Hi, happy weekend! 

A few weeks ago, Colony Little previewed QuiltCon—an event that broke attendance records, with 29,000 (!) people turning out in Raleigh to see 600 quilts selected for the event. Afterward, Colony made an Instagram post featuring quilts with messages of social activism. It went viral, so I asked Colony to write about those quilts. It’s a beautiful piece about quilting as a radical medium, past and present. 

I was particularly struck by the description of a piece by Chapel Hill’s Ginny Robinson, a quilter and a teacher, who asked “colleagues across the country what objects they would use to fend off a school shooter and then rendered their answers in a series of black, appliquéd images placed against a yellow background.” 

Hope you’re able to get outside this weekend, even if the temperatures are—even by North Carolina standards!—doing some disorienting zigg-zagging. Thanks for reading.

Silvia Heyden, “Tybee,” 1967. Read our story on the Durham artist here. Photo courtesy of the Nasher Museum of Art.

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in the culture section

Speaking of the textile arts: I really enjoyed the Nasher Museum of Art’s exhibition on Silvia Heyden, a Durham-based (but Swiss-born) weaver who was educated in the Bauhaus tradition and whose majestic tapestries drew inspiration from music and local landscapes, in particular, the Eno River. Read my piece on the exhibit and Heyden’s love of local landscapes here. 

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival’s schedule is out. The April 16-19 festival features ​​49 films from 31 countries. I’d like to see Mother Lidia, Seized, and the two Garrett Bradley documentaries that are part of the festival’s thematic tribute. 

Last week’s newsletter spotlighted Soif, a minimalist new downtown Durham cafe/bar designed for ducking in for an espresso/beer and a short chat. Eve, another new bar on the scene, has a different vibe: Moody and lush, the bar is full of plants—a nod to its Edenic theme—and designed for lingering. It’s nice to have both options. 

ICYMI: Southern Roots.BOOM Club. Critters.

around the triangle

Third Friday returns next week, March 20, in Durham with a collaborative community mural for women’s history month. There are several festivals next weekend, including Cosmic Rays Film Festival, the Carrboro Django Reinhardt Festival, and the Big Pop Show—more on those last two events next week.  

Hopscotch, it seems, is on for this year. Durham artist Anjimile has a new album out and was profiled in The New York Times. The final recordings of beloved Chapel Hill musician Reese McHenry, who passed away in November 2024, are now out.

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— Sarah Edwards —
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Sarah Edwards is culture editor of the INDY, covering cultural institutions and the arts in the Triangle. She joined the staff in 2019 and assumed her current role in 2020.