Ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary, Quilt City USA Murals installed a new piece of floodwall artwork on Monday. The group behind the mural says it ties together local and national river heritage with a tribute to the fiber arts.
The new mural depicts Judy Mathieson’s 1986 quilt “Nautical Stars” — which was named one of the 100 Best Quilts of the 20th Century by Quilter's Newsletter Magazine and the International Quilt Festival. It features a large mariner’s compass — a quilting design tracing back to the late 18th century — surrounded by triangles and stars.
Paducah artist Kijsa Housman adapted the quilt to a mural, spending around 400 hours translating detailed patterns and stitching on the original piece to the painted panel, which was cut into six pieces that were then put back together on the floodwall by the Paducah-McCracken County Convention Center.
Housman said the artwork represents the importance of rivers to the U.S. and Paducah, where the Ohio and Tennessee rivers converge. She said the mural also ties together local and American quilting culture.
“What is America? What is Paducah? It's a collaboration of creativity. That's really what's built our country,” Housman said. “I hope everyone kind of reflects on that, and that creativity can come in many different forms.”
Bonnie Browning, the former executive show director for the American Quilter’s Society who was also a part of the committee that chose the best 20th century quilts, sponsored the mural.
She said “Nautical Stars,” which she described as a “modern style of traditional designs,” features imagery that ties well with the McCracken County city’s culture.
“It relates to what we do here in Paducah. You know, river is our main industry,” Browning said. “It just seemed like a natural [fit] that it needed to be on the wall.”
Unlike other murals on Paducah’s riverfront, the pieces in the quilt-themed lineup are not painted directly onto the floodwall. Instead, artists paint their work on a canvas inside of a studio. That canvas is then cut, rolled up and taken to the floodwall, where contractors glue the art onto the space.
Mohammed Mourad owns M&M Decorating in Paducah, which contracts with Quilt City USA Murals to install the group’s artwork. He said the floodwall as is, which he compared to Interstate 24 texture-wise, needs a lot of work before the canvas pieces can be added to it.
“We've been working on it for about a week, preparing it and plastering it to be smooth enough [for the mural] to be installed,” Mourad said.
Mourad and his workers then add glue to the paper canvas and to the floodwall before placing the paper onto the prepared space, smoothing out the artwork as it is applied to get rid of any air bubbles.
While painting directly on floodwalls and similar services is season-dependent, this form of mural creation can be done year-round. Housman said the final result from the marouflage method should hold up longer outdoors compared to painting directly onto the wall’s surface.
In addition to Browning’s sponsorship, the new mural also received support from the Kentucky Arts Council and the Kentucky Historical Society.
