Bridgeport author writes children’s book
NORWALK’S COMMUNITY QUILTING PROJECT IS THE FOCUS OF A CHILDREN’S BOOK
ANorwalk organization illustrates that when people from different generations come together to make a quilt, the results are impressive.
“It’s a natural for multigenerational interaction,” said Lizzy Rockwell, artistic director and founder of the Norwalk Community Quilt Project: Peace by Piece.
The program brings together youngsters and residents from a senior housing complex to create quilts and related items. But much more is being accomplished than making something.
“You just tend to talk and share things as you work together,” Rockwell said. “That’s so useful in life and also produces beautiful quilts.”
Rockwell, a children’s book artist and author from Bridgeport’s Black Rock section, has chronicled the quilt-making group effort in her new book, “The All-Together Quilt,” published by Penguin Randomhouse.
“The kids and grown-ups at a community center begin with lots of colorful fabrics and an idea,” according to the book’s publicity material. “They design, cut, stitch, layer and quilt. And the result is something warm and wonderful they all can share.”
Some quilts are eventually displayed permanently in public places, such as Fairfield County libraries, educational institutions and Norwalk’s Stepping Stones Museum for Children.
Rockwell’s artwork has been featured in books, book jackets and magazines through the years. She’s written her own children’s books as well, highlighting self-care themes such as nutrition, fitness and emotional wellness.
She’s currently working on books about loving insects and a tadpole becoming a frog. “My focus now is on the natural world,” she said.
Rockwell, 59, grew up in Greenwich, graduated from Greenwich High in 1979, and attended Connecticut College and the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
Her mother was a children’s book author and illustrator, and her father an advertising agency art director and fine artist. “It was a very creative home, with lots of art supplies around,” she said.
In the 1970s her mom taught her how to quilt, using a large quilt frame positioned in the living room. “I remember how fun it was to do but we weren’t particularly skilled at it,” Rockwell said. “It would take months to stitch together one quilt by hand.”
Her attention later turned to knitting, raising her two children and working on children’s books written by her mother, other authors and herself.
Then she started to teach quilting to children in an afterschool enrichment program in Norwalk, where she was living. “It’s quite powerful what the kids get out of it,” she said.
In 2008 she applied for and received a grant from the Norwalk Children’s Foundation to begin Peace by Piece.
“I went into it pretty organically and ambitiously,” said Rockwell, adding she had limited expertise and no sewing machine but participants “were eager to learn so we just learned together.”
Her approach was to keep it simple, de-emphasize technical aspects, provide access to the required materials, “and let them do what they wanted to do.”
Rockwell called this “improv quilting,” which provided “lots of opportunities for spontaneity to come up.”
The group began meeting weekly on Friday afternoons and quilters of all ages soon gained confidence, patience and respect for tools while “interacting with a diverse community,” she said.
She recalls how it boosted one young female participant, Vicky, a Central American immigrant who became the first member of her family to attend college. “Both her parents worked and this provided a place for her to go, where she could be with adults as well as other kids,” she said.
Vicky has since started a career and visits the community center to participate in quilting when time allows.
A few senior citizens have now been quilting for more than a decade through the program. They like the companionship, mentoring youngsters and being part of a community project. “That sense of being needed and being good at what you do is very important,” Rockwell said.
Hanging finished quilts in public locations to be viewed by many people brings pride to all those involved. Adjoining plaques list all participants.
The newest public quilt is being created in collaboration with the Adam J. Lewis Academy in Bridgeport, a school that assists low-income students.
Writing a book about the quilt project was partly spurred by Rockwell’s involvement with a writers group. The first publisher rejected the manuscript before Penguin Randomhouse accepted it. She spent six years on the book and editors helped improve the concept.
Artwork for “The All-Together Quilt” was probably the hardest of any book she’s done because more than three dozen people are depicted, Rockwell said. She knew them all personally and was determined to accurately capture their appearance and personality.
The book’s publication has been impacted by the pandemic. She’s turned to Zoom interviews, making short videos and pre-signing books sold at bookstores to promote its publication.
COVID-19 also has affected Peace by Piece, with the weekly sessions discontinued for a while and then moved outdoors. The program is on hiatus through the winter and should restart sometime in 2021.
Meanwhile, Rockwell — who is married to teacher Ken Alcorn — is working on producing her new books and painting a mural for a South Norwalk park.
“I’m busy,” said Rockwell, noting she also has “an ambitious quilting project in my basement that’s been on hold for a year.”