Witnessing

Creating The Witness Quilt hinged on my unwavering faith in the creative process. I would not see the quilt in its totality until six months into the exhibition. My studio wall did not accommodate its massive size. Time limitations required both the veiled kittel under-layer and the concealing add-on patchworks to be built simultaneously. A creation without visual confirmation would be required.

The Witness Quilt was planned as the narrative arc of the exhibition, Louise Silk: A Patchwork Life at The Heinz History Center. The exhibit followed the timeline of my quilting experiences through my connections to community, art, feminism, and renewal. The story, while personal and specific to me, became the repository for larger concepts of folk history, cultural reflection, and personal identification. This on-site quilt interactive was designed to foster a broader dynamic collaboration that moved beyond the standard retrospective exhibition. 

The original quilt was created over an eight-month period in 2023-24. Referencing a kimono shape sized up to be 15 feet wide X 9 feet long, it was divided into seven panels composed of 1525 individual detachable patchworks. The quilt contained hand-embroidered BubbeWisdoms, a collection of affirmative maxims, alongside phrases of a contemporary version of the Vidui prayer. Beginning with the opening on September 1, 2024, The BubbeWisdom Stitching Circle collected meaningful fabric donations from members of the public, applied pithy embroideries to them, and incorporated them into my original quilt form. In the latter months of the exhibit, they systematically unmade the quilt and distributed the patchwork pieces to the viewing public. 

I connected deeply as viewers openly shared thoughts and feelings throughout their experience. We shook hands, gave hugs, took photos and exchanged stories. Former students, distant relatives, older mentors, long-lost friends, dedicated quilters, want-to be quilters, historians, families, sports fans, and tourists, each applying their own individual take-aways, became an integral part of my process.

What the viewer relates to throughout the exhibit is my singular ability to value process over product, to be flexible in the flow, and to make the most of what is given. Going beyond individual stitches that unite into an aesthetic whole, The Witness Quilt’s abnormal process of making, unmaking, and gifting patchworks, values co-creating through an intentional melding of time. Accompanying the full moon of Adar, the kittel came into full view transforming something temporary and transitional into an affirmative long-lasting archival experience for all.