Purty Colors

My friends tell me that there are no qualifications necessary to blog. That's a good thing because even after being married to an artist for over 20 years, about the best I can do for critiquing works of art is, "Them sure is purty colors." And if I'm not mistaken, that's what I said when I saw Ruth Lockhart's extraordinary strip quilt hung at the Fellowship last year.

I may not be an art critic, but I knew immediately that her quilt would look beautiful in the waiting room of the university's counseling center where I'm the director, www.auburn.edu/scs. When Auburn University students come to the counseling center, Ruth's quilt is the first thing they see. These students are frequently in crisis or in significant distress (most don't come to the counseling center to tell us how well their lives are going), and I truly believe that quilt helps create a calming environment where hope is present and resilience fostered. Lawdy, that sounds like the kind of gobblely-gook a touchy-feely psychologist would spout.

Oh, well. I'm just calling it the way I see it. And, I can't wait to see the quilts this year. I've got a spot at the end of the counseling center's hallway that needs some purty colors too.