impossible to overstate the sheer joy, love, gratitude, and overwhelm i am feeling in this moment. i have revered
@theharveyfierstein for literally my entire life. as a young child i saw myself in his unabashedly queer Uncle Frank in my favorite movie, MRS. DOUBTFIRE. as a 14-year-old i saw myself in his frumpy-to-fabulous matriarch Edna Turnblad (from the fourth row!) in HAIRSPRAY on Broadway. when i was older i saw myself in his plays, choosing the third act of his trilogy SAFE SEX for my final directing project in college. at literally every stage of my life, Harvey, his work, and the exuberant, singular, deep-feeling queerness he brings to every project have lit a path for me as i’ve worked to discover where i belong as a queer human being, as an actor pursuing TGNC roles, as a multi-hyphenate artist wondering where to put my energy, which projects matter most to me, who my work is for, where i really belong.
when Harvey took up quilting during the pandemic, i was IMMEDIATELY tuned in. he became obviously prolific VERY quickly — i was truly enraptured by one of my all-time favorite artists suddenly generating an enormous, stunning body of work in an entirely new medium. Harvey stitches queer history, personal stories, and deeply evocative portraiture into his (gigantic!) quilts; photos of these pieces over the last few years have consistently taken my breath away. so when he announced the first-ever exhibition of his quilting work was coming to
@keelertavernmuseum , i knew i had to be there. the event was more thrilling than i could have imagined — the quilts in person are genuinely GOBsmacking (the detail! the SIZE! the colors & textures!!! the STORYTELLING!! 😭), and Harvey himself couldn’t have been warmer, more generous, more effortlessly effervescent. sometimes meeting your heroes is exactly the right move.
photos 2-10 by me 📸 photo 1 of Harvey and me by my darling
@lizakitch who, with her love of quilting and trusty Subaru, made this pilgrimage to the Berkshires a reality & a vital, deeply gratifying creative excursion for the both of us. 💖
#harveyfierstein #quilting #queer #artist #art #exhibit
