About the Transatlantic Rising Stars Residency
In 2026, Ally Nolan was selected for the Transatlantic Rising Stars Programme, a residency at McColl Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, supported by the European Union Delegation to the United States. The programme brought together artists across disciplines, with strands including visual artists, musicians and directors. During the residency, Ally worked alongside quilter Beverly Smith and fibre artist Nastassja Swift, developing new work through conversation, exchange, workshops and shared studio practice. She also engaged with a cohort of ten textile artists through a workshop led by Nastassja Swift, extending the residency beyond the studio into a wider community of makers. The experience opened a dialogue between Irish, African American and Southern textile histories, considering how cloth can hold stories that were not always formally recorded.
From The Heart / Ón Croí (2026)
287 × 182.88 cm
Handmade and machine-sewn log cabin quilt patterns with Celtic knot motifs, appliquéd vintage log cabin quilt blocks, and digitally printed, top-stitched canvas incorporating scanned quilt patterns and digitally printed figures.
This work began with a gift: a vintage log cabin quilt block passed from Beverly to Ally upon her arrival from Ireland to Charlotte. The gesture sparked conversations around Irish and African American cultural histories, and the role textiles play in carrying memory. Coming from cultures with strong oral traditions, where histories were not always formally recorded, they reflected on how stories are often carried through cloth. The textile becomes the text.
Symbolising the hearth, the heart of the home, and a safe place to land, the log cabin quilt block became the foundation for the collaboration. Its associations with refuge, shelter and safe passage, along with its place within stories linked to the Underground Railroad, added another layer of meaning. The block became a shared point of connection, opening a dialogue between the artists about memory, history and cultural inheritance.
During the residency, Beverly taught Ally how to make a log cabin quilt and generously shared quilts from her archive. The central collaborative panel emerged from this exchange, combining scans of Beverly’s quilt with colours drawn from the log cabin quilt she taught Ally to make. Digitally printed and stitched on canvas, the panel is positioned between the traditional and contemporary quilts, forming a bridge between the two. Ally’s section begins with Celtic knot motifs, tracing connections between Irish and Southern textile traditions.
The artists also chose to place themselves within the quilt. Rather than functioning as portraits, the figures honour a wider lineage of women makers whose stories often went unrecorded, yet whose hands and skills sustained these traditions. In including themselves within the work, the artists acknowledge both their responsibility to carry these traditions forward and the privilege of leaving a record of their own.
At its heart, the work is a record of friendship, exchange, and the generosity of opening one’s home, culture and traditions to another.
