Activist Quilting
My road to quilting was a long and largely until the last decade unsuccessful. I tried quilting in the 1980’s and was confused by the notion of cutting up large pieces of fabric only to take those tiny pieces of fabric and sew them back into large pieces of fabric! It all seemed too fussy and finicky to be of any real joy. However, about 12 years ago I was working with a quilter in the costume shop during summer stock and thought I would give it a try again. . .and I fell in love with the work. It brings out a different side of me now, very zen and I love to sit a quilt.
As with many quilters once I finished my first quilt I was hooked. I then made quilts for friends and family members and once that was nearly exhausted, I started making quilts for fund raising. To date I have raised several thousand dollars in scholarship money, I make a quilt every fall out of the scraps from the fall musical we produce and the money goes into a scholarship fund which has over the years paid for students to attend conferences, CPR training, guest artists and so much more.
One day a friend who sings for the San Francisco Gay Men’s Choir told me about a tour they were planning called The Lavender Pen Tour. The chorus was going to travel to and around the six states in the south with the worst laws targeting the LGBTQIA community. They planned to perform for communities and try to connect with them and start a meaningful dialogue. I thought the idea was brilliant and wondered about how I could bring some of that kind of outreach to my own communities and I struck upon the idea of Activist Quilting as a vehicle for social change.
Now, this is not a new idea, quilting as a form of activism stretches back to the the 19th century with quilters creating patriotic quilts or making quilts to action off to raise funds for any number of causes. Certainly, the Names Project and the AIDS Quilt projecting in the 1980s and 1990s are more modern examples of using quilts as a form of political activism and protest. My plan however was to create the quilt top and then sit with quilters in many communities and while I quilted with friends and strangers alike have a dialogue about the space and role of members of the LGBTQIA community in individuals lives and in society.
So, I made a giant quilt, featuring the six state blocks of those southern states the tour would be traveling to as well as the state block of California, the home of the SFGMC. The colors I chose for the quilt where Reds (for the red states they would travel to) and Purples (for the Lavender Pen Tour), accompanying these two colors were the various pinks and lavenders and then a neutral cream. The center of each of the seven state blocks was also cream, because it is my person belief that if we could all find neutral ground in the middle and meet and talk, we would discover we have more in common than in contention. There were also 129 friendship stars (the four-pointed star in the quilting world is called a friendship star). So, the quilt was literally filled with the intention of friendship and compassion.
I then sat down to quilt with dozens of friends and strangers alike. We spoke while we quilted and there were many tears—of joy and pain—shed while we worked. We spoke for friends who died too early, husbands who came out after 15 years of marriage, of gay sons who transitioned and became lesbian daughters, of co-workers and colleagues, futures as well as pasts. . .it was amazing. I quilted in theater lobbies, churches, homes and office spaces. I went where the quilt led and spoke and listened. It was heartbreaking and uplifting and changed me as a person. A small part of that journey was captured in the documentary done about the Lavender Pen Tour called Gay Chorus, Deep South.
This project changed me. The power of creation is immense, and we start projects but when they take on a life of their own it is a wonder and formidable thing. In short, I am addicted to this kind of intimate activism. It is hard to be angry and sew at the same time, so by its very nature sitting and talking with someone who is quilting with you is a gentle process that may never move the needle of change rapidly but it does move it gently and perhaps more permanently. I am certain it is the kind of activism I love, and I am in the process of my next big project, a quilt for Pete Buttigieg to take to the White House when he becomes President of the United States. This quilt is made up of fabrics donated by friends and represents the best of what America is. . . a vast community of people who love and care about their country, communities and families—no matter what that family looks like. I am an Activist Quilter, trying to make a change in the world around me one stitch at a time. . .care to join me to lay some threads and talk while we discover what makes us great?