Interview with Nicole Musgrave, May 26, 2023

Partial Transcript: This is Amy Milne, and it is Friday, May 26, 2023. And I'm here with Nicole Musgrave, and we're in Whitesburg, Kentucky, in your studio, and it's about 3:39 PM. And thank you for letting me interview you for QSOS.

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave explains that her recent quiltmaking work has been a series inspired by memories of her family. The touchstone quilt specifically touches on thoughts about her mother and the similarities that she and Musgrave have, including an interest in clothing. The quilt incorporates particular pieces of clothing, which Musgrave received from her mother and also wore herself. Some of the clothes show sewing repairs that Musgrave's mother made. Musgrave also added pieces of clothing that she acquired while working as a vintage clothing dealer and at a thrift store near her home. The pieces of fabric reference specific memories that Musgrave has about her mother's wardrobe and her family's shared interest in nature. Milne describes the quilt as "a landscape of memories."

Keywords: Amy Milne; Family; Kentucky; Mothers; Quilt purpose - Art or personal expression; Scrap quilts; Whitesburg

Subjects: Art quilts; Quiltmakers--United States

Partial Transcript: Is there a title of it?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave says that the touchstone quilt does not have a title yet. She is reluctant to come up with titles for her work, unless there is a reason that forces her to think of one. It is often difficult for her to come up with a title, so she doesn't like to unless one comes to her naturally. Musgrave explains she made the quilt with techniques that she typically uses included piecing and applique. She still feels fairly new to quilting and is finding her voice as a quiltmaker, including by making different sizes of quilts.

Keywords: Quiltmaking process; Quiltmaking style; applique; piecing

Partial Transcript: Is it, so when did you make this?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave explains that she finished making the touchstone quilt on the same afternoon as the interview. She pieced the quilt top about a year earlier but had not yet finished quilting it. The quilt is part of a series of quilts that Musgrave is making that deal with her memories and connections to family. She received a grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women to create five quilts that are part of the series. Musgrave hopes to eventually show the quilt series as a larger body of work.

Keywords: Kentucky Foundation for Women; Quilt purpose - Art or personal expression; Quilt purpose - Exhibition; Quilt series; Quiltmaking inspiration

Partial Transcript: Do, are most of the quilts that you've made, would you consider them art, or quilts for cover, or as you've said a little bit of both?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave explains that she has made some quilts for beds, but she's made more quilts that she considers as art pieces. She is currently making smaller quilts to test out new ideas and experiment with techniques while continuing to develop her quiltmaking style. Musgrave isn't related to any quilters other than a great aunt, but her family has a history of making things and working with textiles, including crocheting and making blankets with tatted lace.

Keywords: Family; Quilt purpose - Art or personal expression; Quiltmaking style

Partial Transcript: Did you, when you were doing work with vintage clothing, did you have an affinity for that based on family?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave says that she has always loved fabric and clothing. Her mother and grandmother both crocheted and did some knitting, and Musgrave's grandmother taught her how to crochet. She and her mother decorated clothing together, and her mother had a business decorating clothing with sequins. Musgrave has always liked making things with textiles like friendship bracelets, macrame, crocheting, and altering clothing. Her mother gave Musgrave a sewing machine for high school graduation.

Keywords: Crochet; Grandmothers; Home sewing machine; Knitting; Macrame; Mothers

Partial Transcript: Was your mom, did she have any professional or training, any type of training in the textile arts that she was doing, or was she a self-taught person?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave's mother taught herself how to do textile arts, including macrame and crocheting. Musgrave sewed at different points when she was growing up, including altering clothing in high school. She began doing applique and some piecing for clothing. In 2019, she worked to coordinate after-school arts programming at the Hindman Settlement School in Hindman, Kentucky. There was an after-school quilt class taught by Rita Smith, and Musgrave learned the basics of quilting and made a quilted placemat. During the pandemic, Musgrave's friend Rebecca Gayle Howell shared quilts with her on Instagram that were made by Coulter Fussell. Musgrave then took an online class taught by Coulter Fussell and her mother, Cathy Fussell.

