Harness Your Creativity and Create Panels for the AIDS Memorial Quilt
Wednesday, Dec 1st is World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day provides an opportunity to show support for people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and remember those who have been lost to the disease. This fall, MSUM will be taking extra steps to remember.
Beginning in October, panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be displayed in the Livingston Lord Library. This quilt is a national memorial that began in the 1980s to remember the lives lost to the disease. The entire quilt is made of over 50,000 panels and weighs 54 tons.
30-40 MSUM students will have the chance to contribute to this national memorial by creating new panels for the quilt. Each panel is customized in memory of a person who lost their life to AIDS. These panels are a representation of the person through the use of color and imagery.
Since the late 1980s, panels have been created and displayed in the National Mall in Washington D.C. Panels of the quilt travel around the country to spread awareness and mark World AIDS Day on December 1st.
Panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be displayed in the Livingston Lord Library from mid-October through World AIDS Day on December 1. Additionally, MSUM students will have the opportunity to help create panels for the quilt.
Creating a panel would consist of:
- Learning about a local person who died from AIDS from friends and family of that person. We are coordinating with local folks to do this.
- Working in small groups to brainstorm and create quilt ideas that represent that person’s life.
- No sewing experience required! The FM Quilting Guild will be helping students create the panels.
- A low time commitment throughout October and November, mainly 4-6 hours of work on November 6th, when the panels will be made.
This is an excellent opportunity to learn about and memorialize the tragic effects of AIDS and make a lasting contribution to the community.
Interested students should email Annie Wood (annie.wood@mnstate.edu) to be added to the volunteer list and receive additional information.
Additional information about the AIDS Quilt can be found at https://www.aidsmemorial.org/quilt-history