Steven Garner Quilting Studio Support

I've known Steven Garner since 2008, when we met in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. I was working on the Grace Before Dying documentary project about the hospice program where both the caregivers and patients are incarcerated. Steven, a deeply caring and committed hospice volunteer, was one of a dozen volunteers who also sewed quilts to support the patients and raise money for the program. I collaborated with Steven (a lead artist) and all the quilters to create two traveling exhibitions and a book that told the story of the LSP Hospice Program through quilts and photographs. The quilts were seen by tens of thousands of people around the country and are now part of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History & Culture Collection and the Historic New Orleans Collection.

Steven was released from LSP in 2022 and is working to rebuild his quilting practice. He has already started creating quilts that honor the organizations that supported him inside, like the Louisiana - Mississippi Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and The Visiting Room Project. For Steven, quilting is both a creative and a community-building practice. Please help Steven equip a quilting studio with a new, more durable sewing machine, a tabletop quilting frame, tools, materials, and accessories.