Last week our partners Attitudinal Healing Connection (AHC) launched their stunning online exhibition "Planting the Seeds of Change," featuring artwork from Oakland youth and families.

Vision Quilt collaborated with ArtEsteem and the Khadafy Washington Foundation on two of the exhibition's gallery rooms.

It is powerful to see Oakland youth depicting themselves as Super Heroes; Black families honoring loved ones lost to gun violence; and West Oakland Middle School youth responding to gun violence in their communities.

Included in AHC's online exhibition "Planting the Seeds of Change" is the ArtEsteem Vision Quilt Gallery, online now through July 13th.

The ArtEsteem Vision Quilt room also features a video introduction from Kenneth Johnson, a co-teacher in the ArtEsteem Vision Quilt program. "I hope," Kenneth says to viewers, "you will be moved, transformed, and motivated as you feel the spirit of these Oakland youth. "

Double-click on videos to view their contents. The virtual exhibition is best viewed on a computer or laptop. For further instructions on viewing, click here.

The work in the second Vision Quilt Gallery was facilitated by Marilyn Washington Harris and the Khadafy Washington Foundation.

Vision Quilt and the Khadafay Washington Foundation received grants from Oakland Unite and the Akonadi Foundation to work with gun violence survivors in West Oakland and beyond. 

Although our original plans were changed due to COVID-19, Marilyn Washington Harris was able to host a panel making workshop for twelve families who had lost their sons and daughters to gun violence.

We are honored to work with Marilyn Washington Harris. After losing her own son, Khadafy Washington, Mrs. Marilyn dedicated her life to supporting families who had lost a loved one to gun violence.

“At the time of Khadafy’s death, I realized that the city of Oakland was missing something — because I was missing something," explains Mrs. Marilyn.

"Not only was I missing my son, I was missing the fact that nobody came to my rescue... So I began to do for mothers and fathers what no one had done for me. I began to reach out to help them.”

At a time when our country is crying out for Black Lives, the Khadafy Gallery honors these families and their stories.

"Planting the Seeds of Change" exemplifies the creativity, resilience, and heartbreak that runs through Oakland. We urge you to visit the exhibition, and share it with your friends.

Vision Quilt is honored by our partnerships with AHC, the Khadafy Washington Foundation, and the youth and families creating art and telling their stories. We are grateful to our volunteers and staff supporting this work.

After the conclusion of the exhibition, Vision Quilt will continue to display the panels in workshops, galleries, exhibition spaces, and through our online Virtual Quilt. Share this newsletter with friends and make a donation to support our work. As described by Andrew Vega, one of the Youth Ambassador curating the exhibition, the gallery “showcases textile art pieces created by students that express the awareness, loss, and passion that surrounds the issue of gun violence in their homes, families, and communities.

In these uncertain times, we hope you are taking care of yourself and your communities. As we struggle to find balance and keep our work moving in a positive and creative direction, the need calls for all of us to work together. Attitudinal Healing Connection (AHC), Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA), Vision Quilt (VQ), and Junior Center of Art and Science (JCAS) are teaming up to show LOVE and to inspire learning through creativity.

Since students will not return to their schools until fall, we have identified unique ways to provide alternative options for children to access arts instruction. Our students represent the most vulnerable populations. AHC, MOCHA, VQ and JCAS understand that arts equity is an essential component to belonging, developing and thriving.

We are doing an art kit drive to deliver supplies to the youth in our communities. We hope you will support our efforts.

For only $20 you can give a child art supplies to help their creativity thrive. Accompanied by instructional guides and free videos, the kits will be sent to the students we serve.

By April 30, 2020, we aim to partner with more arts organizations and give out 2,500 kits to children and youth at partnering schools.
Select schools and survivor families will be asked to create artwork to be launched on a national stage advocating against gun violence through Vision Quilt. Students will also have the option to submit their artwork to MOCHA for a video exhibition to thank our healthcare and emergency service providers.


