CONN 155 | Social Fabric: Quilting a Community

CONN155 centers on the social functions of quilting in the U.S. Units on the AIDS Memorial Quilt and the African American quilting community of Gee’s Bend familiarize students with humanistic, artistic, and social scientific ways of knowing, while deepening understanding of quilts’ power to memorialize, to resist, and to inspire. As students study quilting as a subject, they apply their knowledge and ideas to the creation of a community quilt. Each student hand sews two squares, and collaborates on arranging the squares into a quilt top and hand quilting the blanket. No prior experience with sewing is required. The final "thread" of the course is the consideration of self-care as a crucial element of learning and student success. Topics include boundaries, rest, time management, and mindfulness. Students engage in discussion and a practice of reflective journal writing, the latter of which culminates in a reflective essay.