Meet Beverly Kirk

We recently connected with Beverly Kirk and have shared our conversation below.

Beverly, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

Two guiding quotes have been impactful on my life. Three generations of African American female parents placed a weight on my shoulders to stand tall, be brave and to keep moving forward. I now recognize my own self-esteem as I have dreams and sense of urgency into the lives of my three children. The first life quote that I posted notes on their bedroom mirrors from Dr. Benjamin E. Mays whose title said “Life is Just a Minute”
“I’ve only just a minute, Only sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon me, can’t refuse it,
Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it,
But it’s up to me to use it. I must suffer if I lose it,
Give an account if I abuse it,
Just a tiny little minute, But eternity is in it.
The other life quote was from a poem entitled DESIDERATA on the library wall of my Historically Black Colleges and Universities in 1971as a Freshman student. From that day forward I’ve found life to be full of wonder and uncertainties. f wonder and uncertainties. “As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons…… Speak the truth quietly and clearly… Avoid loud and aggressive persons….etc”
After retirement, the act of sewing together bit of beautiful fabric, the hum of the sewing machine and the process of quilting fulfilled my being. I planned on gardening, travelling and making beauty. Max Ehrmann’s poem said I could enjoy my achievements as well as my plans. The past ten years that I have moved through my retirement; I’ve kept interested in my quilting career (however humble). This medium of fiber art and visual art is my possession in the changing fortunes of life. I’m loving my family and my community at large. I seek wholesome disciplines, and I am confidently gentle with myself. My artistic quilts confirm that I am part of a universe that is unfolding as it should.
The Poems of Max Ehrmann edited by Bertha Ehrmann
published by Bruce Humphries, Inc. 1948

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

WHAT I DO:
I quilt. I am a teacher. I’m an artist. My career going forward is simply because I love to quilt. I let the fabric speak for me. I am a maker. Stitching together pieces of fabric that honor the lives of men and women who toiled and walked before me. I create a collage by layering words, images and colors that may match or contrast in order to tell our shared human stories.

My first attempt to quilt was in the aftermath and loneliness and sadness followed my fathers’ death. I found a pattern and I took his “high-end, silk ties” to sew into a quilt design. The pattern was much to intricate for my skill base, so my mother suggested I make two large pillows! But the act gave me such a sense of serenity and inner healing as I held his ties, placing right sides together to form something new! I was contentedly hooked into making keepsake quilts for myself and others.

I’ve since mastered advanced quilt block styles and techniques from crazy quilting, applique, traditional and improvisational. I’ve found my color range; my stitch length and I delight in teaching others -transforming themselves as we gather and women find their inner voice and strength in the construction methods of quilting all kinds of fabric.

WHY DO I QUILT PATTERNS AND IMAGES I LOVE?
I’ll never be too old the learn a few new stitches. In 2008, I actually won a seven-day quilt cruise and was introduced to the love of paper piecing. My motivation keeps growing as I step into so many new arenas of fiber art. I now curate quilt exhibits that have cultural connections the African American and Native American community in my city. My imagination is stretched as I learn about the meanings of the Underground Railroad Quilt story, or the uniqueness of the 13 Historical Black Town in Oklahoma. I formed and stitched the facial features of Bass Reeves who was a former slave and honestly served for 32 years as one of the first Deputy U.S. Marshal in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma).

I quilted and honored the Black Revolution of my generation when 3 Olympians each raised a black-gloved fist during in Mexico City on October 16, 1968. For almost ten years, Oklahoma’s National Cowboy Hall of Fame hosts provided a platform for exhibiting and storytelling of my creative quilts! Recently, I volunteered to act as a Regional Representative for Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) just to see another whole realm of fabric stitchery featured in surface art scenery. I founded and created the first Black quilter guild in NE Oklahoma City in 2022 and over 20 women are donating quilts to at-risk youth while they are growing exponentially in their quilting journey. My own mentorship was with Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi and the phenomenal Women Of Color Quilters Network (WCQN). My quilts reside in San José Museum of Art (CA) and several book publications over the past tens years. Acclaimed quarterly QUILTFOLK Issue 31 featured the artistic talents of Oklahoma fiber arts and I found myself to be one of the dedicated and lucky quilters to be featured (Fall 2024)

I am astonished that my first set of grief-quilting has blossomed and healed and fulfills my continuing life journey.