We know these are difficult times, and we are grateful for your donation. Please be generous – no amount is too small! Every donation is tax deductible, and deeply appreciated.

You can also send checks to this address: Vision Quilt P.O. #3192 Ashland, OR 97520.

THANK YOU for helping Vision Quilt continue to strengthen communities, empower youth, and prevent gun violence!

In Community,
Dr. Cathy DeForest
Vision Quilt Executive Director

Amana Harris
AHC Executive Director

 
Nina Woodruff-Walker
MOCHA Executive Director
 
Dominique Enriquez 
Junior Center of Art and Science Executive Director

by Lauren Levitt
On December 17, 2018 a group of sex workers and their allies gathered in the conference room of the East Los Angeles Women’s Center to observe International Day to End Violence against Sex Workers. The event was organized by the Sex Workers’ Outreach Project Los Angeles (SWOP LA), a local chapter for SWOP USA, a national social justice network dedicated to the fundamental human rights of people involved in the sex trade and their communities, focusing on ending violence and stigma through education and advocacy.
 
International Day to End Violence against Sex Workers was started in 2003 by sex worker, artist, and activist Annie Sprinkle and SWOP USA to memorialize the victims of the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgeway, a prolific serial killer who preyed on sex workers and other marginalized women in Washington state during the 1980s and 90s. Today, on December 17 the sex worker community remembers all those lost to violence in the past year.
 
As people began to fill the room, they enjoyed a warm meal and visited with each other, appreciating the warmth and comfort of community, before musician and adult performer Petra Blair gave a presentation on the connections between gun violence and violence against sex workers. 14 of the 49 sex workers who died in the United States in 2018 were killed by gunshot, higher than any other cause of death, and over half of the women in the United States killed by intimate partner violence, which includes violence from clients, are killed with a gun.
 
The presentation was followed by a Vision Quilt Workshop, during which participants created panels imagining an end to gun violence against sex workers. During the workshop, Mariah Castañeda, a journalist from L.A. Taco, asked organizers and participants about the impact of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) and the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Acts (FOSTA), a federal bill package passed earlier that year which made conditions more dangerous for those in the sex trade by shutting down online advertising platforms and safety resources.
 
After the workshop, SWOP LA director Zooey Zara led guests in a candlelit vigil for the sex workers who were lost in 2018, during which many tears were shed. The list was longer than the year before, and in addition to the many women who had been murdered, there were a number of adult performers who had taken their own lives. Following the ceremony, everyone pitched in to help clean up the center before wishing each other goodnight.

Vision Quilt is proud to share our newest video, "Amplifying Voices: Building Partnerships to End Gun Violence." The four minute video focuses on our partnerships with schools, grassroots organizations and community leaders in places like Oakland and Chicago.

​Vision Quilt empowers communities to create their own solutions to gun violence through the power of art and inclusive dialogue.

Partnerships are at the heart of our work. "Amplifying Voices" showcases some of our partners, including: Adamika Village, The Ark of St. Sabina, Catholic Charities East Bay, Lighthouse Community Charter School, MOMS Demand Action, Oakland Violence Prevention Coalition, Women in Need of Discovering Their Own Worth, Youth ALIVE!

Share this video with friends, and learn how you can support our work in 2020!

This fall has been a busy time for Vision Quilt. In addition to continuing our 2020-2021 programming with Lighthouse Charter School, we launched a new partnership with Attitudinal Healing Connection (AHC) in Oakland, California. AHC is a kindred organization doing remarkable work; their inspiring community murals, found through the Oakland, celebrate the vibrancy and resiliency of Oakland and its residents.

Together with AHC's ArtEsteem program, we launched a new project working with students at West Oakland Middle School. As described by Nan Eastep of AHC:

Vision Quilt and ArtEsteem have come together because they believe that through the act of art-making and public expression Oakland youth can both heal from the trauma of gun violence and contribute to its prevention. Daytime art sessions are taught by seasoned artists with the aid of circles, talking pieces and the Principles of Attitudinal Healing. We have chosen the collaborative quilt as the form to follow, for its association with family, comfort, community, nurture, protection and recovery.

