This Ignorance is not a Virtue cross stitch pattern is now available in my Etsy shop:
This pattern is inspired by a quotation by President Obama. At first, I didn’t know that these were his words – I just saw it somewhere and thought it was profound in these times (2019-2020). A little research revealed the source to be our 44th President.
The colors and borders are inspired by the portrait of President Obama by Kehinde Wiley that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. It’s a striking painting, with the President seated and surrounded by greenery and a few flowers. The chrysanthemums are the official flower of Chicago, the jasmine represents Hawaii, and the blue lilies represent Kenya.
While I couldn’t replicate the flowers in 14 count Aida, instead I tried to emulate the colors of the flowers and leaves in the border pattern. The lettering is in a dark blue similar to the blues of the President’s suit. You can see and learn more about the Barack Obama Presidential Portrait at the National Portrait Gallery website.
To expand on my thoughts about this project I’d like to share part of a eulogy that I wrote for my Grandfather, who was an educator through and through:
“Wednesday night, as [my husband] and I were stopped for the night on our way here, I read an article posted by a friend on Facebook. The article talked about a 4th grade science textbook that essentially gave up when it came to explaining electricity. The textbook stated that electricity was a mystery. “You can’t see it, you can’t feel it, and no one knows where it comes from.” And I thought that Grandpa would be so disappointed as you better believe he knew where electricity came from and what it felt like.
“The bigger point though is that Grandpa had a real commitment to education, and education of all types – vocational education, University education in both sciences and arts, and don’t forget the school of life and hard knocks. He’s now experienced and graduated from them all.
“He was always trying to learn something – learning how to build a metal lathe from scratch, learning how to use email, learning how to play the piano.
“Then if he wasn’t learning something himself, he was always teaching, explaining, telling an instructive story, almost to a fault. And as many of you might know, often times when you teach someone, you end up learning more yourself.
“I’d like to encourage everyone to follow Grandpa’s example when it comes to learning. If you see something out there that you don’t understand, it’s not necessarily a mystery, as I guarantee someone out there has studied it. Pick up a book! Look it up on the web! Learn about geology, about history, about biology, or astronomy. Learn another language, learn to play an instrument, learn a new craft, or take up a new hobby. Making continuous education and learning a part of your life is one of the best ways you can celebrate and honor the spirit of my Grandfather.”
I hope this Ignorance is not a Virtue cross stitch pattern might encourage us all to keep learning every day!
And if you like this pattern, you might also enjoy this Think for Yourself and Question Authority pattern as well: