Orange County Library System’s Eatonville Branch and eSTEAMed Learning recently unveiled the Eatonville History Preservation Project Quilt, a community-wide art project that brings together oral history and visual storytelling. The project is a result of a diligent effort to preserve the heritage, culture and legacy of the town of Eatonville.
The quilt was created by fabric artist Lisa G. Moore with pieces of fabric donated by Eatonville residents to visually communicate the stories and rich history of the generations of Eatonville residents. The quilt features the town’s iconic entryway and cut-outs of the hands of the 20 residents who participated in the project. Participating residents filmed video interviews with Melrose Center staff sharing personal stories about growing up and living in the historic town. The quilt, along with photos of the contributors and QR codes to video interviews hosted on Orlando Memory, is now on permanent display at Eatonville Branch.
The community has the opportunity to learn more about the project at Orlando Public Library as well. “The Town that Freedom Built” is an exhibition of portraits with QR codes to the participating resident interviews. The exhibit opened on July 10 in the Melrose Gallery at Orlando Public Library; it will be on display through October 31.
The Eatonville History Preservation Project Quilt is on display at Eatonville Branch library
Fabric artist Lisa G. Moore highlights elements of Eatonville History Preservation Project Quilt with project participants
Crowd gathered for unveiling of Eatonville History Preservation Project Quilt
“The Town That Freedom Built” portrait exhibition is on display at the Melrose Gallery through October 31
Learn more about the Eatonville History Preservation Project at OrlandoMemory.org or view Eatonville Branch Manager Sara Brown’s interview below.
