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Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea
Quilter Joanne Carr DeWitt to Demonstrate
On Friday, May 19, Joanne Carr DeWitt of Owenton will demonstrate quilting for visitors from 10:30 am – 3:30 pm at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea.
Born in Ezel, Kentucky, in Morgan County, Joanne Carr DeWitt attended a United Presbyterian Parochial school and went on graduate from Berea College in 1954 with a degree in English. She then taught school for 30 years in both Scott and Owen counties and then for 10 years at the Lexington Community College.
Growing up in a rural area, nearly all the older people in Joanne’s community quilted. The women in the local Presbyterian Church Missionary Society did quilts for fundraisers and sent them off for sale through the Presbyterian Church. Joanne’s mother made lots of quilts and inspired Joanne and her sisters to learn. It was only after Joanne retired from teaching and lost her mother, that she herself began to quilt again. She has since created all kinds of quilts as gifts - filling her daughter in law’s houses with her creations.
When Joann’e husband became ill, she began doing smaller sized quilts, finding that she could hold them in her lap as she sat near his bed. These smaller quilts she began marketing about 12 years ago when her daughter, a county extension agent, helped her to get contacts and sell her work.
One of Joanne’s most popular pieces is made with the 'Kentucky Star' pattern. This pattern was first published in 1907 in a magazine called ‘Hearth and Home.’ The 'Kentucky Star' is created using diamonds and triangles to form the quilt block and although Joanne can’t remember when she first saw this pattern, it is now her most frequently requested image.
Works by Joanne Carr DeWitt can regularly be found at the Kentucky Artisan Center, located just off Interstate 75 at exit 77 (Berea). The Center’s exhibits, shopping, and travel information areas are all open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the café from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. The Center currently features works by more than 650 artisans from all across the Commonwealth. For more information call 859-985-5448 or visit the Center’s web site at www.kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov
The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is an agency in the Commerce Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
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