper describes Alzheimer's as "a miserable disease" and hopes for a reordering of national priorities, so that "fixing people" is emphasized more. Cooper recounts how, when her mother was ill from Alzheimer's, caretakers came in. They were suspected when several rings disappeared, but one turned up, hidden underneath a kitchen cabinet, after her mother's death. Cooper thinks her quilts will probably be split among her children after she dies. She hopes to teach her daughter-in-law quilting eventually. Her daughter sews and sometimes goes through Cooper's fabric stash when making purses.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Daughters; Family