Coquille Valley Art Center hosting fundraising sale
Jul. 4—The Valley View School was a two-room school house almost a century ago. In 1957, it was transformed into Coquille Valley Art Center, and has been a space for painters, as well as stained glass, pottery, wood carving, fiber arts and quilting.
The center has been used as a community gathering place for luncheons, memorials, classes, lectures, art sales and rummage sale fundraisers, Christmas bazaars, quilt-a-thons, and kids' art shows.
But those closest to the Art Center said all of the activities have taken a toll on the historic building.
Members have been busy organizing rummage sales, bottle and can drives, and grant writing to raise the needed funds for a revamp.
Due to generous grants from the Coquille Rotary Club and The Ford Family Foundation, the center is well on the way to meeting its goal. An upcoming quilt sale is a part of the plan to meet that goal.
Kelly Rumbaugh was one of the members of the pottery group at the center who sadly passed away unexpectedly a few months ago.
To the surprise of many involved with the Coquille Valley Art Center, it turns out that Rumbaugh was also an accomplished quilter. Or, she started making quilts. When her cousin came up from Redding to close her estate, she found an entire room full of unfinished quilts in various stages of completion. They were scattered throughout many boxes and none came with directions.
Rumbaugh's cousin contacted the quilting group at the art center to see if they would be interested in inheriting her things. As anyone who knows a quilter will attest, they never turn down a donation of fabric. And so, four carloads later, the unfinished projects found a new home.
After sorting and organizing the fabric, the quilters decided to set a goal of finishing everything they could and hold a sale to raise money to go toward installing new floors at the art center.
On Saturday, July 8, the community is invited to the art center, located on Highway 42 east of Coquille, to see the finished products and find a treasure or two to take home. Items will range from potholders for $5 to bed size quilts for $300. The sale will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will also coincide with the Coquille Garden Tour.
