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 4 SEPTEMBER 2006 NAKNEK 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. NAKNEK SEPTEMBER 2006 5
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