Keywords: Cathy Fussell; Coulter Fussell; Hindman; Hindman Settlement School; Kentucky; Mothers; Quiltmaking classes; Rebecca Gayle Howell; Rita Smith

Partial Transcript: And are you still teaching quilting on occasion?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave has taught several quiltmaking classes, including two four-week long quilting projects. When asked about teaching young people how to quilt, Musgrave discusses trying to promote quilting as something that can be cool and done by younger artists, rather than the stigma of quilting only being done by grandmothers or older people.

Keywords: Teaching quiltmaking

Partial Transcript: ...and your work is very different from that in a lot of ways. Do you ever follow patterns?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave has always appreciated quilts and crafts made with textiles, but she hasn't been interested in making quilts from patterns. While studying to be a folklorist, she learned about quilts from Gees Bend, Alabama and was interested in that aesthetic. She is also a fan of Coulter Fussell's quilting style. Musgrave is drawn to parts of quiltmaking that incorporate her interests in clothing, textiles, reusing materials, and humor. Her professional work often involves detailed and precise tasks, so she enjoys being messy and experimenting in her creative work instead of carefully following quilting patterns.

Keywords: Coulter Fussell; Gee's Bend quilts; Quilt patterns

Partial Transcript: So you like Coulter's work. Are there other artists either in quilting, or outside of quilting, that you admire that you think maybe influence your work?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave is inspired by Rosie Lee Tompkins' quilts, especially the humor and contrast shown in them. Musgrave discusses being inspired by Tompkins and the Gee's Bend quilters, but she doesn't want to culturally appropriate from them and other Black quilters when making her own work. She is also inspired by friends, including musicians and painters who are in a virtual painting class that Musgrave is a part of. Musgrave is inspired by her painting teacher Jolyn Fry and other people's relationships with their creative work. Musgrave's great-grandfather, Ed Wetzel, was also a watercolor painter, and she is inspired by his landscape paintings.

Keywords: Coulter Fussell; Ed Wetzel; Gee's Bend quilts; Jolyn Fry; Painting; Quiltmaking inspiration; Rosie Lee Tompkins

Partial Transcript: Do you, is there a mock-up, or a sketch, or writing that precedes quilts? Was that the case with this quilt?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave doesn't usually start with a mock-up or notes before making her quilts, but she wants to do more to articulate the thoughts and feelings she has as she's making her work. She wants to share more of her quilts and present them publicly, including writing about her work after making a quilt. At this stage, Musgrave is primarily focused on composing quilt tops and hopes to make a small quilted piece every week, which she can share. She wants to get better at articulating her process and thoughts about art, and managing her time, especially as a teacher.

Keywords: Design process; Quiltmaking process; Teaching quiltmaking; Time management

Partial Transcript: Do you feel like this will spawn other pieces that are variations from this, or do you tend to go to an alternative next? Do you like to do series?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave wants to create a series from her quilts, which has inspired her to be more consistent about creating pieces and making smaller work. She hopes that doing so will help her make connections between her finished pieces. Musgrave says that she finds meaning through her work by making the time to do it and being persistent with her creative practice. She doesn't feel good if she isn't making creative work.

Keywords: Quilt series

Partial Transcript: Have you ever used quilting, just the process of stitching, to get through a difficult time?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave used quilting and knitting to cope throughout the pandemic. Her community also had devastating floods and her father passed away unexpectedly during the last year. She finds working with her hands to be soothing, and quilting helped her get through those difficult times.

Keywords: Quilt purpose - Therapy

Partial Transcript: When the flood happened, were you working on any stories that had to be set aside?

Segment Synopsis: After the floods in Whitesburg, Kentucky, Musgrave worked to help her community recover from the disaster. Her studio space became a headquarters for local mutual aid efforts, where she worked to distribute supplies and money to residents and also organized volunteers to help with the flood cleanup. Her studio still has some dust and mud in it. Tyvek suits from the cleanup efforts are hanging on one wall, and Musgrave may use parts of them in a quilt. She did work with residents who had quilts destroyed in the flood. Musgrave tried to clean some quilts at home, but she was only able to do so much. Other people donated quilts for residents who needed blankets. Musgrave also taught a workshop that made a community quilt to raffle off as a fundraiser for EKY Mutual Aid.

