Louisville artist’s quilt headed to the Obama Presidential Center

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Joe Mallard is a Louisville artist who loves to surround himself with youth so he can share his knowledge and love of quilting. He shares the history, beauty and what it means to the culture of the people who make them.

It was a young person who gave him the nickname Sunshine Joe because he shone just as bright as the sun. Joe is just beaming as he shares a piece of artwork that took him more than a decade to complete.

“The more you look at it the more you can see here,” exclaimed Sunshine Joe.

Joe shared a tapestry of moments in time, colorful cloth, and a celebration of #44, President Barack Obama, all stitched by the hands of Sunshine Joe Mallard, his Obama Tie Quilt.

“If you look here it says self-control, humility. Those are important to me. I saw these same values in Barack Obama,” explained Sunshine Joe.

This is Sunshine Joe’s very first quilt. He began work on the quilt June 18, 2008.

“By Sunshine Joe and it tells the date I started,” explains Sunshine Joe as he points to a date stitched on the quilt. “Isn’t that interesting, June 18, 2008?”

Remember the date. It took Sunshine Joe 16 years to finish his first quilt and reach “his” dream for his Obama Tie Quilt to find its way to the Obama Presidential Center. A lofty dream for any quilt maker.

“Live life now,” proclaims Sunshine Joe. “I wanted to encourage young people: don’t wait till tomorrow. Live your life now and begin to follow your dream.”

Just like Sunshine Joe whose dream came true as his quilt was accepted into the collection of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. And do you remember that date?

“I actually started June 18, 2008, and we are shipping it June 18, 2024,” said Sunshine Joe. “How much better can you get? It’s almost unbelievable. It’s almost unbelievable.”

Mallard never imagined that the gift of stitching that he learned from his Great-Grandmother Mandy Green, who was born into slavery, would garner him such acclaim. He also embroidered a shirt for the late President Jimmy Carter in the 1970s which is now in the Carter Presidential Library. The Louisville artist is living his dream and leaving a legacy.

“I just can’t believe it,” smiled Sunshine Joe. “That it’s happening.”

Joe Mallard’s work is also on display at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky, and at the Frazier History Museum in Louisville. Learn more at fraziermuseum.org.