The “Storyquilt of Old Kinterbish” mural is a collaboration between Garland Farwell, Mildred Delaine Black, students of Kinterbish Jr. High School and the Coleman Center for the Arts (CCA.) The three panel mural by Garland Farwell and Kinterbish students was installed in the entryway of Kinterbish Jr. High School. It features images inspired by Mildred Delaine Black’s book Twelve Plus, a personal memoir of her childhood and biography of her father, Lawrence Levi Delaine, who was instrumental in the founding of the Kinterbish School.
Black’s story exhibits her fathers dedication to family, education, community and civil rights throughout his lifetime. The Kinterbish school was founded in 1938. Assembled from the materials of an all white school whose students were being consolidated to the City of York, Kinterbish became the second school for African American students in all of Sumter County. Once built, students travelled as far as 10 miles each day by foot to attend school. For those who lived even further away “almost every door in the community was opened” to them. For the Delaine family this meant it’s six members and up to six additional student boarders, or as Black puts it, Twelve Plus, indicating there was always room for more when necessary.
In the spring of 2012 Black visited with the students of Kinterbish Jr. High School about the history of their school and community. She introduced them to several books written about local history by area citizens in addition to her own including The Heritage of Sumter County. Students identified their own friends and families that had been instrumental in the Kinterbish School, and heard stories about earlier times. In the following weeks students met with Farwell daily to transform the stories and ideas in Twelve Plus into images.
Each student received their own copy of Twelve Plus. Farwell then worked with students to help them visualize the stories, way of life and events in the book. They shared favorite quotes, made lists of objects and animals, and painted the characters, sites and objects that illuminate the story. The three panel mural is now installed in the school’s entry way. Two slender side panels are lined with the students original colorful images. A large center panel features Farwell’s vignettes, inspired by students drawings and passages from the book.
The “Storyquilt of Old Kinterbish” reflects both the Kiterbish community of yesteryear and that of today. It calls to mind a dedication to education and community unimaginable to most of us in the modern era, but reflects the vibrant efforts of todays community to understand and appreciate where we come from.
This project was made possible by support from the Alabama Arts Lisence Tag Committee, the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information please contact the Coleman Center for the Arts.
Garland Farwell holds a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design. His work has been show throughout the United States including at the Jonathon Shorr Gallery in New York City, and the Lincoln Center Museum for the Performing Arts. His work has been shown across the world in Germany, Scotland, South Africa, Brazil, Portugal, and Angola. He has taught drawing, sculpture and puppetry at Montclair Art Museum, the New York Public School System and the Rhode Island School of Design.
Mildred Black is a retired History teacher of LIvingston High School. She is a graduate of Kinterbish School, Alabama State University in Montgomery and Tuskegee University with a Masters in Education. She has served of President of Alabama State Legislative Club, and was married to the late Lucius Black, former Alabama State Representative of District 71. She is a Board Member of the Coleman Center for the Arts Board of Directors.