Keywords: EKY Mutual Aid; Floods; Kentucky; Quilt purpose - Fundraising; Whitesburg; Work or Studio space

Partial Transcript: So with your work as a folklorist, what have you seen? Do quilts ever come up in the conversations that you have when you're interviewing people about other things?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave recently interviewed a quilter in Iuka, Mississippi. When teaching quiltmaking classes, Musgrave tries to encourage people to share their stories about quilting. She's also been working on an oral history project about a lake that was created by the Army Corps of Engineers in Knott County, Kentucky. Participants in the oral history project have shared memories about people quilting in their community. Milne notes that Kentucky was the first state to do a quilt documentation project.

Keywords: Iuka; Kentucky; Knott County; Mississippi; Quilt documentation; Teaching quiltmaking

Partial Transcript: So when you are wearing your artist's hat and making work in between your folklorist gigs and interviews and so forth, do you find, what are the things that you, what are the challenges that you face as an artist, in Whitesburg, Kentucky, in this day and age?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave says that she sometimes has too many ideas and starts projects that she doesn't always finish. She has wanted to show her quilting and painting work more. Musgrave has shown her paintings in Portland, Oregon as a part of her painting group that is based there. She hasn't been able to show her work in Kentucky yet, but Musgrave says that she hasn't really pursued it because of the hardships in recent years.

Keywords: Oregon; Painting; Portland; Quilt purpose - Artistic expression; Quilt purpose - Exhibition

Partial Transcript: You have a unique perspective, I think, because you're a painter as well.

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave recently started signing her paintings at the suggestion of her painting teacher. Sometimes Musgrave feels like she gets more attention for her quilts than from her paintings. She has debated whether to submit paintings or quilts for art shows. Musgrave says the two mediums feel different, but quilts take longer for her to make. She sometimes posts her art online through Instagram but has mixed feelings about using social media.

Keywords: Art quiltmaking; Painting; Quilt purpose - Art or personal expression; Quilt purpose - Exhibition

Subjects: Art quilts

Partial Transcript: Let's talk about, the last thing I want to sort of pose to you is about what makes a great quilt?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave thinks what makes a great quilt can vary a lot depending on the context. The meaning behind a quilt has a lot to do with how it's perceived. She is attracted to quilts that have contrast and mentions some traditional quilts she's enjoyed seeing recently including quilts with Tumbling Blocks and Log Cabin patterns. Musgrave also loves imperfections more than highly-precise quilts, and she likes pieces that convey a sense of humor. She is interested in quilts that use interesting fabrics including vintage or unexpected materials. Musgrave also says that speaking with a quiltmaker and hearing more about the quilt always makes it more meaningful.

Keywords: Aesthetics; Log Cabin - quilt pattern; Quilt design; Tumbling Blocks - quilt pattern

Partial Transcript: What's the importance -- last question and then I'll see if there's anything else you want to say that I haven't asked you -- but as a folklorist, why is it important to do that work, and including talking about quilts?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave says that folklore is about trying to center what is at the margins, including certain practices and communities, like quilting. Documenting quilts also captures the stories and lives of people who are often overlooked by history. Quiltmaking is a way for people to make meaning in their lives and express themselves, and Musgrave thinks it's important to document that for everyday people. Sometimes Musgrave hears from people who say quilting is a dying art form, and they are surprised that she is younger quilter. Musgrave sees other younger quilters online, but she understands that there may be economic barriers or a lack of opportunities for quilters in Kentucky. She tries to offer opportunities for more people to access arts and crafts when she's teaching classes.

Keywords: Quilt documentation; Quilt purpose- storytelling; Quiltmaking classes; Teaching quiltmaking

Partial Transcript: Is there anything else that you want to talk about that I haven't asked you?

Segment Synopsis: Musgrave emphasizes that she doesn't buy fabrics for her quilts and only uses secondhand materials. She cites several reasons for reusing materials, including taking the pressure off of working with expensive fabrics, her concerns about climate change, and having a helpful creative constraint by only being able to use what is available to her. Musgrave is currently working to make more memory quilts, especially after the passing of her father. She has some textiles that belonged to him that she's planning to work with. Musgrave also wants to make memory quilts for her friends who have lost loved ones.

Keywords: Fabric selection; Family; Fathers; Quilt purpose - Memorial