Riverside’s Community Quarantine Quilt | March 15 - July 31, 2021

Riverside Arts Center Community Quarantine Quilt | March 2020 - March 2021 — Riverside Arts Center Community Quarantine Quilt | *March 2020 - March 2021*

Riverside Arts Center is proud to sponsor this beautiful community quilt, sharing an uplifting perspective on the Coronavirus Pandemic from Riversiders.

The quilt draws together experiences from the Riverside community during 2020’s stay-home period. Initiated by Riversider Bridget Juister, it was inspired by a Black History quilt she’d seen on display earlier at Adler Planetarium. Thanks to material scraps on hand from Calico Corners in Hinsdale, the project was completely free for the community and offered a creative reprieve during a difficult time.

Each quilt square tells its own story, and each artist provided a brief statement sharing their thoughts about what inspired their piece. Collectively, this quilt tells a larger story about community, security, and what is revered in our lives.

Love, joy, and nature come through as overarching themes in the quilt. Homage was paid to healthcare workers, teachers, graduates, and puppies each of which held their own special place in this experience.

The repetitive pattern on the quilt’s backing fabric was chosen to symbolize the hundreds of thousands of lives lost through this crisis. The black border framing the quilt sets a somber remembrance as we begin to look back on this experience.

Juister wove a golden thread between the squares, serving as a symbolic link between diverse communities and individuals within them. The quilt commemorates the belief that when basic human needs are met, peace and joy lie at the core for every human experience.

Riverside Arts Center (RAC) is proud to support this beautiful volunteer effort. The entire process from beginning to end brought forth a feeling of peace and togetherness during what was otherwise a time of isolation and anxiety. These artists created wondrously gentle expressions of optimism and patience, assertions of solidarity and hope, and a bit of fun. Individually and as a whole it is an inspiration.

The Riverside Community Quarantine Quilt will be on display in the lobby of Riverside Town Hall through June, 2021. We hope to find a permanent home for it, where the quilt can be enjoyed by Riversiders in the future.