ATHENS, Ohio — Celebrating community, traditions and creativity, the Athens Quilt Trail on display throughout Uptown this winter invites the public to contribute to a collaborative art project.
The public is invited to create art at four interactive, educational stops along the Uptown trail. The trail is a project by Caroline Murphy, a graduate student at Ohio University. It received funding from Mid Atlantic Arts’ Central Appalachia Living Traditions program and Ohio University.
Murphy is a third-year masters of fine arts candidate in graphic design, and also holds a masters in arts administration.
The quilt trail is the “culmination of a big research project that I did for the arts administration degree, and then also what I wanted to do for graduate school,” she said.
Murphy’s trail is an ‘homage’ to quilt barns, she said, which were created in 2001, by Appalachian Ohioan Donna Sue Groves to honor her mother. Now, quilt barns are a staple in the Ohio countryside.
Murphy received about $7,000 in funding, produced a 72-page research paper and experimented for about two years to develop the project, including demos at Pawpaw Festival and Living Traditions.
Murphy grew up in South Charleston, West Virginia, around quilt displays, and later grew to appreciate the “Appalachian quilt craft.” Quilting is the act of sewing three layers of fabric together, usually with an insular filling in between.
“There’s just something so special about quilting where it is comfort, it’s care, it’s generosity,” Murphy said. “And I started looking more into the craft and the history of it, and it’s so community-based.”
Murphy acknowledged that while quilting is an Appalachian craft, the fabric art is found worldwide, across cultures and time immemorial. The quilt trail incorporates information about quilting worldwide, including the significance of patterns and their origins.
Each location along the quilt trail features an interactive art activity, from stamp-printing to photography. In thanks for participation, Murphy offers a prize after each activity, too.
“You basically come in and you interact with the artwork itself, like in whatever business you go in, you sign your name, if you would like it to appear in the art show, and then you walk up to the front desk of whatever place you’re in and you just say, ‘I participated in the Athens Quilt Trail. Can I pick my prize?’”
Murphy sourced over 400 prizes from about a dozen local artists and organizations. These include small tokens of gratitude such as temporary tattoos, stickers, decorative statues, keychains and more.
“I wanted to really connect all aspects of the creative community,” Murphy said. “I really want to bring in local people that are just like creative individuals that want to come and participate in art activities with their friends, family and their community; I wanted to connect working artists … and then also the local businesses that are here to facilitate that idea of community.”
The Uptown locations along the trail are Athena Cinema, Bleeding Heart Vintage, Court Street Coffee and Little Professor Book Center. The quilt trail runs through Feb. 27; visit the businesses during their regular hours.
After completion, the work will be displayed March 3–May 1 at Donkey Coffee, 17 W. Washington St. The opening reception will be catered and is slated for 5 p.m. March 6 at Donkey. Select works will be permanently displayed at the Athens Community Center, 701 E. State St., and United Campus Ministry, 18 N. College St.
“Depending on how successful this is, I might want to implement different versions of it in other spaces or even think about expanding it,” Murphy said.
Court Street Coffee, 67 S. Court St.
Murphy hand-crafted quilt square stamps for this spot along the trail. The public is invited to pick from the stamps and create their own pattern on a fabric banner. The exhibition includes a booklet that talks about each stamp and its pattern’s origins.
For Murphy, the stamps reflect that quilting is not just “popular and prevalent in America and part of our history and all of this, but also as it is — this true international craft that is based in the human experience.”
Little Professor Book Center, 65 S. Court St.
Little Professor features the Athens Quilt Trail displays and interactive art-making. Provided by Caroline Murphy. January 2026.
The quilt trail stop at Little Professor draws inspiration from the eight-pointed star quilt pattern, Murphy said.
“There’s this very regimented pattern of the eight-pointed star, one of the oldest patterns to ever exist,” Murphy said. ”It’s a super old pattern and it’s seen in almost every human culture that exists in the world.”
Murphy said the star, however, is variable — each one is individual, shaped by its maker. The interactive art at Little Professor is a take on the variable star pattern, a type of eight-pointed star.
Each variable star at the book shop asks participants to respond to prompts with writings or drawings, such as, “What’s a message you have for a stranger that’s reading this? What’s your favorite part about living in Athens? Draw a self portrait. Draw a picture of you and your best friend,” Murphy said.
This version of the variable star asks people to “make it your own and tell your own story and talk about who you are … kind of wanting people to think about not only themselves as an individual, but also what role they play in their community,” Murphy said. “And also just thinking about what are ways that you can also kind of give back.”
Athena Cinema, 21 S. Court St.
A quilt-inspired illustration — for the community to color in — is the Athena Cinema stop, Murphy said. The illustration, a composite view of Athens, is “like a really big coloring book page,” she said.
“It’s ready for people to come in and add their own touch about, what’s your favorite part about community? What are your favorite hobbies? Do you have any pets?” Murphy said. “You can add a little bit of your experience of living here to the mural and see what other people really enjoy about living in this space.”
Bleeding Heart Boutique, 28 ½ E. State St.
The Athens Quilt Trail stop at Bleeding Heart Boutique will create “through-lines” of community, Murphy said — and visually depict the community. Participants can take pictures of themselves or others, and those photos will serve as quilt squares.
“I have an instant film camera,” Murphy said. “You can take a selfie, or you can take a picture of something — whatever works, it’ll instantly print it. You just put four hole punches in the corner, write a message, write your name, whatever you want … And then you just weave it into the photo hanging and — boom, you’re a part of the tapestry of the community.”
Visit the Athens Quilt Trail website for more information.
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