in the CQA Quilting News,
from an article by Abbie Amadio, June 7, 2010, Third Coast Digest
AIDS Project Originated in Milwaukee, WI in 1987
Panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt that are unique to Milwaukee and to noted fashion designers will be displayed this month at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
A 1987 panel from the first incarnation of the quilt will help celebrate the organization’s 25th anniversary. Contributions from over 30 fashion designers, including Oscar De La Renta, Versace, Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan will also be on display.
“Fashion designers joined the earliest ranks of leaders in the fight against AIDS, and they used their creativity to compel others to be bold and join them in building a dialogue,” says Joseph Pabst, Aids Resource Center of Wisconsin’s philanthropist of the year.
Currently, more than 40,000 panels make up the quilt, which travels in pieces for exhibition around the world. It is considered the largest community art project in existence.
The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was first displayed on the National Mall in Washington in 1987. The quilt’s 1,920 panels each memorialized someone who had died from AIDS.
The AIDS Quilt panels “are very special, because they catalyzed our nation’s response to policy by moving the topic of HIV/AIDS into mainstream society,” says ARCW president and CEO Doug Nelson, “We are proud to be a part of this exhibit, because it serves as a celebration of how far we have come in the fight against AIDS and reminds us of how far we have yet to go.
The exhibit ends June 20. The AIDS Memorial Quilt exhibition is free to the public; admission price to the museum is not required.
Photos courtesy of MAM and the ARCW
