Quilt of Life

Day Without Art:
Quilt of Life

A Collaborative Project between the Clark Art Institute and Mt. Greylock Regional High School, Williamstown, MA

Click on a photograph
to see a larger image.

On October 18, 19, and 20 1996 the AIDS Memorial Quilt was displayed on the Mall in Washington DC. It was the fifth, and perhaps the last time that the Quilt will be shown in its entirety, for like the epidemic itself, the Quilt is growing at an exponential rate, and soon there will be no urban public space large enough to accommodate the entire thing. More than a hundred panels are added each week (the Quilt represents 12 percent of all U.S. AIDS deaths)

For the 1996 Day Without Art, educators at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts initiated a quilt project of their own. They asked 75 ninth grade students in health classes at Mt. Greylock Regional High School to think about AIDS and its effect on their lives, as they created panels for the "Quilt of Life" that is now on display at the museum.

As in the original AIDS Memorial Quilt, each patch of the Quilt of Life tells a different story. Some students' panels are memorials to people affected by AIDS, while others are educational in nature, highlighting prevention methods and awareness. Some students have explored their own identities to create panels representing themselves and what they have to lose, while others considered what they value -- and what they would miss -- in friends and family members.

1996 marks the eighth annual Day Without Art, an international day of action and mourning in response to the AIDS crisis. Every December 1, museums and art spaces worldwide unite in addressing the issue of AIDS. Some museums temporarily cover artworks or remove them from display, others exhibit art with AIDS as its subject, offer educational materials, or close their doors altogether.
Teenagers make up the fastest growing group of people contracting HIV. The Quilt of Life represents a community united in the cause of ending AIDS through education and compassion.
-- Merritt Colaizzi,
Clark Art Institute Education Liason

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	Day Without Art: Quilt of Life A Collaborative Project between the Clark Art Institute and Mt. Greylock Regional High School, Williamstown, MA Click on a photograph to see a larger image.
On October 18, 19, and 20 1996 the AIDS Memorial Quilt was displayed on the Mall in Washington DC. It was the fifth, and perhaps the last time that the Quilt will be shown in its entirety, for like the epidemic itself, the Quilt is growing at an exponential rate, and soon there will be no urban public space large enough to accommodate the entire thing. More than a hundred panels are added each week (the Quilt represents 12 percent of all U.S. AIDS deaths)

For the 1996 Day Without Art, educators at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts initiated a quilt project of their own. They asked 75 ninth grade students in health classes at Mt. Greylock Regional High School to think about AIDS and its effect on their lives, as they created panels for the "Quilt of Life" that is now on display at the museum.

As in the original AIDS Memorial Quilt, each patch of the Quilt of Life tells a different story. Some students' panels are memorials to people affected by AIDS, while others are educational in nature, highlighting prevention methods and awareness. Some students have explored their own identities to create panels representing themselves and what they have to lose, while others considered what they value -- and what they would miss -- in friends and family members.
	1996 marks the eighth annual Day Without Art, an international day of action and mourning in response to the AIDS crisis. Every December 1, museums and art spaces worldwide unite in addressing the issue of AIDS. Some museums temporarily cover artworks or remove them from display, others exhibit art with AIDS as its subject, offer educational materials, or close their doors altogether. Teenagers make up the fastest growing group of people contracting HIV. The Quilt of Life represents a community united in the cause of ending AIDS through education and compassion. -- Merritt Colaizzi, Clark Art Institute Education Liason