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In 150 Words or Less!
Bill Stearman is a Queer quilt maker, storyteller, and social activist living and working in Picton, Ontario.
He considers himself a ‘quiltivist’.
With his work, he pushes limits, challenges tradition, and explores alternate materials and techniques.
Frequently, his quilts address topics not generally associated with quilts; depression, death, abuse, Queer issues, social justice, etc
His goal with his work is to challenge viewers to think, to react, and to have conversations.
His hope is that folks will see his work as true and honest; something that matters; something that will make a difference.
Since a life-saving liver transplant in 2021, he’s become obsessed with the notion that he's been gifted extra years of life, solely to be an agent of positive change; to make a difference.
He is motivated to create work that changes the way folks view the world, and thus to change the world.
In my own words ...
I have always been a storyteller.
In 2014, I started making quilts as a temporary way to deal with pain. But quilt making, and the possibilities with quilt making, quickly became a passion and my preferred medium for storytelling.
As my skills with quilt making developed, my focus began to shift from simple stories to speaking my truth, starting difficult conversations, and challenging the limits of convention in traditional quilt making.
I sought out teachers and mentors to support my growth.
In January 2021 though, a diagnosis of terminal Liver Cancer left me with a life expectancy of about two years.
Six weeks later, I met a doctor who told me that I might qualify for a transplant because I was in better shape than most folks my age.
In July of that same year, against all odds, I received two thirds of my daughter’s liver in a successful transplant. My life expectancy jumped by twenty plus years!
For me, these extra years are not just a gift. They come with responsibility.
I see that responsibility as my opportunity to bring about positive change in the world.
Currently, the focus of my work is 2SLGBTQ+ stories, issues, and history.
My most recent fascination is to use quilts to record the progression of legal rights for Queers in Canada as advanced through Supreme Court decisions and legislative acts of Parliament (1950 to the present) and as a medium to record stories told by Queer Elders who lived this history.
A Professional Bio ...
Bill Stearman is a Queer quilt-maker living and working in Picton, Ontario.
He didn’t come to quilt-making by choice. In 2013, while looking for an alternative to mind numbing pain medication after a serious leg injury, someone suggested that he try making a quilt. It sounded strange, but he gave it a try and discovered that when he sews, he doesn’t feel pain. Over three hundred quilts later, he is still at it.
While Stearman describes himself as being self-taught, in reality, he sought out every master quilter whose work he admired, travelling across North America and Australia to learn from them. The friendships that he has developed through this process continue to inspire and motivate him. And the influences of those teachers still echo in his work.
Stearman has lectured with his well-known ‘BackPack Show’ across Canada, and now via Zoom throughout the world. He teaches locally at Loyalist College Summer Arts Program.
Stearman’s quilts have been juried into countless shows across North America and in the UK. He has won several major awards.
Stearman’s work frequently deals with topics not normally associated with quilts. Sexual abuse, depression, illness, racism, sexuality and gender all have been subjects in Bill’s bold, striking, and often moving pieces.
In 2021, Stearman’s work took a dramatic shift. During the peak of Covid, he was diagnosed with terminal Liver Cancer. Over the course of seven months, he went from that diagnosis, through an intense battery of testing and cancer treatment to ‘buy time’, all leading up to what he views as miraculous surgery where he received a new liver from his daughter and a life expectancy increased by over twenty years.
All of this dramatically changed Bill’s life and his outlook on life.
He works with a renewed intensity and is driven by a desire to change the world; to make it a better place; to speak his truth, even if his voice shakes.