It’s delightfully cramped inside a 1,000-square-foot house in south Madison, Wisconsin.
Open the door to a fiber arts studio with a large loom, a bookstore filled to the brim, and every tool you could need to print, bind, and publish books. There’s a writer’s studio, apothecary, and three retreat rooms for rent inside.
And once a month, its garage is packed with women working on quilts full of stories. Since 2019, this space inside the Creator’s Cottage has been home to the Memory Collectors Storytelling Project.
The Cottage is a free coworking and learning space for older African American women thanks to grants and fundraising. It was crafted by art director Catrina Sparkman who lived in the house with her family for 20 years.
“We decided . . . we would be a support space for artists and writers, whatever they needed. And that became a clear, emerging need in our community,” Sparkman says. “Thus, we came up with the blueprint for Memory Collectors Storytelling Project: fighting Alzheimer’s with art.”
More Than Quilting
Nearly a quarter of Black Americans over age 70 have the type of dementia that affects memory, behavior, and thinking, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
That’s twice as likely as older white adults.
“That doesn’t have to be,” Sparkman says, citing stress and racism as likely causes.
“Although the studies look very bleak [for] brain health for African Americans, what it also showed was that when you do art . . . and when you’re doing it in safe community spaces, the brain begins to adapt and function different cognitive pathways,” she says. “We do this work because this work is necessary. We absolutely need it.”
Over 40 women are involved with the storytelling project, which is rooted in Black revolutionary history. They learn from local and national quiltmakers, travel together every year, and work on what are called legacy or memory quilts.
They’re stitched with story-rich details, and no experience or materials are necessary. A few women have brought in old clothing from late family members, incorporating them into their quilts. Some have collaborative pieces with local artist Alicia Rheal, who paints the women’s portraits onto quilts.
A Remedial Road
During the meetups, the ladies enjoy heart-healthy meals and have wellness seminars on topics like blood pressure or breathing techniques.
Sparkman recalls a member sharing how much the group has helped her not to isolate, which is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s. Black women creating together in an intentional space is healing, she says. Period.
“It’s art, but it’s health equity,” Sparkman adds. “Art really can transform our society.”
Bianca Williams-Griffin, project management director at the Cottage, sees the quilting group’s benefits firsthand.
“We’ve seen people bounce back from some very serious interruptions in their health,” she says. “One lady told me, ‘I usually have some type of depressive episode at least once or twice a year. I haven’t had any since I’ve been in this group.’”
CATRINA SPARKMAN, CREATOR’S COTTAGE“Where can we all meet? We can all meet here around the quilting bee, around the table, because that’s what quilting bees were about . . . people gathering together and you’re sewing or you’re mending and you’re talking things out.”
What makes the Memory Collectors Storytelling Project so powerful is the storytelling part—happening in a safe, culturally-rooted community space.
“As Black women, I just feel like so often we are silenced or dismissed,” Williams-Griffin says. “What does that do to the psyche? What does that do to your cognition? . . . This was an opportunity for Black women to tell their stories and to be encouraged to talk, encouraged to create.”
Williams-Griffin says storytelling through quilting ensures history can’t be lost. Black women’s stories are honored and elevated in this space of belonging, support, and wellness.
Here, stories are not just shared, she says—but sacred.