Prof. Maggie Geselbracht lecturing on crystal field theory in Vollum Lecture Hall, and 9 quilts that Maggie made between 2007-2014 (framed and mounted by Prof. Gerri Ondrizek & Reed art students).
The middle of spring break, a time to pause, and take a deep breath before the dash to Thesis Parade. One year ago, during Spring Break 2015, our building underwent a quiet, but profound, change. Just a few months earlier we had said good-bye to the best of friends and colleagues, Prof. Maggie Geselbracht [chemistry 1993-2014], but when we returned from Break we discovered that her Quilt Project 2007-2014 had appeared along the main staircase of the chemistry building, much like the cherry blossoms that greet visitors to Eliot Circle each spring.
An avid and talented quilter, Maggie had produced the panels over the last 7 years of her life, and had written short essays describing the inspiration for each. Individual quilts had been displayed at Reed before, but the task of rounding all of them up and construcing a lasting memorial to Maggie was undertaken by Susan Mikota and Prof. Gerri Ondrizek.
Maggie Geselbracht quilt project 2007-2014. Main staircase Scott Chemistry building, March 24, 2015.
Gerri scanned all 17 panels and combined them with Maggie’s essays to make an e-book: Maggie Geselbracht’s Quilt Projects 2007-2014. Gerri also selected 9 quilts for framing, and with the help of Austin Weymuller, she installed the quilts and essays alongside the main staircase of the Arthur F. Scott chemistry building during the quiet days of Spring Break.
Rounding out the display at lobby level is a large photo of Maggie taken during her first (?) year when she gave a lecture on crystal field theory in Vollum Lecture Hall to the first-year chemistry class. Close inspection will reveal visual elements that were so typical of Maggie’s teaching: carefully made drawings of d atomic orbitals and an Erlenmeyer flask containing a blue transition metal solution.