Have you considered the way you feel about the impact of the pandemic on your life, and expressed those feelings in shape and color, fabric and thread?
Making such a quilt could be a very enlightening and emotionally freeing experience. In “The Creative Art of Quilting” Michelle Napoli says “You symbolize how you understand something before you can find the words.”
Some of the traumas of the pandemic have been grief, loss, stress, uncertainty, isolation and anger. But as you know, there are also positive components to this pandemic. Living through this time we have experienced personal growth, the appreciation of all the truly important things in life, the preciousness of valued relationships, the strengths within ourselves, our humor and joy.
Consider this abstract from the Journal of Occupational Science: Exploring the Forgotten Restorative Dimension of Occupation: Quilting and Quilt Use.
“Restorative, or restful, occupations serve to renew depleted energy resources and result in an improved physical and mental state, with feelings of regeneration during and after participation. Restorative occupations include sleep and quiet focus activities such as quilting. Historically, the concept of restoration has been a neglected dimension of occupation within the fields of occupational therapy and occupational science. The process of quilting is used in this article as an example of a restorative occupation. Restoration from quilting may be gained through the experiences of meaning, tradition, ritual, and rite of passage that quilting provides. Quilt use may be restorative as well, through associations with sleep, meaning, and the sensory qualities of quilts. Both quilting and quilt use have therapeutic benefits that promote restoration”.
Below are some interesting examples of quilters responding to the pandemic. I especially like the self-portrait in the Hillsboro Current Threads exhibit for its humor, and the cubist scream in the SAQA exhibit for its intensity.
Linda Lunt
WESTSIDE QUILTER’S GUILD
https://pamplinmedia.com/ht/117-hillsboro-tribune-news/500894-401423-hillsboros-current-threads-exhibit-reflects-pandemic
SAQA
https://www.saqa.com/art/browse-collection/facing-down-pandemic-cubist-scream
COMMUNITY PANDEMIC QUILT SQUARE
https://www.elainelutherart.com/community-pandemic-quilt-square/
QUARANTINE QUILTS
https://quiltmuseum.org/visit/upcoming-exhibits/
PANDEMIC QUILTS
https://www.quiltingdaily.com/inspired-pandemic-art-quilts/
REFERENCES
Journal of Occupational Science, volume 7, 2000 – Issue 2
by Dana Howell & Doris Pierce, Pages 68 – 72
Published 26 Sep 2011, Taylor & Francis Online
https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2000.9686467
Nextavenue, Vitality Arts, The Creative Art of Quilting
by Marijke Vroomen Durning, July 12, 20187