The Oktibbeha County Heritage Museum is pleased to host The Southern Fiber Artists’ Mississippi Quilt Challenge Exhibition throughout January.

Visitors to the museum will be able to see 100 quilt panels created by Mississippi quilters. The quilt panels depict different cities, towns and areas of Mississippi and show the rich culture we have in our state.

“These quilts are amazing works of art that our community needs to see,” museum Director Derek Aaron said. “It is amazing the amount of work and creativity that went into creating this exhibit.”

The Southern Fiber Artists were formed in the 2014-2015 timeframe as the result of a spark of inspiration by Brooksville art quilter Julia Graber, who hoped to find like-minded individuals interested in creating outside the traditional bed quilt. Fiber art is a textile art that uses natural or synthetic fibers, such as yarn, fabric, or felt, to create practical or decorative objects.

SFA has a history of challenging its members to make art pieces around a specified theme. After not meeting in person during COVID-19, they were looking for a new challenge in 2022 to jumpstart our creativity. Since their membership includes artists primarily from Mississippi, they decided upon the theme of Mississippi for their challenge.

The challenge began with 11 artists each taking a letter from the word Mississippi and making a quilt of the same size and font with anything related to the state. That resulted in a quilt approximately 16 feet wide which spells Mississippi.

After that challenge was completed, they decided to expand the theme and make 18-by-20-inch or 16-by-25-inch quilts that depict some aspect of the state. Their hope was to represent all the areas of the State with an art piece, which would bring attention to both art quilting and Mississippi.

On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays during January, you can view the Mississippi quilts and 100 smaller quilts at the Oktibbeha County Heritage Museum.

Special viewings can be arranged by contacting Derek Aaron at [email protected] or calling the Museum at (662) 323-0211.

Join us at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 15 for a program led by Julia Graber, Leanne Green, Jackie Watkins, and Cathy Reininger. These artists will talk about the exhibit and how they created some of the artwork.

For more information on the exhibit, visit our website at oktibbehaheritagemuseum.com/quilt-exhibition.