Memories of Western Avenue Studios: The Lowell Visiting Nurse Association Quilt

Before I moved away from Lowell, our last collaboration at the Lowell Fiber studio www.lowellfiberstudio.org was this lovely quilt:

This was a commission commemorating the 100th anniversary of the VNA of Greater Lowell.  It is a collaboration between 10 quilt artists working together and in pairs (each pair responsible for the design and execution of their panel) and the nurses, patients, families and other health professionals associated with the VNA.  The quilt now hangs in the VNA corporate headquarters in downtown Lowell.  The scene includes photographs of houses in Lowell as well as a photograph of the downtown seen from the top of Christian Hill.  The quilt reaches from night into day, and includes quotes by the patients and families of the VNA expressing their appreciation for the care they received.  The quotes are written in six different languages spoken in Lowell.  The artists were Linda Dunn (who coordinated the quilt project), Cathy Granese, Gwen Stith, Ann and Sonja Lee-Austin, Margot Stage, Merrill Comeau and me, with some additional help from Laura Gawlinski and Susan Webber.  This piece took over six months to complete, and is quite large, taking up most of the conference room wall at the Lowell VNA.