The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

In early April, 2006, three years of work on the Faith Quilts Project came together in one exhibition. (1) Fifty-seven quilts created by congregations, organizations, families, and individuals hung in the Boston Cyclorama, starting off a month-long celebration of Faith, Arts, and Community. The free exhibition and events that accompanied it provided an opportunity for interfaith dialogue and civic engagement.

The Faith Quilts Project's mission is "to deepen interfaith and intercultural understanding by gathering together people of diverse faiths to share their deeply held beliefs through collaborative quiltmaking." (1) Our Center Profile on the Faith Quilts Project is available here. Since 2003, Clara Wainwright, the artistic director, has worked with congregations, communities, and interfaith groups to "visually express deeply held beliefs," assisted by the Public Conversations Project. (2) At the exhibition, quilts covered the walls of the Cyclorama, a large open building built in 1884 to show large art displays. (6) Brochures and flyers were available to provide context, including a flyer for a kids' "Scavenger Hunt," which had them search for symbols and images that could be found in many quilts.

In one wing of the display, a large quilt for the Islamic Society of Boston Community Center was laid out on a table. Visitors were invited to help "mend the community" by stitching on the border of the quilt, made up of building silhouettes symbolizing the city of Boston. A narrative report of this quilt's creation from start to finish will be available soon.

In the opposite wing, a ceremonial gateway featuring fabric portraits of donors and quilters separated a cozy area with complimentary tea and places to sit. This was the "Q & A Cafe," which served as a place to rest and start conversations about the quilts. Each group of quilters had been asked to write a short account of the process of making the quilt, and these "oral histories" were available to visitors resting in the Cafe. From Friday evening through Sunday afternoon, groups of quilters made brief presentations to visitors, explaining how and why they'd chosen to represent their faith.

A Cathedral of Quilts

Pictures of all the Faith Quilts are available online here. Each one has a link to more details, including names of the quilters, dimensions of the quilt, and a short statement about the ideas that went into making it. Links in the next two paragraphs provide only the image of the quilt.

Many of the quilts had been created by groups from religious congregations. The Arlington Street Church, a Unitarian Universalist congregation, chose a variety of religious symbols to surround a central image of the "power and mystery of the cosmos." Several Hindu women chose to portray the Ten Incarnations of Vishnu. Temple Beth Zion's quilters created two large quilts focusing on the Jewish concepts of chesed and gevurah, which can be loosely translated as "kindness" and "strength." (1) A joint project between Follen Church (Unitarian Universalist) and the Boston Dialogue Foundation (Turkish Muslim) used symbols of both communities to evoke "appreciation for creation and nature, commitment to reaching out across differences, concerns for justice, and, above all, a longing for peace." The result was two quilts which, when joined together, unite two hemispheres and two bridges. (1)

Other quilts originated in schools, homeless shelters, and interfaith groups. Eileen Crawford and Eileen Fortunato worked with attendees of a Boston College conference on Women and the Catholic Church to create images of "the Church Women Want." Janet Amphlett decided to explore the way that faiths and families interact, and worked with members of her family, creating "Hoosier Hearts and Hands: The Hartig Extended Family Faith Quilt." The young women at RAW Art Works defined faith as "knowing you can reveal yourself to your girlfriends and still be truly loved," and showed hands reaching for each other over a background representing all different skin colors. (1)

An interview by local NPR station WBUR for "Here and Now" (3) includes more insights and observations from several quilters, including Sudha Jamthe of the Keystone Montessori School, lead quilter for Hazelwood College Joani LaMachia, and artistic director Clara Wainwright discussing the quilts of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship and the Boston Rescue Mission. In another article, Exhibit Director Brett Cook compared the exhibit to "a cathedral of quilts," and it did inspire that image--as if each quilt were an illuminated window into another faith. (4)

Dancing, Singing, Discussing

The opening reception for quilters, organizers, and donors allowed groups that had worked on individual pieces to see the effect of all fifty-seven quilts at once. Many conversations started as quilters compared the history and design of their quilts with each other, and learned more about the symbols each one used. The reception featured several brief dance and music performances, as well as an announcement that Mayor Thomas Menino had recently signed a proclamation declaring April to be "Faith, Arts, and Community Month" in Boston.

Over the course of the exhibit, several concerts and panel discussions continued exploring the questions raised by the quilts. A drum circle and a flute circle, "Earth Rhythms", were held on Friday evening, after the first few sessions at the Q & A Cafe had closed. Saturday evening brought a dance performance, featuring Chinese, Cambodian, and Indian dancers, as well as Sufi whirling dervishes.

