'Celebration': The Anniversary Quilt
Snapshots of East Hampton Town have been captured in cloth on a quilt celebrating the town's tricentquinquagenary.
Twenty-five pairs of skilled hands belonging to residents of each of the town's hamlets appliqued and stitched the quilt, transferring designs drawn by Gracella Cunkle of Springs onto one-foot squares.
The drawings are bold, stylized depictions of life on the South Fork. The scenes of nature, farming, fishing, recreational activities, and historic landmarks are bordered by East Hampton Town's colors: dark blue around the quilt edge with "sashing" (borders between each square) of gold.
The quilt, called "Celebration," is currently on display at the Bank of New York on East Hampton's Main Street. The plan is to move it around as the year progresses, so everyone in town can see it.
Deanna Tikkanen, a Springs representative to the 350th anniversary committee and a quilter herself, proposed the project as a fund-raiser for the commemorative celebration.
She contacted her friend Bunny Cox, who took up quilting almost 20 years ago and has since become the hub of a group of quilters who have collaborated on quilts used as raffle prizes by the East Hampton Town Dory Rescue Squad, Ducks Unlimited, and East End Hospice, among others.
Mrs. Cox learned to quilt from an "old-time quilter," Cathryn Miller of East Hampton, she told The Star, and quickly became consumed with the craft.
"I spoke to Bunny about it," Mrs. Tikannen said, "and the next thing you knew, we had this quilt." The ad-hoc committee that created it dubbed itself the Town of East Hampton Quilters.
Though the quilt itself, by all accounts, is an unqualified success, the anniversary committee's plans to raffle it off are, for the moment, at an impasse. Under New York State law, raffles, it seems, are prohibited.
"The main issue is that town government has to have an ordinance permitting these types of raffles," said Tom Twomey, an attorney and committee member who is working to sort out the problem.
Though some have suggested it might be nice for the quilt to remain the property of the town and be on permanent display in Town Hall, the committee is "determined to raffle it one way or the other," according to its chairman, Bruce Collins, who added that New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. is trying to help as well.
Assuming the problem is solved, the raffle will be held on Oct. 10, when East Hampton streets will be closed to traffic all day for the big anniversary celebration and parade.
Meanwhile, posters of the queen-size quilt are for sale at Guild Hall in East Hampton, costing $20; $25 if signed by Mrs. Cunkle. A key to the design, crediting the creator of each square, is included.
"I have a regular library of Gracella's artwork," said Mrs. Cox, explaining how she went about choosing images for the quilt that would represent the town's broad geographic and cultural range. Mrs. Cunkle was enlisted to create a few new designs deemed crucial for the anniversary quilt, including a Native American whose square is placed next to an appliqued row of clam, scallop, and oyster shells.
Each quilter brought her individual vision to bear in such details as the choice of fabrics and colors.
A melange of browns, in different textures and prints, creates a realistic-looking cliff below the Montauk Lighthouse in one square, while patterned pieces lend vibrant texture to plowed earth, blue sky, or swirling waves.
The buildings represented include the Parsons blacksmith shop in Springs and the East Hampton Town Marine Museum in Amagansett. The square made by Gillian Ames depicts the East Hampton Presbyterian Church, where her husband, the Rev. John Ames, serves as minister. In the center of the quilt, three plovers look poised to scurry away down the sand.
Anne O'Neill of Springs did the actual quilting, and Olga Collins embroidered each quilter's name on the back of the finished work.
The quilt will travel to Montauk in July for display in the Suffolk County National Bank there through August. From there, plans are to send it to the bank's Sag Harbor branch until October, when, if all goes well, a lucky ticketholder will take it home.