Art and Craft in Action
written by Judy Fisher
The homely arts- you know -the ones we do for our family and for our enjoyment. We knit hats and scarfs and shawls and throws. We weave scarves and afghans. We quilt blankets in all sizes. And crochet can do all of that and more.
What we do may be purely art or mostly craft. We enjoy the process. We gift our relatives and friends with our output and perhaps we sell some of it at a craft fair or two.
However, you can use these items to make a positive political statement and also give comfort to a newly arrived immigrant.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempet-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Emma Lazerus, “The New Colossus” (1883) written on the Statue of Liberty
Or Not!
“I will build a great wall— and nobody builds walls better
than me, believe me—and I’ll build them very inexpensively.
I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I
will make Mexico pay for it. Mark my words.”
Donald Trump, Candidacy Speech, (June 2015)
Jayna Zweiman, an LA professional with a background in architecture came up with the Welcome Blanket project. She managed to secure an empty gallery at the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art. The exhibit, titled Jayna Zweiman: Welcome Blanket opened in mid 2017. This empty gallery gradually filled with over 3,500 blankets donated by makers across the country for immigrants, particularly refugees.
“The Welcome Blanket Project aims to connect people already living in the United States residents with our country’s new immigrants through stories and handmade blankets, providing both symbolic and literal comfort and warmth. At the same time, the project offers a positive, hands-on way to understand the scope of a 2000-mile border wall and to subvert it from an idea of exclusion to one of inclusion. By participating in this project, people will also come together to talk about immigration policy and how it affects real-live people.”
The project then moved on to the Museum of Design Atlanta and it is projected to move on to the Los Angeles International Airport .
“My goal is to turn this into an American tradition,” states Jayna Zwieman “so every time an immigrant arrives in the US, they get a welcome blanket.”
You can read more about this project at welcome blanket.org or check out the magazine American Craft oct/nov. 2018.
BTW, Jayna Zwieman is co-creator with Kate Coyle of the Pussy Hat Project.