The ArtEsteem/Vision Quilt project, which is supported by the City of Oakland's Art-In-The-Schools program, runs throughout the fall and spring terms at West Oakland Middle School and Fricke Impact Academy. To learn more about this work, check out this blog post on the AHC website.

Vision Quilt is proud to be included in Guns: Loaded Conversations, the three-year traveling exhibition from Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA).

The intention of Guns: Loaded Conversations is to spark conversation and make bridges across an often polarized conversation. “Artists have been a catalyst for difficult societal conversations throughout history,” says the exhibition website. “Guns: Loaded Conversations seeks to engage viewers of differing opinions to listen to each other and to encourage community initiatives that may inspire action in seeking solutions.”

The newest dates for the exhibition include:

• University Art Gallery, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan: January 15 - February 8, 2020
• Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, England, UK: July 30, 2010 – August 2, 2020

Vision Quilt’s short film focused on our work at Lighthouse Community Charter School  is included in the exhibition. If you are in the area, check out this incredible show!

The month began with the “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" exhibit at the Portland City Hall. The exhibit showcased Vision Quilt panels from students at Northwest Academy in Portland. Ted Wheeler, the mayor of Portland, visited with youth during the opening (pictured above). ​

Vision Quilt panels were also displayed at Oakland City Hall throughout the month of June (pictured above). The exhibition began with an opening reception on June 6th, which also served to feature Oakland’s Violence Prevention Coalition. Coalition co-chairs Melvin Cowan and Almaz Yihdego as well as Reverend Melva Fonteno spoke about the Coalition, its role in Oakland, the new Department of Violence Prevention, and the needs of the Oakland community. ​

In other news, Vision Quilt was featured in an article by Pam Rocco for the April/May issue of Quilting Arts Magazine. We are thrilled to receive such support from the quilting community, and we hope many magazine readers are inspired to create their own Vision Quilts!

In the United States, 735 people die in the from gun violence each week, reports the Center for Disease Control. In March, youth from March for Our Lives created a powerful art installation and memorial to personalize this tremendous statistic. Staged on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., "A Week in America" visualizes these deaths with a memorial marker for each individual. 

To learn more about "A Week in America," watch this short video produced by Now This. We applaud and support the March for Our Lives youth for their courage, tenacity, and lucidity -- they are powerful leaders in a much needed movement.

Vision Quilt is excited to join artists from the Soul Box Project for "Art Revealing the Gunfire Epidemic," an upcoming exhibition at the Multnomah Arts Center Gallery in Portland, Oregon.

Soul Boxes are origami boxes commemorating lives lost to gun violence -- on February 15, 2019, the project brought 36,000 Soul Boxes to the Oregon State Capitol Building. Like Vision Quilt, Soul Boxes are a powerful way of responding to the gun violence epidemic through grassroots art. 

Participants in the Soul Box Project design and create an origami box made from two 8.5 inch pieces of paper. Like Vision Quilt panels, Soul Boxes are a simple way to make a powerful statement, and anyone can participate. Over 44,000 Soul Boxes have been created since the project began in October 2017, and they plan to collect 200,000 boxes in total by 2020. In the United States, over 35,000 people are killed by gun violence each year. 

Vision Quilt and Soul Box are kindred projects and we are excited to partner together for this upcoming exhibition -- we hope you will join us. Together our work provides spaces for healing while providing a clear message that this country's gun violence epidemic must be stopped. 

The Multnomah Arts Center Gallery exhibition opens on April 5 with an opening reception from 7-9pm. The show will run through the month of April. The Multnomah Arts Center is located at 7688 SW Capitol Highway in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call the center at (503) 823-2787.