June10, 2025
In a world as stressful and crazy and difficult as it is right now, so many times we’re told to build community and find community and work in your community. That’s great advice, but what about your creative community? Do the same rules apply?
Our first person for 30 Days of Dopamine 2025 is Kristin Barrus, an academic quiltmaker who specializes in studying quilt communities. I found Kristin because she used our panel from Oracle as an example of how the rotary cutter has changed the world of quilting. She did her master’s thesis on QuiltCon and is currently working on her doctorate from the University of Leicester focusing on Gen X Woman Entrepreneurs in the Quilt World. Yes that’s a lot of words, but what it boils down to is Kristin is the expert for how quilters interact with each other. For our chat, talked about the role getting together, either in person on online, plays in building connection and creativity.
Make sure to watch the full interview with Kristin on our YouTube channel here.
As always, if you don’t have time to watch it all because life happens, here’s the tldr highlights for you:
- The quilting community is one where everyone can learn from everyone else. Yes, we have people we fangirl over, but no one person is in charge of innovating. We look to each other.
- Going out into your community doesn’t have to be a big event (like going to QuiltCon or Paducah or Quilt Market). Something as simple as going to your local quilt shop counts as a pilgrimage that can change you and your creative energy.
- Communitas is an anthropological concept that takes place when people comes together in an unstructured environment, like wandering the aisles of a shop or a show, and everyone there feeds off each other to build an experience beyond the physical aspects of their surroundings. Aka the vibes.
Your goal for this week is to think about your creative community, online counts! And go out into it and get inspired.
