Return to Table of ContentsApril 1998
UMass Boston to Host AIDS Memorial Quilt
VISITING THE QUILT
Where:
Clark Athletic Center
Dates:
April 23-25
Times:
10 a.m.-7 p.m. (Th, Fri.)
10 a.m.-5 p.m. (Sat.)
Info:
Call 7-7983
The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, an international memorial to those who have died of AIDS, will be shown April 23-25 in Clark Athletic Center.
Featuring 960 panels, the display is one of the largest in the country this year and UMass Boston's first hosting of the Quilt. At least 7,000 people are expected to visit.
The opening ceremony will be held on April 23 at 10 a.m. Volunteers will unfold the Quilt and begin reading aloud names of some of those lost to AIDS.
Donations collected at the UMass Boston display will benefit Camp Colors, a summer day camp at Lasell College in Newton for children with HIV and AIDS.
BRIEF QUILT HISTORY
The Quilt began in San Francisco as one person's protest in June of 1987. Propelled by death and tragedy, a man named Cleve Jones spray-painted his friend's name, Marvin Feldman, onto a grave-size piece of cloth. Others joined the effort by making panels of their own. Soon, thousands were adding names and expressing emotions by creating hand-made memorials for loved ones they lost to AIDS.
The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Since 1987, more than three million people have visited the Quilt, and more than $1.4 million has been raised for AIDS service organizations.
STILL TIME FOR NEW PANELS
The entire AIDS Memorial Quilt, the largest example of a community art project, includes more than 44,000 panels made by family members, friends, lovers, co-workers and others.
Jean MacGowan of the Music Department has conducted four quilting bees at the Boston Living Center for designing and sewing new panels. The bees were almost like workshops for the small groups of attendees, MacGowan said. "It's quite an evening," she said. "Nothing maudlin or sad or teary."
Panels are 3-feet-by-6-feet -- the size of a human grave -- and are often made of materials not traditionally associated with quilting. One panel being sewn in Boston contains a red leather jumpsuit. Among the Quilt's thousands of panels are items such as Barbie dolls, car keys, cowboy boots, love letters and wedding rings.
All new Quilt panels that meet specifications will be accepted during the three-day display. For guidelines, contact MacGowan at 287-6980.
VOLUNTEERS STILL NEEDED
It's not too late to get involved with this historic campus event. Volunteers are needed to unfold panels, read names and assist in other ways. Call Cara Flynn of Sponsored Projects at 7-5370 to find out how you can help.