As one of the young people put it, quilts are old-fashioned, but they also have some distinct advantages when it comes to community art. They can be folded up and moved, they can be big without taking too much time to make, they can be made before you have permission to hang them, and everyone can make their own piece. In fact, they’re pretty much the quintessential version of everyone’s work contributing to a larger whole.
When I talked to the members of the Allston-Brighton Youth Coalition last week about what kind of art project they wanted to do as part of their “Above the Influence” campaign, they were most excited about a video, a mural or a song. But after thinking through the goals of the project and the limitations of doing the whole thing in just a few weeks, they got excited about a quilt (and still plan to film interviews with each other and parts of the quilt process for a video). Today each of the members designed their own section of the above the influence symbol and we made some decisions about the quilt’s colors and design. Next time we meet we’ll finish it up and then it can begin it’s travels around the community sharing a message of substance free living.
Thanks to MassTAPP for connecting me to this great project!