PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Aroostook Agency on Aging is exhibiting the work of Dana Allison of Castle Hill in April as part of the Artists for Aging initiative. Her opening reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, April 1, during Presque Isle’s First Friday Art Walk.
Allison is a native of Vermont and taught history and English there prior to starting a family. She arrived in Aroostook County in 1965 with her pediatrician husband, Horace, who opened his practice in Presque Isle. Dr. Allison died in 1980 and Dana remained in the area so that her sons and daughters could complete their public schooling.
Allison will exhibit a variety of quilts she has made over the years as special keepsakes for family members and dear friends. Her introduction to sewing, she recalls, came at the tender age of 4 1/2.
“Mother taught me to darn Dad’s socks while traveling on a train for two and a half days to get to my grandparents’ home down in Kentucky as a means to keep me occupied during the trip,” she said.
Allison made her first quilt top at the age of 9, and participation in that activity was rekindled during this country’s bicentennial celebration. For a time, she operated a fabric store in Caribou after her children had grown.
Over the past 35 to 40 years, Allison has made around 200 quilts and quilted items. Today, she lives in Castle Hill with a son, Orpheus, and together they care for their geodesic dome home and sprawling farm and woodlands.
The event is free and open to the public. In observance of COVID-19 precautions, all visitors will be required to answer some medical status questions and wear a facial covering at all times.
For more information, call the agency at 207-764-3396 or 1-800-439-1789, or email info@aroostookaging.org. The office is located at 260 Main St. in Presque Isle.
