Packed house for Voices...

Aug 31

2 min read

Hamilton, OH – Quilts and poems. Music and dance. Education and creation.

More than 120 people celebrated the overlap among all these art forms during the Voices of the Soul of Black Folks community celebration Saturday, August 29 at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts.

Seven poets from around the state each chose a quilt from among the 33 in The Soul of Black Folks: 250 Years of Creativity, Innovation and Leadership exhibition - curated by Carolyn L. Mazloomi of West Chester – and created poems based on their quilts.

The poetry reading portion of the afternoon filled the Bever North gallery and overflowed into the surrounding corridors.

Among the highlights, Krista Franklin’s “Black Freedom Nebula: a meditation” came complete with an interpretive dance to illustrate L’Merchie Frazier’ “The Quilted Chronicles Series: Climate Change in my Head; Afro Future, A New World Coming.”

Manuel Iris read his “Declaration of Love and Struggle that should be read whole listening to African American spirituals or Caribbean songs” in both English and Spanish, punctuating the importance of Arturo Schomburg in multiple communities.

Charles F. Kettering Foundation artist-in-residence and Voices… poetry-reading curator Sierra Leone reflected on Carolyn Crump’s “Ketanji Brown Jackson: Lovely One,” saying (in part) “stitch threads of light/into the souls of Black folk/crying out from the seams of twoness.”

Guests enjoyed lunch and gallery tours before the poetry reading and a story-quilt workshop led by Learning Through Arts where they created their own squares afterward.

The Fitton Center presented Voices... in partnership with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. The Soul of Black Folks exhibition is part of Handwork 2026, presented by Craft in America.

The City of Hamilton sponsors the Fitton Center exhibition series, with Neil and Honi Cohen as supporting sponsors, Penny Brooks as exhibition sponsor and running in partnership with YWCA Hamilton.

The Soul of Black Folks exhibition remains on view through September 12. Regular gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10-5 Friday. Fitton Center galleries are always FREE and open to the public.

Enjoy some more photos from the Voices event in the gallery below.

The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.

Building Community Excellence through the Arts and Culture