At noon on Wednesday, March 9, Yolande van Heerden will give the Art in Barnard Lecture in the Courtyard behind Barnard Observatory. This semester, the Art in Barnard Lecture will complement the Center’s yearlong theme of “Mississippi Voices” by featuring fiber artist and art instructor Yolande van Heerden of Greenwood, Mississippi. Van Heerden teaches a wide range of art classes, including sewing, quilting, and garment/fiber art projects. A native of South Africa, van Heerden celebrates her homeland’s cultural diversity through her community outreach work, and she draws up the richness of its fabric tradition in her own creations. She works as an art teacher for groups of small children, conducts courses in sewing at ArtPlace Mississippi, and has coordinated multiple community-wide quilting projects for organizations including the Museum of the Mississippi Delta.

In her SouthTalk, van Heerden will discuss some of the projects she has led in partnership with the nonprofit ArtPlace Mississippi. Projects have included community fashion shows, featuring clothing sewn by young Greenwood students, several community quilt creations sewn by both children and adults that reflect different social or natural themes, and public art programs, including “silent wind chimes” included in the Katrina Cottage project in Greenwood’s Baptist Town neighborhood and in the Keep Greenwood Strong campaign early in the pandemic.

 SouthTalks is a series of events (including lectures, performances, film screenings, and panel discussions) that explores the interdisciplinary nature of Southern Studies. This series is free and open to the public, and typically takes place in the Tupelo Room of Barnard Observatory. However, as a result of the ongoing health crisis, some events will be virtual, free, and accessible on the Center’s YouTube channel after each live event. Visit the Center’s website at southernstudies.olemiss.edu for more details.