Suzy's Fancy
by Suzanne Labry
Quilt of Belonging
Column #148
ARCHIVES
Column 202: Balloon Quilts of
Albuquerque- Updated
Column 201: Elaine Ellison’s
Mathematical Quilts
Column 200: Organ Donor Memorial Quilts
Column 199: Rose Marie Agnant,
Haitian Quilter
Column 198: Cherrywood Challenges
Column 197: Game of Thrones Quilt
Column 196: A Civil War Love Story—
Sealed with a Quilt
Column 195: Hub Cap Annie—A
Quilter’s Story
Column 194: Cama Beach Quilters
Column 193: Quilts of Southwest China
Column 192: Erick Wolfmeyer—Dealing with Loss and Finding Identity Through Quilts
Column 191: Feed Sacks—The Colourful History of a Frugal Fabric
Column 192: Pam Holland’s Bayeux Tapestry Quilt
Column 191: Irish Magdalene Laundries Story Quilts
Column 190: Quilting Tool Envy Sparks Quilt-Inspired Collages
Column 189: A Queen’s Protest Quilt
Column 188: The Sierra Club’s Wilderness Quilt Project
Column 187: Pamela Arnosky—Flower Farmer and Quilter
Column 185: Celebrating Canada’s Sesquicentennial
Column 183: Canadian Quilters Host
Big Bee for 150th
Column 182: Indiana Bicentennial
Quilts—Pt. II
Column 181: Indiana Bicentennial
Quilts—Pt. I
Column 179: Studio Art Quilt Associates
Column 177: The Newark 350
Commemorative Quilt
Column 176: Crimean War Military
Uniform Quilts
Column 175: The Changi Prison Quilts
Column 173: Cowbelles Brand Quilts
Column 172: Quilts Providing Hope
for the Homeless
Column 170: Chuck Threat - A Quilter's Story
Column 166: The Superstitious Quilter
Column 164: The Michael Jackson
Story Quilt
Column 163: Oakland Quilters & The
Great Migration
Column 162: Quilting Through A Tragedy
Column 161: The Boise Peace Quilt Project
Column 160: Bikers Like Quilts, Too!
Column 159: The Willy Nelson Picnic Collection
Column 158: Muslin - Workhorse or Rarity?
Column 157: Governor's Necktie Quilts
Column 155: The Magna Carta Quilt
Column 154: U.S. National Park
Centennial Quilts
Column 153: Suzy's explores the rich history
of cotton and quilting.
Column 152: Haiti "Peacequilts"
Column 151: Plains Indian Star Quilts
Column 148: Quilt of Belonging
Column 147: Kanthas—The Quilts of Bangladesh
Column 145: Suzy on Carolyn Mazloomi's Groundbreaking Quilt Exhibit
Column 144: Texas Community Marks Juneteenth Sesquicentennial with History Quilts
Column 143: Maya Embroidered Patchwork
Column 142: Huipil Patchwork Quilts
Column 141: Tom Korn’s Military
Medal Quilts
Column 140: The Return of Double Knits!
Column 138: Home of the Brave Quilts
Column 137: The Story of Fabric Yo-Yos
Column 134: Deaf Initiatives—Communicating Through Quilts
Column 133: My Betty Boop Quilt
Column 132: Maura Grace Ambrose
Column 131: All You Need Is Love
Column 129: The Quilted Chuppah
Column 128: Patchwork Around the World: Yoruba Dance Costumes
Column 127: The Bowers Co-Op Quilts
Column 126: Fon Appliqué and Haitian Voodoo Flags
Column 125: The Quilt Garden at The North Carolina Arboretum
Column 124: Harriet Powers and
Handful’s Mauma
Column 123: Quilters de Mexico
Esther Bryan, the Canadian visionary who came up with what could be described as one of the most extraordinary collaborative quilt projects ever, is not a quilter. She is, however, the heart-and-soul force behind the Quilt of Belonging, a 120-foot long by 10.5-foot high quilt made up of 263 blocks that depict every nation in the world—70 representing all Aboriginal groups, 193 featuring all immigrant nationalities in Canada—at the turn of the 21st century.
