Kirksville, MO
- ajj1545
- Dec 15, 2016
- 3 min read
The Kirksville Art Center opened the quilting exhibit in early December that displayed the works of many members of the Quilting Community. However, a fire Dec. 2 destroyed the building and many of the items inside.
A 911 call first came in about visible smoke to the Kirksville Fire Department about 8:15 PM. according to Jon Cook, The Deputy Fire Chief. Cook said a passerby called to say that smoke was coming from the building a police officer then confirmed at the scene that there was fire and smoke in the building.
Cook said that the Fire Department was unsure if anything inside was salvageable. “Due to the heavy volume of fire, we weren’t about to salvage anything. We didn’t make any attempts to salvage anything in that particular building because we didn’t want to put any firefighters in danger… We are going to assume that the building and it’s contents are a total loss.” Cook said.
Picture of the fire in action at the local Kirksville Art Association building.
Photo by Joey Iguessa Dec.2
Former English teacher at Truman State University, Betsy Delmonico, said that the Quilting Guild had sponsored the Trunk Show as part of the Missouri Folklore Society’s conference where the Guild put different quilts on display. One of the quilts on display was the president of the Hands of Friendship Quilt Guild Andrea O’Brien’s “Sunrise, Sunset” quilt.
“Sunrise, Sunset” was based off of a photo that O’Brien’s son took. “That one was really special to me because it was someday going to my son and was probably, out of all the quilts I made, and I’ve made quite a few, my all-time favorite,” said O’Brien.
O’Brien said that the quilting community is “very tight knit” and that she learned how to quilt from her grandmother. In fact, the second quilt that she had lost in the fire was made mostly from her grandmother’s old fabrics. She called this quilt “Grandma’s Attic.”
Andrea O'Brien standing with "Sunrise Sunset."
“It was one I almost felt like she was, in some kind of strange way, working beside me the whole time that I was making it, even though she had been gone that whole time,” O’Brien said. She said it helped her to remember the special moments she had with her Grandmother. “Grandma’s Attic” was also on display as part of the exhibit and according to O’Brien, part of it was completely burned away in the fire.
The remains of "Grandmas Attic"
Delmonico said that the Guild lost about 24 quilts in the fire. Similarly to O’Brien, Barb Bevell, another member of the Hands of Friendship Guild, lost two quilts of her own. One of the quilts that Bevell had on display was made of fabrics by a member of the Guild who had recently passed away. Bevell said that she works with the fabric scraps of others in the Guild and tries to make something from them.
“I am personally excited that [the Art Association] has this opportunity, I mean yes it’s a tragedy, but look at what we can do,” Bevell said.
On a similar note, O’Brien thinks the Art Association and the guild will continue to thrive in the community.
“One thing to understand is that each quilt has a very specific story to it, and there is a lot of meaning and passion that went into making those. The other aspect is that our creativity and our passion for doing this is never going to stop. Many [members] of [the guild] have already said that we are going to recreate some of the ones that we lost. So, as heartbreaking that it is, things will definitely move on. As for the Art association, our hope is that they rebuild in a bigger and better way.”
The Art Association Building after the fire. Photo by Brooke Johnson Dec 6.
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