On Sunday, the music group Dunya performed a concert of their Ali Ufki Sacred Music Project, a "series of interactive programs of music and conversation which aims to foster awareness, deepen dialogue, and celebrate commonalities among the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths." (5) The concert was followed by a panel discussion on "The Artist as Cassandra: Searching for Direction in Response to Tragedy." The Faith Quilts Project itself arose from individuals and communities responding to the tragedies facing America after September 11th, 2001. (1) A concert by the Arlington Street and Follen UU Church Choirs and the Silver Leaf Gospel Singers closed the evening with the Hallelujah Chorus.

Monday evening saw the final events of the Grand Exhibition. A group of leaders of spiritual and religious communities came together for a panel discussion on "Spiritual Leadership in Difficult Times." This panel included Sikh, Buddhist, Jewish, Wiccan, and Muslim leaders, as well as directors of interfaith theological centers, and was moderated by Margaret Herzig of the Public Conversations Project. Panelists discussed their own core beliefs and commitments, as well as the spiritual resources they draw upon when interacting with someone who holds different beliefs. The final ceremony featured a jazz improvisation by Stan Strickland, which closed the exhibit with joyful song.

Once the Grand Exhibition at the Cyclorama closed, the quilts were sent to four different locations throughout Boston to remain on display through the month of April. Cloud Place in Copley Square hosted quilts made by youths; the rest were displayed at the Boston Public Library, the Great Hall in Codman Square, and the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists. Events celebrating faith, arts, and community continued through the month, including a fabric self-portrait workshop and a poetry and music concert about Islamic and Jewish devotional worship. The exhibition closed at the end of April with a performance of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" at historic Trinity Church. (1)

Organizing the Event

The entire Grand Exhibition and all its events were completely free, as were most events during the rest of the month-long celebration. Aside from the opening reception, which was invitation-only for quilters, organizers, and donors, admission was open to the general public. Although there was some media coverage, promotion took place mostly through word-of-mouth within the various faith communities and organizations, and the spread of information through these channels created high attendance every day.

With Clara Wainwright providing the impetus behind the Project, an Executive Committee developed to supervise exhibition planning, development, performance coordination, and dialogue assistance. The core staff coordinated the work of thirty-eight lead quilters, most of whom were trained in dialogue facilitation and collaborative quiltmaking, as well as several oral historians and a host of volunteers. An Advisory Committee provided guidance and support, including the regular fundraising speech from its chair, Reverend Katie Lee Crane: "The Sermon on the Amount."

In addition to the dedicated efforts of the staff of the Faith Quilts Project, many volunteers and donors assisted with the Grand Exhibition. The opening reception and the Q & A Cafe were supported primarily through donations from local groups and quilters. Volunteers from the quilt groups acted as greeters and monitors at the exhibit, answering questions and selling a portfolio collection of pictures of the quilts.

Ambassadors of Faith

The quilts inspired discussion and reflection, both in their creation and in the display at the Grand Exhibition. Individuals and groups had the opportunity to encounter faiths that were new to them and new interpretations of their own beliefs. Each quilt alone served as an "ambassador" for the faith of its creators, demonstrating the importance and vitality of their beliefs. When brought together in the Grand Exhibition, the quilts made a moving statement about "the power of faith in people's lives." (4)

The website for the Faith Quilts Project continues this work with a virtual gallery of the quilts, a selection of media articles on the Project, and collected quotations about the quilts. (1) The Project is divided into five components: collaborative quiltmaking, documentation, a series of events and exhibitions, the monthlong celebration of Faith, Arts, and Community that began with the Grand Exhibition, and development of resource materials to encourage people in other cities and towns to start their own Faith Quilts.

It is Clara Wainwright's hope that the Faith Quilts Project will spread to more cities, allowing people across the world to create their own ambassadors of faith, "to make a few symbolic stitches--to gather together, to work collaboratively and hopefully, to come to some understanding about faith and beliefs." (4)

Sources

1) The Faith Quilts Project main website. Retrieved April 26, 2006 from http://www.faithquilts.org.
2)The Public Conversations Project main website. Retrieved April 26, 2006 from http://www.publicconversations.org/pcp/index.asp.
3) "How Would You Illustrate Your Faith?" WBUR, Here and Now. Aired Friday, April 14, 2006. Retrieved April 26, 2006 from http://www.here-now.org/shows/2006/04/20060414_17.asp.
4) "Sewing Faith and Understanding." The Los Angeles Times, April 9, 2006. Retrieved April 26, 2006 from http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-quilts9apr09,1,5630753.story.
5) Dunya and The Ali Ufki Sacred Music Project. Retrieved April 26, 2006 from http://www.dunyainc.org and http://www.dunyainc.org/ali_ufki.html.
6) The Boston Center for the Arts: History Retrieved April 26, 2006 from http://www.bcaonline.org/about_history.htm.