The quilt blocks gave the children away to look at their lives

Tag : Quilt Fabric
For the healing-arts labyrinth project, children in the summeryouth enrichment program at Friendship House each created afoot-square quilt block. The blocks were placed on the canvas floorcloth to form the labyrinth's winding shape.

Unlike a maze, which is purposefully difficult to negotiate, alabyrinth has a single path that loops toward the center. Sinceancient times, walking the path has been associated with calmingthe mind.

The quilt blocks, which focused on friendship, gave the children away to look at their lives, said Matt Pipinich, community relationsdirector at Friendship House. Many of the children used buttons,fabric scraps, beads and glue to create portraits of family membersor friends.

"It really opened up conversation," Pipinich said. "They made itreal clear what they had picked for their art."

The words the children used to describe their artwork were writtenon index cards and will be incorporated into the labyrinth'sfinished design.

"I liked it when I went in the middle," said Majayla Krank, a7-year-old, after walking the labyrinth.

When she stood in the center, she said, she thought about somethingsad. For her square, she used a shell and sticks, hearts and beads.

"I did it for my mom and dad," she said. "I really love my mom anddad."

Jeremy Ludwig, 6, made one square about his friends and anotherabout the SpongeBob cartoon character Patrick the starfish.

Ludwig led a stuffed animal on a leash while gingerly walking alongthe labyrinth's path.

"I walk that slowly sometimes when I'm kind of balancing on a baror something like that," he said.

The quilt blocks were part of a larger fabric giveaway on whichAtherton has been working for a couple of years. The scrap fabric,donated by a major manufacturer of children's clothing, wasoriginally headed for the incinerator. As a way of "honoring" thefabric's value, Atherton has fostered use of the fabric in creativeprojects.

She intends to embellish the children's work in a way that will tiethe squares together.

So far, the children have created 75 of the 150 squares needed tomake the finished labyrinth, which will grow into a 20-foot square,nearly twice the size of the project's current dimensions.

Atherton already has plans to display the piece at the Big SkyQuilt Retreat and Show in March, at a therapy quilt group show andduring a downtown Billings Artwalk this spring. She is looking forother venues to display the work.

Next summer, the squares will be removed from the backing andauctioned as a fundraiser for Friendship House.

Contact Donna Healy at dhealy@billingsgazette.com or at 657-1292.


Published on Tuesday, August 12, 2008.
Last modified on 8/12/2008 at 12:45 am
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