Power to The Peaceful Quilt Exhibit

This Power to the Peaceful quilt was made by teachers from India and part of the around-the-world exhibit that opened Dec. 15 at the Godwin-Ternbach museum. (Courtesy of CUNY/Queens College)

FLUSHING, New York— Godwin-Ternbach Museum is hosting a Peace Quilt Exhibit which grew out of a Peace Quilt project. The project has created a bridge between the East Bronx Academy for the Future and a vocational school for girls operated by the Pardada Pardadi Educational Society in a village in Bulandshar, India. Professor Rikki Asher, from the Bronx Academy visited the Indian girls’ school in 2007. The girls’ school helps young artisans to escape poverty by providing free training. The training includes many marketable skills, such as block printing, embroidery, and appliqué.

When Professor Rikki returned this year she brought a handmade quilt as a gift. The quilt was made by the students of the East Bronx Academy for the future. The Indian students attended a workshop given by Professor Rikki to teach them how to quilt and make a quilt to exchange with the Academy. A second quilt was made by 19 of the Pardada Pardadi teachers; world peace is honored and celebrated in the quilts. These quilts are destined for permanent exhibition in the Bronx school.

“As the world grows smaller and communication ever faster, it is vitally important for global understanding to go hand in hand with globalization,” says Professor Asher in a press release. “The Peace Quilt project, initiated in New York and taken to northern India, demonstrates understanding and empathy in a way that no business arrangement ever could. They rose to the challenge of creating works that communicate the essence of their lives through art.”

Other notable pieces in the Godwin-Ternbach exhibit include: A quilt created by painter and quilt-maker Faith Ringgold, this quilt was inspired by a book, What Will You Do for Peace? Impact of 9/11 on New York City Youth, a book produced by the InterRelations Collaborative, in which New York’s youngest citizens documented their feelings about 9/11, and Eleanor Roosevelt’s vision for social justice inspired teenage girls to make a lovely quilt expressing their concepts about social justice and change. This quilt issues an invitation for the audience to embrace change.

The Power to the Peaceful exhibition also includes this quilt: Mandala Peace Quilt and Tarot Peace Quilt, made at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, NY. The Omega Institute has an ongoing peace quilt project. According to the Institute, the quilts are seen as  visual expression of the spiritual art of global cultures that creates a “state of awareness…with which to grow deeper in one’s spiritual practice.”

Faith Ringgold’s “Peace Quilt Story,” which is part of the exhibit, brings a message of hope and healing. This cross-cultural work of art has been a messenger for peace as it has been displayed across the United States.

“Understanding and interaction across cultures are key elements in the creation of these quilts,” says Amy Winter, director of the Godwin-Ternbach museum. “They exemplify the global and local community activism being called for by our newly elected president.”

There are videos and photographs documenting the production of the quilts that are also part of this beautiful exhibit, which runs from Dec. 15, 2008 to Jan. 15, 2009.

The Godwin-Ternbach Museum at Queens College is the only comprehensive collection of art and artifacts in the borough of Queens, housing over 3,700 objects that date from ancient to modern times. The mission of the museum has grown over time from serving as a teaching center for the benefit of art and art history students to embracing all disciplines and an increasingly diverse community. All exhibitions are free, as are their related lectures, symposia, gallery talks, workshops, films, concerts, and tours.

 For further information on the exhibition and public programs visit
 www.qc.cuny.edu/godwin_ternbach . Admission is free.