August 1, 2023-the 15th of Av, 5783 

In the Babylonian Talmud it is written that “when we enter Av, our joy is diminished.” This month is associated with the darkest events in Jewish history, the Nine Days culminating in the fast day of Tisha B’Av, the ninth of Av. 

However, Tu B’Av, the 15th Day of Av, is a post-biblical day of joy. It served as a matchmaking day for unmarried women in the Second Temple period, before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. In its modern incarnation, it is a Hebrew-Jewish Day of Love, slightly resembling Valentine’s Day in English-speaking countries. Tu B’Av, is a day for romance explored through singing, dancing, & giving flowers, and a great day for weddings, commitment ceremonies, and the renewal of vows. 

Next Tu B’Av, the 15^th of Av, 5784, will be the opening of “Louise Silk: A Patchwork Life” at the Senator John Heinz History Center. The exhibit is a retrospective presenting the full scope of my career from 1972 until the present, placing the work within a historic and biographical context. It will consider the role of quilting in the lives of American women broadly, and it will analyze the reasons that Jewish women immigrating from Europe to America rarely participated in quilting. It will also tell the story of Western Pennsylvania fiber arts over the past half century, a period when the field expanded beyond its roots as a home-based craft to become increasingly accepted within the fine art world. 

Quilts and other works of fiber arts will be supplemented and enriched by archival materials including family photographs, preparatory sketches and planning documents, archival film and video, and a viewer engagement installation, all pieced together to demonstrate the importance of American needlework as the repository of folk history, cultural reflection, personal empathy, and living history. 

BASHERT; SYNCHRONICITY; RIGHT ACTION; KARMA; call it what you may, Tu B’Av is nothing less than the most perfect date to open “Louise Silk: A Patchwork Life”, giving the added purpose of spreading love and joy throughout the region.