Marlene Singer of Eugene, Oregon created this piece about a well-loved site in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge. She explains, “Multnomah Falls has been an inspiration of mine for many years. As I was growing up. my family traveled through the Columbia Gorge on vacation and would stop at Multnomah Falls. On one of those trips, […]

Artist Deb Sorem created the quilt based on this folk tale. She tells an interesting story behind her reason for choosing “Talkative Turtle” and how she designed it. “Since I enjoy reading stories with my grandchildren, I thought it would be interesting to become familiar with a new fairy tale and to illustrate it in […]

Robin Lancaster created a stunning piece for the International Fairy Tale Challenge. She beautifully describes her experience, the details of the tale, the inspiration she took from it, and her techniques. “For years I have wanted to participate in a challenge but never had the confidence to do so. When the fairy tale challenge came […]

Br’er Rabbit is a figure from both the southern US and African folklore. He is a trickster who uses his wits to extricate himself from difficult situations. In the tale that I know, Br’er Fox forms a doll out of a piece of tar and dresses it with clothing. When Br’er Rabbit passes by he […]

The “Town Musicians of Bremen” is a well-known tale in the US. It was one of my favorites from childhood. I’ve always loved animals and was the tale I asked to create if my first choice was taken. While there is more than one version, here’s the one I know recall. Four older animals–a donkey, […]

Artist Diane English created a scene from the Japanese tale “Momotaro.” She says, “I wanted to work with a story I was not familiar with so chose Momotaro. It was fascinating to read that it was used to rally the Japanese troops during World War II. The river carrying the peach is just the beginning […]

Writer-director Michel Ocelot spent his childhood in the African nation of Guinea, where he became enamored of tales in neighboring Senegal. He drew on a collection of folk tales from West Africa and wrote Kirikou et la Sorcière, an award-winning animated feature film. In the film, Kirikou, a newborn who comes into the world already […]

Next up in the International Fairy/Folk tale challenge is a quilt by Sharry Olmstead. She says, “My ‘The Little Match Girl’ fairytale quilt is my interpretation of an illustration by Honor C. Appleton (1879 – 1951) where the Little Match Girl envisions her grandmother’s ghost has been sent to rescue her. Sadly, this scene depicted […]

In continuing with my posts on the International Fairy/Folk tale challenge, I’m featuring Pinocchio by Emily Stevens. She writes of her piece, “After looking through many children’s books on the fairy tale and making several original drawings, it was fun coming up with my own original image of Geppetto and Pinocchio. After that, it was […]

In my last post on the International Fairy/Folk Tale challenge I posted a photo collage of the thirty quilts completed by US quilters. I thought it would be interesting to feature them individually. The entire 90 quilt exhibit opens in Japan next week. Fittingly enough, this first one by Laura Jaszkowski interprets the Japanese folk […]

I’ve received the Japanese itinerary for the International Fairy/Folk Tale Challenge. There are three venues, with the show opening at Takumi-Cho Gallery in Wakayama Prefecture on November 20th. At year end the exhibition travels to France where there are two venues confirmed and two “in progress.” The quilts will finally come to the United States […]