Sew Their Names – Gallery Exhibit

Gallery Reception – Thursday, October 16, 2025

6pm-8pm

EBSCO Fine Art Gallery – Shelby County Arts Council, Columbiana, AL

Free and open to the public!

On display October 6 – November 19, 2025

Embroidered Legacies: A Gathering of Memory and Art

The Wallace Center is proud to announce the organization’s newest exhibit in collaboration with the Mt. Willing quilters from the Sew Their Names Project and the Shelby County Arts Council (“Arts Council”). The exhibit will be open Monday, October 6 to Wednesday, November 19 at the Arts Council (105 W College Street, Columbiana, AL 35051).

Sew Their Names formed through a process of reconciliation and remembrance in Lowndes County, Alabama. In 2021, the Quilters gathered at the Snow Hill Christian Church pavilion to embroider the enslaved people who were included on Hopewell Baptist Church Records records onto small fabric blocks. Since then the quilters help sites across Alabama commemorate the legacy of enslaved people through quilting.

At this exhibit, Sew Their Names and the Wallace Center join together to showcase the history and legacy of enslaved people through quilts. The exhibit will feature quilts by renowned quilters, including Wini McQueen, Mercedes Braxton, Yvonne Wells, and Charlie Lucas.

We invite the public to attend a reception on Thursday, October 16 at 6:00 pm at the Arts Council to honor the exhibit. In addition to showing the exhibit, we will show a portion of the film that chronicles the Sew Their Names origin story and hear an original piece from Birmingham Poet Laureaute  Salaam Green.

To see the exhibit starting October 6 at 10 am to 5 pm Monday through Thursday, visit the Arts Council website. There is no need to register to attend the October 16 event.  All are welcome!

A special thank you to the Alabama State Council for the Arts for supporting this exhibit, along with the Shelby County Arts Council and the Wallace Center for Arts and Reconciliation.

Gallery hours are Monday – Thursday, 10am – 5pm and during Song Theater concerts (see event calendar for upcoming concerts here).