75th-Anniversary Quilt Illustrates TVA History

March 10, 2008

A quilt with photos depicting milestones and historical highlights in TVA’s history is on display at the agency’s office complex in downtown Knoxville and will be displayed in other areas of the Tennessee Valley to commemorate TVA’s 75th anniversary this year.

The anniversary quilt featuring 24 squares with photos was created by the owners of Creative Quilts − Darlene Bakos of Maryville, Tenn., and Debbie McMurray of Alcoa, Tenn.

A quilt was chosen to represent and celebrate TVA’s legacy, because it is a traditional art form throughout the Valley.

“We went through hundreds of photographs to find 24 that represent 75 years of TVA history. There are very few quilters who work with photographs,” said Katie Bell, senior manager of TVA’s Community Relations. “We found the quality of Debbie’s and Darlene’s work to be outstanding. The back of the quilt is as beautiful as the front.”

Currently on display in the West Tower lobby of TVA’s Knoxville office complex at 400 W. Summit Hill Drive, the anniversary quilt also will be displayed in Chattanooga, Muscle Shoals, Ala., and other locations in the Valley. Dates have not been set.

Predominantly in shades of blue and white, each quilt block consists of a center square surrounded by right-angle triangles. The 24 squares in the quilt display images from a mix of historic and contemporary TVA photographs. The images are placed in the middle of each square, with the quilt’s center square displaying the TVA logo.

Other quilts have helped tell TVA’s story

Other quilts have been important to TVA’s past, such as those created by the wives of African-American construction workers who often met to do needlework and socialize during the construction of Wheeler and Pickwick dams in the mid-1930s.

Ruth Clement Bond, wife of the highest ranking African-American official at TVA in the 1930s, met with these women. The result was a quilt called “Uncle Sam’s Helping Hand,” which Bond designed and was quilted by Rosie Lee Cooper in 1934. Cooper was the wife of a TVA employee. This quilt is currently displayed in TVA’s West Tower lobby in Knoxville.

Later, when TVA built the Chattanooga Office Complex, efforts were made to promote artists of the Tennessee Valley by displaying their artwork in the buildings. One result of that effort is the “Mountain Quiltscape,” which hangs in the atrium of the Signal Place Building in downtown Chattanooga at 1101 Market St. It was stitched by 23 women members of Crazyquilt, a crafts shop in Newcomb, Tenn., and has been displayed in Signal Place since the mid-1980s.

“We thought it made sense to continue this tradition of highlighting quilts as a regional art form to help commemorate TVA’s 75th anniversary,” Pat Ezzell, TVA Historian, said.

Media Contact:

Jim Allen, Knoxville, (865) 632-7453
TVA News Bureau, Knoxville, (865) 632-6000

TVA Newsroom