Legacy Quilt - Lebanon, PA
Creating Legacy Together
INTERGENERATIONAL MULTIMEDIA ART PROJECT
Fall 2018 — Lebanon, PA
The Legacy Quilt was created by senior citizens and youth from the city of Lebanon. This project was a collaboration with Lebanon Valley Council on the Arts, True Life Youth Ministries (TL), and Community Homes of Lebanon County which provides quality and affordable housing for seniors and people with disabilities.
As Teaching Artist, I hosted 10 workshop sessions at Community Homes’ Willow Terrace location in Lebanon with youth from TL and a group of seniors who lived in the housing complex. We began by exploring the imprint of others’ legacies on our lives. We discussed how the decisions we make throughout our lifetime determine the type of legacy we leave behind. Each participant wrote their own “Personal Living Legacy Statement.”
We then explored empathy as a skill that we can practice. We exercised this skill by interviewing each other and practiced how to both offer and receive empathy from others. The youth developed their own surveys of 10 questions for the seniors. Selected quotes:
“What parts of your legacy do you think will have a positive impact? What do you fear will have a negative impact?”
“What is one piece of advice you would like to give to young people like me?”
“What are major values or principles that you live by?”
I led the group in learning the basics of printmaking. Each participant developed a pattern and printed a “quilt block”. Some incorporated a “legacy word” into their design.
The youth were challenged to use themes they extrapolated from their interviews to create unique “Legacy Blocks” using fabric paint and markers.
I sewed all of the participants’ quilt blocks into a large quilt. The quilt now bears witness to the legacy each artist wishes to become and speaks a blessing over the community where it hangs in the Community Room at Willow Terrace.
We celebrated the completion of our quilt by exhibiting it at a First Friday Art Opening in Lebanon Valley Council for the Arts’ gallery. Participants publicly read from their “Personal Living Legacy Statements”. Selected quotes are below:
“My personal legacy word is to believe. If you believe in yourself and others, you can accomplish amazing things. Believing in yourself can show that even if you don’t think you can do it, if you tell your mind you can do it, in some shape or form you can do it. You can prove to yourself that anything is possible.”
“Each of us are magic, magical and magnificent. Each generation must contribute and add to the next generation’s well-being and care.”
“I ask you to create such safe spaces for yourself and people who feel uncomfortable with their identity. Call others to do the same, because you never know who might need a sanctuary of sorts to live as themselves.”
“I have chosen my Legacy Phrase for the quilt to be ‘Teach Others.’ I had a very special teacher when I was growing up who meant so much to me and helped me along. I wanted to challenge others to use their life to teach others like she taught me.”