The Brownsville Art Association is proud to be exhibiting the quilted creations of Anne Laurance April 1-30. A few years ago, the owner of Yankee Dutch Quilts and Mercantile, Mari Vanderstelt, was approached by the S.P.E.D. director at Central Linn, and she asked if Anne could work with Mari and her staff during school hours. Mari explained, “Anne has some developmental delays, and that helping students find areas where they can excel and find skills that give them a purpose can sometimes be a challenge. Anne had expressed an interest in learning to quilt, so it seemed like we might be a good fit for her.” Mari said that “while there are a few tasks that we do for Anne, like cutting material and ironing, when Ann is at the sewing machine, she rocks it!” We hope everyone will come in to enjoy the
lovey creations by this young woman.
Anne has a strong and adventurous sense for fabric color and scale and often picks things far out of the comfort zone of the store staff. The finished project always works and Anne is happy to remind them that she was right, and they were wrong. They say that “She is so prolific that occasionally, we need to
pick out a more complicated pattern just to slow her down so we can keep up.”
Over the years, the quilts have started to pile up. Anne prefers to keep her projects, but it is a shame that they haven’t been shared with the public so for the month of April, the Art Center will be displaying Anne’s quilts for everyone to see and admire.