Neighbor Featured Artist #6: Jody Palm

Artist Quilts Her Way To Warm Reception
Since we’re now feeling the first real chill of the season – that bone-deep cold that creeps down from the high places – it’s nice that there’s a mountain art form that keeps you warm. So it’s also nice to have a neighbor who quilts. In that spirit, I’d like to introduce you to Jody Palm. Jody is a good example of just how strong a pull the mountains have on the abundantly creative. In fact, her story demonstrates that the Appalachian lure is both powerful and contagious.
Born in Winnetka, Illinois, and a resident of the upper Midwest for most of her life, Jody Palm’s connection to the mountain South came through not one but two degrees of separation. “My parents had retired to Northeast Tennessee, but they were ‘recruited’ to the area by friends who’d retired here earlier,” she says. She made the move to Greeneville herself in 2000, in part to help her mother, who was widowed, but also from having reached ‘burn-out level’ in her career in Chicago as a consultant in technical writing and training for the software industry. “To tell you the truth, I wasn’t that happy to move here, but then I wasn’t happy about much at the time,” she says. “But I soon fell in love with the slower pace and small-town embrace of Greeneville.” In her former life in Illinois, Jody’s artistry was expressed through music and theater. “I could sing before I could talk,” she recalls. Her choral experiences in high school led to formal voice training when she entered the University of Northern Illinois. The owner of a magnificent contralto vocal instrument, Jody found that both her musical ability and comic acting skills made her sought after in the theater. This propelled her into direct conflict with her father. “He wanted me to major in accounting. I decided to get my degree in theater. It got so heated, it was years before we were able to reconcile. But we did!” After working in the Chicago professional theater, Jody found it better suited her temperament to take a more free-lance approach to performance, and indulged her muse with a professional carol-singing group, solo engagements specializing in German lieder, and work with the Chicago Symphony Chorus. In 2000, the opportunity to move south to Greeneville appeared. With her creative approach to life, Jody chose to make the most of it. “Among other things, I realized that Northeast Tennessee was the perfect place for me to take up quilting, which I’d always wanted to do.”
Quilting proved to be the perfect connection between Jody and her new home. Mentored by Peggy Konski and the Newcomer Quilters group in Greeneville, she not only mastered the art but now teaches it to others. “Initially I loved quilting for its use of geometric forms and colors,” she says. “Then I found even more to appreciate in realizing that the pattern squares generate secondary designs when they’re put together.” A good example is found at the center of her ‘Christmas Star’ piece. The process of perfecting of her technique provided Jody with the chance to give back to the Greeneville community in the making of quilts for Holston Home, the Hope Center, Smokey Mountain Hospice, and Baptist Family Ministries. “I did an “I love Sports’ quilt for the Laws family when their quadruplets were born. With four newborns in the family, one of the other children needed a reminder that he was still special.” A particularly striking piece was done for the Seventh Day Adventist Church using a variation on the ‘King David’s Crown’ pattern. Jody’s membership in the Jonesborough Old Town Quilter’s Guild provided the inspiration for ‘Psychedelic Kitty’, when guild members were asked to create pieces that matched interior paint samples with compatible fabrics. Several of Jody’s quilts have been featured in the American Quilting Society’s yearly Art Quilt calendars. Most of her pieces have received ribbons, including Best of Show designations, in competition. Having mastered the traditional patterns, and comfortable with both hand and machine stitching (“I put in a lot of stitches!”), Jody is known for her unique, contemporary designs. She is fascinated with the Japanese notan technique, in which patterns combine to generate new images. She has also taken inspiration from both Kandinsky and Matisse in creating art quilts that are similar to collage. “More and more I’m focused on ‘art quilts. I like to choose colors that challenge me and to incorporate embellishments such as beads.”
Ultimately, Jody has found that her move to the mountain South has expanded her creative spirit and enabled her to make a life with the variety of interests she loves. In addition to quilting, she has continued her music and theatrical performances, including a marvelous turn as Katisha in Theater-At-Tusculum’s Mikado. She has re-awakened the interest in cultivating roses that goes back to her maternal grandfather, ‘Gramps’, who helped her finish college and become the first member of her family to do so. Currently she is vice-president of the Greene County Rose Society. Even though her family roots are in the North (“I’m a Yankee back to 1634”), she has developed an interest in genealogy and found one of the best resources for exploring it right in downtown Greeneville. “Don Miller at the Cox Library has been wonderful in helping me do research, even though my ancestors aren’t from this area,” she says. “Working with him both on my projects and on his has helped me open up an interest in the local history and feel more a part of the community.” In other words, each aspect of Jody Palm’s creative spirit has been able to flourish here in Northeast Tennessee. She is definitely an ‘artist neighbor’ you should get to know.
Jody Palm’s quilts are available locally and proudly displayed at James-Ben: Studio & Gallery.