Public Commissions

Peeking Through

National Scrollathon: West Virginia

2025

Commissioned by: Art Museum of West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia
Medium: Fiber, rubber bands, pins, ink, glue, wood
Dimensions: 48 × 36 × 1 in. (Collaborative Masterwork); Signature Plate, each 8 1/2 × 11 in.
Photograph: Courtesy of the artists
Created in: Morgantown, West Virginia
Artists’ Registration Numbers:
Collaborative Masterwork: 2025.193.001–2025.193.013
Mini Portrait Mural: 2025.194.001
Signature Sheet: 2025.195.001
Portrait Mural: 2025.196.001
Exhibition History: National Scrollathon: West Virginia, Art Museum of West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, 2025. Curator: Aaron Levi Garvey

Artistic Approach
Through the Scrollathon process, participants crafted textile scrolls that were rolled, bound, and pinned to form layered compositions representing the community life in West Virginia. The resulting work, Peeking Through, is a yellow, orange, and red textile landscape of scrolls with customized dowel rods that communicate the identity of the participants.

Commission Overview
Commissioned by the Art Museum of West Virginia University, Peeking Through was created as West Virginia’s contribution to America’s Cultural Project, a national Scrollathon initiative celebrating creativity and unity across the United States. On September 9, 2025, 111 participants from across the state gathered for sessions at the museum, creating scroll-based artworks that together formed a Collaborative Masterwork, Portrait Mural, and Signature Plate representing West Virginia.

Context and Legacy
The West Virginia Scrollathon contributes to the National Scrollathon, a five-year, fifty-six-site initiative culminating at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2026 for the United States Semiquincentennial. Each Collaborative Masterwork—like Peeking Through—serves as both artwork and archive, representing the creativity and unity of its community within this historic national project.

Special Thanks:
Aaron Levi Garvey, Heather Harris, and the team at the Art Museum of West Virginia University

Acknowledgments:
The Scrollathon team; National Scrollathon Interns and Fellows; Timothy Lewis and Babette Husson; Charles and Barbara Ladd; Mari and Gary Teeter; Claude and Gina Falcone Skelton; and the team at Lowenstein Sandler LLP

Community Partners:
Friends of the Art Museum of West Virginia University; Ridgedale Elementary School; Skyview Elementary School; West Virginia University’s Center for Excellence in Disabilities; WVU School of Art and Design (Art History and Museum Professions; Fashion Design and Merchandising)

Sponsors:
Made possible through the generous support of the Art Museum of West Virginia University