Quilted artwork by an Elon University junior was unveiled on Feb. 17 in a School of Education afternoon reception featuring the student and the Winter Term instructor who inspired her project.
Education major Eliza Mathew debuted her piece, “The Reading Garden,” before professors, staff members, friends and family. She produced the art under the guidance of textile artist Peg Gignoux, who teaches a course each January, “Story Magic: When Words Ignite Images,” where students work individually and on teams to produce parts of a quilt that is ultimately gifted to regional schools.
The native of Durham, N.C., took the course in January 2010 and returned last month to assist Gignoux with her latest class.
“I thought these quilts, and this technique, were so cool that I wanted the school to have something,” Mathew said of her decision to produce the artwork that now hangs in the Curriculum Resource Center on the first floor of the Mooney building. “We’ve always sent these projects out elsewhere.”
Gignoux praised Mathew’s work during the reception. “It was fantastic having her here. I wish she could be cloned!” she said. “And it was nice that she decided to make a piece for this very space.”