PLEASE TELL OUR READERS ABOUT ANYTHING NEW / EVENTS, NEWS, PRODUCT/SERVICE LAUNCHES/EPANSION.

Some days, I don’t know what drives me to my computer and into my sewing studio. Everyday I carry the teachings, struggles and achievements of my “Missing Enslaved parental lineage” but I hear my parents voice imparting knowledge, confidence and that sense of Do Something Great everyday.

As I quilt everyday, I can’t resist the opportunity to answer a CALL TO ENTER by local and national exhibits and magazines. I’ve developed some measure of success within the fast-paced social mediums of YouTube, Blogging and Bquiltin Studio has become my handle/name across the quilting industry. SAQA is inviting me to participate in creating themed quilt arts as small as 6” x 8 inches, and another I stretched again as the opportunity arose for my Butterfly quilt to be featured on their 2027 inspired Calendar! I’m a teaching artist for the Oklahoma City Arts Council and I have deepened friendships with 16 senior women who quilt and feature an Annual Older Adults Arts Festival. I’m teaching and lecturing on topics of choice at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX this fall 2025. I dreamed of a good retirement with my family and husband, and by God’s grace and mercy, I am a happy camper!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Three qualities: Unwittingly I absorbed “stuff” from my mom and dad and five siblings. I lived and loved and cherished my sheltered growing up days in a small segregated town. I was somewhat unaware of how keenly I transmitted values, attitudes and raw strength into my two girls and my son. My husband has shared the paths set before us. Those qualities can be loosely stated:
• Believe you can do it… and do it better!
• Think and speak clearly, mentally you need to know your trade
• And lastly, be humble and nice and caring as God requires.
One of my grandmother’s family motto was “Think first – Don’t be slow and simple”

So after a lifetime of raising our kids: I planned to be free and to be Beverly. I wanted afternoon tea, and a flower garden and I knew how to sew. My heart experience profound grief, and my hands took to the needle and thread to heal in the making of a quilt. Quilting is my meditation, my voice in social interaction and injustices upon African Americans. It’s my calling to create something beautiful while I gather, sit and stitch with wholesome female friends in my community – far and wide. It’s a teaching avenue, sharing and transmitting values and helping others to believe they can do it (whatever the task) and then strive to be better every day in every way.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I mentioned being wonderfully sheltered in my African American circles of work, church, neighborhoods, college, my children’s circle of friends, etc. To this day, I have found that I wear rose colored – a safe set of lens in my quilting and fiber artist realm. I dream big dreams that I see come to fruition in other major cities like Atlanta, Dallas, St. Louis, Los Angeles. The quilt work is vast in its scope and the industry reaps millions of dollars and tons of good will among people.

I don’t really know HOW to do it. But I need to collaborate, reach out and learn to trust, interact and connects to other creatives that have a much broad read than I currently do. Black Americans find safety in holding their family, beliefs and handiwork close. But here later in life, safekeeping does not let me leave the legacy I envision. I believe something as simple as a REGIONS QUILT EXHIBIT can have Asian, Native American, mental and medically challenged person, Christian, non Christian LGTB communities, even opposing political ideals – THE SIMPLE ACT JOINING THREAD AND FABRIC.
I stay in a learning mode and I purposefully make friends in hoping God will bring creative, connecting relationships together.
I DREAM OF SPONSORING AND HAVING ANNUAL ART FESTIVALS THAT ALLOW IS TO BE BEAUTIFUL CONVERSATIONS WITH MANY PEOPLE. I need to experience it and I need collaborative DREAMERS and resourceful doers to help me as I am aging gracefully. I am in a hurry to Live Well and the Live LONG… and to leave an impact on the next generations.

I feel like this interview is letting me vent…. who knows what will be edited…. or who will read and join my journey.

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