Artists' Chat: Marianne Fons

Quilter, educator, and fiction writer

Our submissions period for Blanket Gravity’s first issue is now open! Please share this link with writers and artists in your life. Our team is thrilled to consider the first submissions and, as always, so grateful to you for your support throughout the journey.

My friend Marianne created my daughter’s first baby quilt, a delightfully sunny pattern of bright squares, bordered with a pattern of tiny toys. A first-time quilt owner myself, I grew to deeply appreciate the handcrafted beauty of our quilt, the satisfaction I got looking at the perfectly fitting squares, the joyful pattern I knew was invented for my daughter. The quilt became a personal experience for me. More than a blanket, the quilt made us feel cared for. Marianne’s quilts hold this interactive quality, my eyes scanning from intricate design to bold shape.

I met Marianne in a yearlong fiction writing class, a post-retirement calling for Marianne that followed decades of pioneering quilting education, including authoring multiple books and co-hosting a quilting TV show. When I hear Marianne talk about quilting, I resolve to start quilting.

In her interview, Marianne discusses the way creative work allows you to change focus during emotional problems. “It's kind of like going to a movie where you lose yourself in it,” she says. “You emerge from the darkened theater with added perspective.” I think about the days I’ve dragged my laptop into bed, the minutes typing the closest I’d come to temporarily submerging my pain. Sometimes we are too sick to create; other times, art is all we can manage.