"The Next Step" is an occasional feature and video series on people in West Virginia who've taken a creative idea or brainstorm to the next step and begun to make it real.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Until 2009, Anna Love had never stepped foot in the Mountain State nor put needle to quilt. So, how is it that in July 2010, you can visit RockstarQuilts.com, the seedling of her idea to create a woman-powered, nonprofit, celebrity-driven quilting company in rural West Virginia?
"The short answer is, I have no idea," said Love, laughing. She sits on the porch of an off-the-grid home near Pax, built by her "boyfriend, partner and colleague" Paul Corbit Brown, a human-rights photographer who figures in this tale.
The longer answer is a colorful and peripatetic one. It touches on mountaintop removal coal mining, high-end Sonoma weddings and -- Love fervently hopes -- Brad Pitt's jeans or Willie Nelson's bandannas turned into quilts stitched by rural West Virginia women.
Her journey begins 36 years ago in the Soviet state of Moldova. Born "Anna Lapushner," she soon arrived in New York along with her émigré family as a Russian-speaking 5-year-old.
Growing up, an art history degree from Vassar figures in along the way, work in London and Madrid, then a stint in the Big Apple as a twentysomething marketing associate in the heady dotcom boom days.
"I was the team leader on the first Ad Council and Davos websites, wrote one of the first search engine optimization strategies and was eventually creating online marketing strategy for Fortune 500 companies," she recalled. "I thought I would have an art gallery one day and sell art. Suddenly, I'm in this lifestyle. I'm 23 years old, I'm being flown across the country meeting executives."
She soon hit a crossroads. Earn an MBA and advance to even cooler corporate suites? Or heed her Moldovan brother's urging and follow him into the world of venture capital? Or maybe try something completely different?
She chose completely different.
"I was planning my wedding at the time. [I thought] this is a party and everybody's happy. I thought photographing weddings would be a lot of fun," she said.
Her marriage didn't last; the new career did. For the past nine years, up until about a year ago, she has worked full time photographing high-end weddings and upscale families in Northern California. You can see her work at KilbridgePhotography.com. (She dropped her wedded name upon divorce in favor of "Anna Love," but kept it for her ongoing photo business.)
"Anna Love" is a celebrity-sounding name that fits into the next turn in the road of her life.
While living in California, she saw a documentary protesting mountaintop removal mining. Featured at the screening was mountaintop removal activist and Boone County native Maria Gunnoe, a 2009 winner of a prestigious award for the world's top grass-roots activists, the Goldman Environmental Prize.
"I met her and I asked if I could contribute with my photography. She said, 'I believe you can.' Well, when a powerful woman like Maria Gunnoe looks you in the eye and says you can do something, you believe her," said Love.
She initially planned on coming to West Virginia for two to four weeks. She was put in touch with Paul Corbit Brown, a photographer who has documented the impact of mountaintop removal and traveled the world photographing dispossessed people.
Things happen. She was charmed by both Brown and West Virginia. She settled into the state for a much longer commitment. "You know, there's something really beautiful and magical here," Love said.
"The Next Step" is an occasional feature and video series on people in West Virginia who've taken a creative idea or brainstorm to the next step and begun to make it real.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Until 2009, Anna Love had never stepped foot in the Mountain State nor put needle to quilt. So, how is it that in July 2010, you can visit RockstarQuilts.com, the seedling of her idea to create a woman-powered, nonprofit, celebrity-driven quilting company in rural West Virginia?
"The short answer is, I have no idea," said Love, laughing. She sits on the porch of an off-the-grid home near Pax, built by her "boyfriend, partner and colleague" Paul Corbit Brown, a human-rights photographer who figures in this tale.
The longer answer is a colorful and peripatetic one. It touches on mountaintop removal coal mining, high-end Sonoma weddings and -- Love fervently hopes -- Brad Pitt's jeans or Willie Nelson's bandannas turned into quilts stitched by rural West Virginia women.
Her journey begins 36 years ago in the Soviet state of Moldova. Born "Anna Lapushner," she soon arrived in New York along with her émigré family as a Russian-speaking 5-year-old.
Growing up, an art history degree from Vassar figures in along the way, work in London and Madrid, then a stint in the Big Apple as a twentysomething marketing associate in the heady dotcom boom days.
"I was the team leader on the first Ad Council and Davos websites, wrote one of the first search engine optimization strategies and was eventually creating online marketing strategy for Fortune 500 companies," she recalled. "I thought I would have an art gallery one day and sell art. Suddenly, I'm in this lifestyle. I'm 23 years old, I'm being flown across the country meeting executives."
She soon hit a crossroads. Earn an MBA and advance to even cooler corporate suites? Or heed her Moldovan brother's urging and follow him into the world of venture capital? Or maybe try something completely different?
