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Handmade quilts by Louise Silk spotlighted in Pittsburgh

Swatches | February 1, 2025 | By:

A section of The Witness Quilt at the “Louise Silk: A Patchwork Life” exhibit created from more than 1,100 patches of donated fabric. On the exhibit’s opening day in September 2024, visitors donated fabric to be included in the quilt and later, in February, it was to be dismantled and distributed to visitors.

The Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Pa., is featuring the work of Jewish quilter Louise Silk in its exhibit “Louise Silk: A Patchwork Life.” The exhibit opened Sept. 1, 2024, and runs through April 6, 2025.

The exhibition features handmade quilts by Silk along with archival images, videos and artifacts that detail her life and artistic journey over the last 50 years.

Born in Pittsburgh in 1950 to a large Jewish family who emigrated from Eastern Europe, Silk discovered quilting in Ms. magazine during the social revolutions of the 1960s. At the time, change was top of mind for Silk, and she found quilting to be a way to process her thoughts and feelings. By the mid-1990s, quilting became her way of processing life’s challenges, such as divorce, loss and personal growth. Like the exhibit’s name, Silk sees her life as a patchwork of her many identities—artist, teacher, mother, partner—embracing changes in her life and artwork.

Star of David quilt on display at the exhibit in the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The exhibit features the first quilt Silk made, Grandmother’s Flower Garden; a three-dimensional quilted table from Silk’s first exhibit “City Quilts” in 1987; a quilted mezuzah created in collaboration with Jewish printmaker Leslie Golomb; and a machine-pieced and hand-quilted map of the south side of Pittsburgh, where Silk lives and works.

The exhibit also features an interactive component called The Witness Quilt, a quilt Silk started to create from more than 1,100 patches of donated fabric. On the exhibit’s opening day, viewers got the chance to meet Silk and donate fabric to be included in The Witness Quilt. Volunteers used the donated fabrics to make more patches for the quilt and in February, the quilt was to be dismantled and the patches distributed to visitors.

Jewish quilter Louise Silk at the exhibit, where her work will be featured through April 6. Images: Senator John Heinz History Center

“Louise Silk: A Patchwork Life” is a project of the Rauh Jewish History Program and Archives. It was supported by the Jewish Heritage Foundation, the Fine Foundation, the Heinz Endowments, the Richard King Mellon Foundation and the Allegheny Regional Asset District.

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