Beginning in 1998, the Quilt took six-and-a-half years to make and involved thousands of people all across Canada working together. Although Bryan is not a quilter, she is a professional artist who has worked in a variety of media, including fiber.
It was this background that informed her choice of a quilt as the best means of expressing her idea of a symbolic representation of the complex human mosaic, and the interconnectedness and shared desire of all peoples to belong.
“I was looking for a way to include the variety of attributes and characteristics of different cultures and to directly involve people from those cultures. A quilt ended up being the perfect medium to incorporate the remarkably diverse aspects of the human experience,” Bryan explains.
“Textiles are a visual language that we all understand and fabrics are essential to human survival. Our threads record our history and reveal who we are as people. A quilt block provided the widest possible expression for incorporating different materials that represent our cultural and ethnic past as well as our present. Sewn together, they show how, though different from one another, we are connected.”
Bryan continues. “Each 11-inch block is a hexagon with a diamond insert; the hexagon represents the carbon molecule, which is the fundamental element of all life. The shape can be found in every culture throughout history, from the tile mosaics of the Middle East, to the six-pointed Jewish Star, to embroidery designs from the Balkans, and on and on. We invited participants to contribute their talents and ideas, reflected through the prism of their cultural backgrounds. Other than the basic parameters of size and shape, people were free to do whatever they felt best represented their particular culture and its traditions. The range of materials is astonishing, from sealskin to African mud-cloth, from embroidered silk to rabbit fur. Some pieces include family heirlooms that are up to 200-years old.”
The inspiration for Quilt of Belonging came in 1994, when Esther accompanied her father to Slovakia, the homeland from which he had immigrated 43 years earlier.
The trip was a watershed experience for Esther, making her realize the depth of the human desire to have a sense of place; to belong. She returned to Canada determined to create a collaborative art piece that showed there was a place for all in humanity.
Bringing such an all-encompassing goal to fruition was, as you might imagine, no easy task. How would one go about locating representatives from all nations of the world who had settled in Canada? Assuming those representatives could be found, how would one convince them to participate in such an unusual undertaking? Would anyone take the project seriously? Where would funding come from?
These obstacles and many more would have caused anyone less committed to abandon the idea from the start, but Esther knew that her faith would carry her through.
Using every resource she could think of, from newspapers, radio, television, immigration centers, embassies, churches, mosques, universities, Aboriginal groups, and even the United Nations, she built a cadre of contacts and volunteers.
Canada is a huge country and Esther and her volunteers traversed it from coast to coast and top to bottom, usually funded from their own pockets or private donations.
“It was all about building relationships,” she says. “It was an immense idea, one that didn’t fit in a box. Many people we met didn’t speak English and we’d have to work through interpreters. It was a miracle that it all came together, but it was an experience that none of us will never forget. It changed us.”
Eventually the idea caught on and throughout Canada enthusiasm grew. Quilt of Belonging became a non-profit corporation and a registered charity. Organizations, corporations, and grant agencies began to back the project and both the federal and provincial governments recognized the value of the effort.
The inaugural exhibition of the completed Quilt of Belonging took place in 2005 at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in the nation’s capital and the Quilt began a decade-long touring schedule that included a visit to the International Quilt Festival in Houston in 2007 and a first-of-its-kind, multi-venue exhibition trek across the Arctic.
The quilt was featured at the 2010 Olympic and Para Olympic Games in Vancouver and was chosen for display at the G20 Summit in Toronto. To date, an estimated 1.4 million visitors have seen the work. Quilt of Belonging is the basis for diversity education units in Canadian schools, and a book about the project is in its fourth printing.
This remarkable achievement is summed up by the Quilt of Belonging mission statement: “Quilt of Belonging is a collaborative work of art that recognizes Canada's diversity, celebrates our common humanity, and promotes harmony and compassion among people.”
As Esther says, there truly could be no better vehicle to carry those sentiments than a quilt.
All photos are courtesy of Esther Bryan, Quilt of Belonging.
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