Forty-foot quilt display may grace council chambers at city hall

The Sisters City Council enthusiastically agreed Thursday night to accept the gift of the "Two Rivers, Three Sisters" quilt commissioned in 2011 by Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and National Forest Foundation.

The gift is contingent on a successful fundraising campaign by Ann Richardson, executive director of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. The 40-foot showpiece would grace the north wall of the city council chambers.

"This is a stellar representation of community partnerships and what Sisters is all about," said Richardson. "We have been hoping to find a permanent location where we can exhibit the piece and keep the work all together, and ideally have it here in Sisters. The challenge has been finding funding for it. We have found some funding from the Ford Family Foundation, but to do that I need to have secured a public location where the piece would be visible and on display permanently.

"The quilt itself is 40 feet long, it has connecting elements of Whychus Creek and/or Metolius River interpretations by local quilters connecting it," continued Richardson. "We are not asking the city to pay for the piece; with grant funding from the Ford Family Foundation plus a $5,000 commitment from The Roundhouse Foundation we would raise the remaining $7,000-plus from other grants and individual donations. We would generously donate the piece to the city if we could have the space to display it."

The project would be a major installation.

"We will raise up to $20,000 to allow for custom hanging of the piece and permanent signage," said Richardson. "We are seeking a donor or donations totaling $20,000 to permanently place the quilt in council chambers at city hall. Half of the funds will be divided equally among the quilters - as artists they should be paid for their work. The other half will be donated to the National Forest Foundation, which they will match (the donation) one-to-one, for restoration projects on Whychus Creek."

The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show initiated the piece to tell the story of Whychus Creek through the lens of fiber art. The partnerships in developing this piece included the Deschutes Land Trust, Trout Unlimited, Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, Deschutes River Conservancy, Sisters Trails Alliance, Friends of the Metolius, Forest Stewardship Fund, and ski and lodging partners in and around Sisters.

The quilt has been on traveling exhibition since June of last year. It returns to Central Oregon in April. The last scheduled showing will be at the Yokohama Quilt Show in Japan in November.