“Sunshine” Joe Mallard’s hand-stitched quilts are a mix of patterns, colors, words and neck ties.
“My quilts chronicle history that happens over a long period of time, while it is happening,” Mallard said.
He took that approach to his “Obama Tie Quilt” which chronicles the first four years of President Barack Obama’s time in office. The piece was recently delivered to the Obama Presidential Center Museum to join its permanent collection.
The quilt took Mallard five and a half years to complete. He said he would spend six hours a day, six days a week working on the quilt.
He wanted to capture key moments from Obama’s first term.
“I couldn't stitch that fast, so I would take this book and just write, write, write every day,” Mallard said. “I would even put it beside my bed, and I would wake up dreaming tonight, I would write, and then I would just stitch.”
Mallard said he knew Obama's time as commander in chief would be cataloged in various ways.
“But I didn't think, and I still understand now, that no one else would sit and physically stitch this into a quilt,” Mallard said. “I thought that would be a different way of chronicling history for that significant period of time in American history, and I wanted it to be in his presidential center.”
Mallard’s dream was realized with the help of Louisville’s Frazier History Museum. Staff there got in contact with the museum to offer Mallard’s quilt to the collection.
“The Obama Presidential Center Museum collects materials that help to tell the story of the nation’s forty-fourth President as that story is framed within the broader context of United States and global history,” said Crystal Moten, curator of collections and exhibitions at the Obama Presidential Center Museum, in a statement. “I was delighted to accept the piece into the museum’s collection for its interpretative value as it relates to the history of the Obama Administration; because it connects to the importance of quilts and quilt-making practice in African American life, culture, and history…”
Mallard's introduction to quilting started when he was a child sitting on the porch with his great-great-grandmother in Summit, Mississippi.
He said he’d head home after school as no one wanted him on their sports teams.
“I felt so rejected because no one wanted me to play sports, and she pulled me close to her and said, ‘Don't worry about what people say you cannot do, but I want you to find something that you can do, and I want you to do it.’ And she allowed me to thread her needles,” Mallard said.
Mallard didn’t begin quilting in earnest until his adulthood, but the practice has taken center stage in his life.
He said when creating a new piece the planning process is minimal.
“I do simple sketches, not a lot of detail, but just simple sketches to have an outline to follow, and then it's all spontaneous,” Mallard said. “My attitude is, God is the source, and I am the vessel, and my inspiration comes, and as it's revealed to me, I created on the fabric.”
Mallard said his intricate, time-consuming quilts speak to the importance of seeing a project through.
“Anyone can start a project, but it takes a special person to finish what you start, and my quilts take an average of four to five years to complete,” Mallard said. “If you make a habit of starting and not finishing, then the habit that you create works against you. But if you make the habit of finishing what you start, you can accomplish great things.”
And in Mallard’s case seeing a project through could help get someone one step closer to their dreams coming true. The Obama Presidential Center Museum is expected to open in 2026.
