May 8, 1998
Marty Brian brightens the lives of friends and colleagues with gifts from the heart
by Nora Hennessy, A’98, Intern in the offices of public affairs and publications
Marty Brian bubbles with enthusiasm when asked about working as an assistant to Loyola’s Chancellor, the Rev. James C. Carter, S.J., and Anne Banos, executive director of development in the Division of Institutional Advancement. “I love it,” she avows. “It’s like one big family because folks here are so close-knit, especially since all of our work ties together.” Yet Brian has several passions completely unrelated to the work she does at Loyola, especially sewing, quilting, and planning weddings or baby showers for friends, relatives, and colleagues who admire her creative bent. From a long line of women who make beautiful handmade gifts, Brian grew up in Belle Chasse, La., and fondly recalls her mother, a professional seamstress, making all her dresses. “I remember getting my first store-bought dress at Sears in eighth grade,” says a smiling Brian. “Before that, my mother designed them all.” Though Brian frequently begged her mother to teach her sewing as a child, she didn’t learn a stitch about being a seamstress until she had two daughters of her own whom she wanted to make matching Christmas nightgowns. After purchasing $75 of red wool, she enrolled in a sewing class, only to pack up and leave during the middle of the first class because “they didn’t sew like mother.” Three months later, with her mother’s first sewing machine in tow, Brian bought several patterns and transformed herself into a seamstress extraordinaire.
Though she can sew practically anything–from curtains to wedding dresses–Brian also has a taste for quilting, a talent which she shares with her late grandmother. Her mother inspired her to begin her first quilt, just as she had given her the bug to sew as a young woman. “I knew I could do it because my mother can do anything,” recalls Brian. While she feels a special affinity for the magnolia quilt that her mother gave her years ago, she is also proud of her own quilts, especially one she completed last December for a child that features a prayer surrounded by several angels.
During the past three years, Brian has discovered a passion quite alien to sewing–planning weddings and baby showers. Some of her most memorable projects have been organizing a wedding at the New Orleans Opera Guild House and conceiving/creating party favors for baby showers including potpourri bags with a rattle and bottle artistically attached, piggy-banks carved out of plastic bottles, and photo albums embellished with satin and roses. When asked about her favorite aspect of being a wedding planner, Brian says, “The rehearsal is my favorite part. Everything comes together. Of course, the big day is also fun, but it’s a lot of exhausting work for me.” To Brian, however, her hard work is rewarding as long it makes others happy.
Because she is not working on any major projects at the moment, Brian spends time with her family while also working on small projects. For instance, she recently planted her spring flower garden, which she waters nightly with her grandson, and spent spring break with her mother, exchanging new sewing tips, making dresses, and “cutting up.” Marty cherishes her family and loves to make them handmade gifts. “I rarely make things for myself,” she says on her creative hobbies. “I always do things for others because it comes from the heart.”