She chose completely different.
"I was planning my wedding at the time. [I thought] this is a party and everybody's happy. I thought photographing weddings would be a lot of fun," she said.
Her marriage didn't last; the new career did. For the past nine years, up until about a year ago, she has worked full time photographing high-end weddings and upscale families in Northern California. You can see her work at KilbridgePhotography.com. (She dropped her wedded name upon divorce in favor of "Anna Love," but kept it for her ongoing photo business.)
"Anna Love" is a celebrity-sounding name that fits into the next turn in the road of her life.
While living in California, she saw a documentary protesting mountaintop removal mining. Featured at the screening was mountaintop removal activist and Boone County native Maria Gunnoe, a 2009 winner of a prestigious award for the world's top grass-roots activists, the Goldman Environmental Prize.
"I met her and I asked if I could contribute with my photography. She said, 'I believe you can.' Well, when a powerful woman like Maria Gunnoe looks you in the eye and says you can do something, you believe her," said Love.
She initially planned on coming to West Virginia for two to four weeks. She was put in touch with Paul Corbit Brown, a photographer who has documented the impact of mountaintop removal and traveled the world photographing dispossessed people.
Things happen. She was charmed by both Brown and West Virginia. She settled into the state for a much longer commitment. "You know, there's something really beautiful and magical here," Love said.
One day, Brown's mother Carol, a seasoned quilter, guided Love in making a quilt for Love's own mother. That's when the brainstorm hit.
"As I was cutting the fabric and standing in the quilting room, I saw a lot of fabrics that were very beautiful and elegant. But none of them were really 'rock star.' And the colors that started to come to me were kind of like blacks and pinks and whites.
"I started to imagine quilts with skulls and crossbones on them. With hot pink. But in a really playful sort of way. I don't know, like Hello Kitty meets Guns N' Roses."
That was the genesis of RockstarQuilts.com. She has since lined up a cadre of area women experienced in quilting. The next step is to reach out and get donations from "rock stars" -- or as Love is using the term, celebrities with household-name quality.
"What we will be looking for is enough clothing donated to make a single celebrity quilt. The types of clothing we will need will be mostly cotton. So, jeans. Old, old, old jeans with lots of holes. Stiff cotton. Ties would be great."
Whose jeans, for example? "Well, me personally? Oh, let's see," said Love, laughing. "Well, Brad Pitt's jeans. Johnny Depp's. Scarlett Johansson? I would love Willie Nelson's bandannas. One of Nicole Kidman's evening dresses ..."
She's also reaching out to Hollywood studios and their costume shops. "Those costumes sit in warehouses and nothing happens to them. We heard it might be possible to get some 'Moulin Rouge' clothes. I think it'd be super-cool to get some 'Lord of the Rings' clothes. We're looking at things that are evocative for people."
Which raises the question: With so many people seeking the attention and endorsement of celebrities, how does she plan to direct, for instance, Orlando Bloom's gaze to a tiny startup in the West Virginia hills?
"I'm not really a rock-star hound or celebrity hound, so, I don't want to present myself as a celebrity chaser," said Love. "However, for whatever reason in my life I've crossed paths with celebrities and rock stars. It has been a part of my life.
"I wouldn't say the following people I name would run down the street after me and scream, 'Hey, Anna, I've missed you!' But I've met Bono. I've hung out a number of times with Orlando Bloom. I've met Leonardo DiCaprio a number of times. I've met Salma Hayek. I've met a lot of folks."
Of course, turning encounters and connections into an ongoing stream of celebrity donations is the next hurdle. The quilt-making, though, is ready to roll. Love has seven quilters in place to begin. She is in the process of filing for 501(c)(3) status making Rockstar Quilts a nonprofit organization.
She hopes to have a first quilt made sometime this winter, a traditional quilting time. The quilts will both support the women who make them, working out of their homes and in churches and centers where they belong to quilting groups, and to building out the business.
"This gives women an opportunity in rural communities to work for a fair wage doing something they enjoy," she said.
Stay tuned for a follow-up story and video as the first rock-star quilt approaches completion. She hopes RockstarQuilts.com will also lead into noncelebrity memory quilts. Love is eager to birth her idea into the world.
"I came out here starting on working on mountaintop removal. I felt I needed to do something other than be a vegetarian and practice yoga and meditate. Now, I need to go to the next level and contribute my services.
"When I came here I immediately saw the opportunity for that. Both to learn and to contribute. RockstarQuilts.com is precisely that synergy of learning and contribution, where the two have met."
Reach Douglas Imbrogno at doug...@cnpapers.com or 304-348-3017.
