c-45 pp 4-5 Sept.indd

Quilt Shows Landform
Map of Denali Park
By Kris Capps
T
he star of the show at the
Denali Quilters’ Annual Fundraiser Auction this summer
was not for sale.
That is where Denali Quilters unveiled their latest project: a one-of-akind “educational” Denali Landform
Quilt. The project took four years
and 1,000 hours to create.
The 12-foot-by-12-foot quilt is
made from thousands of tiny pieces of fabric, with 13,600 pixels in ¾inch squares making up the center to
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create a landform map of the 6 million acres of Denali National Park.
A pixel is a small element that
helps make up a bigger picture.
Along the border are squares representing close-up views of different
land-cover types in the park.
The lines of quilting—100 hours
worth—were meticulously placed in
the same spot as topographic lines,
outlining the park’s boundary, highlighting river drainages and showing
contour intervals of 2,500 feet.
As one quilter observed, “This is
a melding of art and science.”
The park’s research administrator, Lucy Tyrrell, got the idea for the
landform quilt while attending the
Ecological Society of America meeting in 2002. An avid quilter, she noticed a poster that showed two quilts
specifically created to interpret ecological properties to the public.
“I said, ‘Hmmm, I think Denali
Quilters can make a quilt map showing the land-cover types of Denali
National Park,’ ” she remembers
thinking. “I think we can—and we
did, in a big way, with a big quilt.”
The map is based on a satellite
image of the park and includes 22
land-cover types—plus shadow.
They are depicted in different
colored pixels. The fabrics match
colors selected by park staff when it
classified the composite image into
land-cover types. The pixel size was
selected to be small enough to clearly show map features, like the Alaska
Range, yet large enough to be practical to sew.
That is where the science came
in. Jon Paynter, a park expert helped
with GIS software, turning a satellite image into something the quilters could re-create.
“Jon was able to help us adjust the
composite photos,” says Lucy. “The
original map was made of 83 million
pixels. When you look at it, you don’t
even see the pixels. It’s like a photograph. We needed to change the pixel size so we could see the pixels.”
Individual creativity came in with
the 22 squares that fill the border
of the quilt. Each depicts a close-up
view of selected plants and animals.
There is the nose of a Dall sheep
Above, quilters hand stitch the binding to
the quilt. Below, the quilt is prepared for
the unveiling.
and curl of its horn among rock and
mountain avens.
There is the hind end of a swan
feeding in a pond and blocks showing colorful vegetation.
Each quilter designed a border
block, which together provides an
illustrated legend for the map.
Lucy says it was incredible how
Denali Quilters depicted all these
land-cover type features in incredibly wonderful ways. While some of
the quilters are biologists, many are
not, and they relied on the their experiences in the park.
“It was such a collective effort.
No one person could have done it,
because they are all so different.,”
Lucy says.
The week before the unveiling, quilters gathered to hand sew
the binding. Like an old-fashioned
quilting bee, they sat in a large 12foot-by-12-foot circle around the
quilt, hands busily sewing.
Most of them had not seen the actual quilting yet, and were excited to
get a firsthand look at the final results of their collective handiwork.
The unveiling was especially exciting for the quilters. When the
sheet dropped from the quilt during
a special ceremony, Lucy says the reaction was wonderful.
“It was not quite like the sound
when fireworks happen, but close,”
she says. “There was kind of an ‘ooh’
and ‘ahhh’ and ‘oh wow.’ It was actually quite emotional, because here
was this wonderful crowd of people,
including everyone who had contributed, at this final moment.”
Denali Quilters say the quilt,
which weighs 17 pounds, will never
be sold or raffled, but will be used
for display and educational purposes. They are determining guidelines
for how that will work.
“This is the exciting part now, to
have people share it,” says Lucy. “I
hope it travels far and wide.”
Its first trip will be to that same
ecological meeting in August.
Lucy will hand carry it there.
“I want this couple to know it was
their poster that gave me the kernel
of the idea,” she says.
The quilt and a poster explaining
its creation process, will be on display at a gathering of scientists at
Denali National Park September 12
to 14. Q
For more information about the Denali
Landform Quilt, contact Lucy Tyrrell at
(907) 683-5446.
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