In Spring 2008, MYX: Multicultural Youth eXchange and NewCourtland began a new partnership designed to expand NewCourtland’s Comfort and Joy initiative, an intergenerational arts and entertainment based program teaming elders with children and professional artists in creative, collaborative projects. Past Comfort and Joy projects have included mosaic murals, an animated video, an intergenerational choir, a peace quilt and a sacred village and doll making program.
For the Spring 2008 project, MYX designed “Common Threads: A Virtual Quilt.” During a 10-week period, pairs of elders and students collaborated on individual quilt squares that explored personal identity and preservation of cultural and family history as well as issues that transcend age such as hopes and aspirations. Techniques including photo-transfer, beading, stamping, embroidery, batik, dyeing and no-sew quilting were used to create the quilt squares. Additionally, each pair of elders and students wrote and recorded poems and interviews of each other. Digital images of each quilt square and its corresponding audio recording were subsequently assembled on-line into the virtual quilt seen here.
It is the hope of both MYX and NewCourtland that this online quilt will carry the artwork and voices of the elders and students beyond the walls of the nursing homes to a diverse audience who may find inspiration in the theme of Common Threads.