Quilts created from migrant children’s artwork—and response “welcome” quilts from Patagonia school children—are on display at the Arizona History Museum in Tucson through April 27, 2024 as part of an exhibit titled ‘Welcome Quilts: Migration, Art and Hope.’
If you were in Patagonia in March, 2020, you likely saw signs promoting a ten-day, multi-venue event spearheaded by Voices from the Border called ‘Leaving Home: Migration Through the Eyes of Children.’ Perhaps you experienced the centerpiece of the event in Cady Hall, an art show called ‘Hope and Healing: The Art of Asylum,’ featuring the artwork of children of asylum seekers staying at Casa Alitas Welcome Center in Tucson.
Maybe you were touched by the migrant children’s artwork, both on paper and on several quilts, which portrayed their love of the homes they had to leave, their difficult journey, and their hopes for the future. And maybe you noticed buses delivering area children to this exhibit of their migrant peers’ artwork.
What you probably didn’t see, unless you were directly involved, were local teachers delivering a curriculum to those nearly 100 Patagonia school children, centered on lessons of empathy and belonging. Developed by early childhood educator Gale Hall, the class included the local children creating messages of welcome to the migrants, using fabric paint on muslin squares.
During Covid lockdown, Gale Hall quilted those Patagonia children’s drawings into eight beautiful “Welcome Quilts” directed towards migrants. Those quilts, and the story of how they came to be, are now a key part of the museum installation at the Arizona History Museum.
The display has interactive components, with children’s books on the topic of migration made available and post-it notes people can fill out and post on a whiteboard with questions like, “What would you miss if you had to leave your home?”
Also offered to schools and groups in connection with the exhibit is a similar curriculum to the original pilot that Hall delivered in Patagonia. There are variations based on age levels from kindergarten to adult. Hall and several volunteer teachers, some from Patagonia, have made themselves available to facilitate the class, which includes making quilt squares. The class is being offered as part of a tour of the museum, or it can be brought to a school or a group meeting. Email welcomehomequilts@gmail.com if you would like to discuss a tour.
Voices from the Border and Gale Hall are also putting out a call for people interested in helping sew Welcome Quilts from squares collected from the museum exhibit and related programming. If you or someone you know would be interested in this project, or if you’re a teacher who would like to help present this curriculum contact: welcomehomequilts@gmail.com.
In the works are additional activities including a webinar in the spring co-sponsored by the museum and Voices, focused on cooperative social justice quilt projects, including Welcome Quilts and the Love Quilt Project, among others.
We love that the Patagonia community came together and created something that will now be seen by many thousands in Tucson. In addition to the work created by the schoolchildren,100 local individuals, businesses and organizations—including Borderlands Restoration Network, Gathering Grounds, Global Arts Gallery, Patagonia Creative Arts Association, Patagonia Library, Patagonia Youth Enrichment Center and Velvet Elvis—joined with Voices from the Border to create this very enriching community-wide event that now lives on in Tucson.
Though the original full series of events planned for ‘Leaving Home’ was interrupted by Covid, we consider the event to be a great success and hope community members will share our enthusiasm and visit this new exhibit.
The Arizona History Museum is located at 949 E. 2nd Street, Tucson. Call 520-628-5774 or visit arizonahistoricalsociety.org for more information