My ongoing work is the creation of fairy tales based on personal stories to be told at special occassions like weddings, birthdays, memorials, and an occasional political cause or personal trauma. I also accept clients who want to see their life or part of it transformed into a fairy tale.
1988 — This was the year of my transformation from quilter to volunteer Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt panel maker. How could loved ones create a story/panel in fabric? I was their guide. I heard the stories and traveled with the panels. The Names Project Quilt is the largest public art display the world has ever seen. It transofrms each experience into truth, beauty and love. I was there for ten years. When writing of my experience, out came: "Once upon a time, not very long ago Queen Eladora lived in the land of Meld." What was this? When I went deep, the fairy tale format appeared.
1996 — I received a certificate for Therapeutic Storytelling. I participated in a month long live-in intensive with 14 storytellers from around the world. Our common language, besides English, was the fairy tale. It was hosted by Nancy Mellon. This same year I was a featured speaker at the Maine Fabric and Fiber Festival. My topic: The Beauty of Quilts and the Healing Quality of Their Stories. Using slides of antique quilts, my quilts, and panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt, I shared our stories. I was also interviewed for a WCSH–TV special as one whose work and spirituality are one.
2000 & 2001 — I participated in the New England Conference on the Care of the Dying Child, sponsored by the Jason Program, a palliative care program for terminally ill children and their families. This same year I received a local grant by Coffee By Design to tell stories at the Barbara Bush pediatric wing of Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine.
2003 — I was chosen by the Creative Center: Arts for People with Cancer, to participate in their national training program in NYC. The Maine Arts Commission published an article on my experience.
2007 — I created a visual presentation for the Society of the Arts in Health Care's national conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
"What a gift you have to make others so happy at a difficult occasion. I was delighted with the story and will remember it always."
