Journey Quilt for Pine Manor College

Journey Quilt for Pine Manor College, 2022. Vintage textiles, thread. Participatory artwork created by Freedom Baird and visitors to the Annenberg Library and Hess Gallery, Pine Manor College

Grateful for the opportunity to have created this participatory work as part of FeministFuturist‘s Liminal Lab exhibition this spring, at the Hess Gallery on the campus of Pine Manor College. The exhibition was made possible in part by a grant from the Collective Futures Fund.

The college, which has served women and immigrants for a century, went out of business during the pandemic. The idea for the quilt came from contemplating this transition and loss to the college community. I based the quilt design on the USGS topographical map of the college and surrounding neighborhoods. Vintage fabrics were donated by members of the Pine Manor College community, and the FeministFuturist artists collaborative. Each fragment holds a story.

I pieced the quilt using an appliqué technique learned from Linda Zokan of Thistledown and Company. And I was so fortunate to have been hosted for two months in the college’s Annenberg Library and makerspace by wonderful librarians, Mare Parker-O’Toole, Carrie Sauder, and Regan Miller.

So much gratitude to all the collaborators and visitors who donated fabric and sat to embroider a trace of their story into the quilt.

Visitor participating in embroidering the Journey Quilt for Pine Manor College
Concentric appliqués, detail of the Journey Quilt for Pine Manor College
Topographical details of the Journey Quilt for Pine Manor College
Silkscreened photo appliqué, detail of the Journey Quilt for Pine Manor College, contributed by Pine Manor College alumna Marky Kauffmann

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